rabbit stew

My son cricket (7) and I love cooking and baking. Today's project is rabbit stew. In the early winter my husband the mountain man takes our beagle Lola out a few times for the rabbit season usually they bring home a pair of wild rabbits for our dinner table. We prepare our rabbits in a myriad of ways. Boned, breaded and fried, grilled, barbecued, stuffed in a pot pie, cubed in a shepherds pie- but our favorite way is to have rabbit stew. A hearty, heavy soup, studded with an abundance of garden vegetables and flavorful dense liquid. Please pardon my drool. 
The perfect rabbit stew starts with a whole skinned rabbit placed in a large pot and covered with water by a generous couple inches of water. It is then boiled rapidly for about an hour and allowed to cool until able to handle. 

While the rabbit is cooling I prepare a heap of green beans, peas, carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes.  I boil all of these in a few cups of the broth made from boiling off the rabbit. Once the meat is cool enough to handle I debone as much of the meat as I can, dropping it into the pot of vegetables as I go.  Once the meat is returned to the pan I season the stew with salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. If I'm feeling spicy I'll toss in a pinch of cayenne pepper to spice it up. To thicken the soup I use a couple tablespoons of cornstarch (if you really want a banging flavor use a packet of brown gravy mix,  yeah yeah I know it is cheating but it's delicious so I don't care). 


The sunset homesteaders rabbit stew 

1 skinned rabbit 
1c. Peas
1c. Green beans 
1c. Cubed potatoes 
1c. Corn 
1 medium onion diced
1-2 large carrots peeled and sliced in 1/3 inch disks 
Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper to taste
2tbsp cornstarch 
Button mushrooms optional 

Boil rabbit off bones reserve liquid 
Place all prepared vegetables in a large pot 
Use 3c reserve liquid to cook vegetables seasoning to taste. 
Return meat to pot with vegetables 
Make a slurry with the cornstarch and some water or reserve liquid and combine with the soup allow to thicken for a couple minutes serve with fresh bread.