—Place in a saucepan on the hot range half a good-sized, sound, chopped onion with a tablespoonful of butter; cook for one minute, then add two ounces of sausage-meat, six chopped mushrooms, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, season with half a pinch of salt and the third of a pinch of pepper. Cook all together for six minutes. Let cool, until needed.
Peel four fine, sound apples, cut each into six equal parts, remove the cores; place them in a pan on the fire with half a glassful of white wine or good cider. Boil for four minutes, then place this with the above forcemeat, and mix all well together.
Take the marinated hares, stuff the saddles (which were boned) with the above stuffing evenly, give them a nice round shape, and tie so as to hold them firm; arrange a piece of larding pork over each saddle, then lay them in a roasting-pan, with one carrot and one onion cut into slices and placed at the bottom of the pan; pour one pint of white broth ([No. 99]) right over the hares. Place in the hot oven, and roast for forty-five minutes, taking care to baste frequently with its own gravy. Remove from the oven, untie, dress on a hot dish, strain the gravy over the saddles, nicely decorate the dish with heart-shaped croûtons ([No. 133]) all around, and serve.
The fore-quarters can be utilized for Civet, etc., as desired.
893. Civet of Hare à la Française.
—Remove the entire skin from a good-sized, tender hare, neatly draw it, preserving the blood, if there is any, and also the liver, the gall being carefully removed. Place the blood and liver on the same dish, and proceed to cut the hare into twelve pieces. Put them into a stone jar, seasoning with one and a half good pinches of salt, a good pinch of pepper, a third of a pinch of nutmeg, one sliced onion, one sprig of thyme, two bay-leaves, and half a glassful of white wine. Mix all well together, and steep well for six hours. Lift out the pieces of hare, and put them in a saucepan with one ounce of butter, adding twelve glazed, small onions, and one ounce of salt pork, cut into small pieces; let cook on a brisk fire for ten minutes, then add three tablespoonfuls of flour, stir well, and moisten with a glassful of red wine, also half a pint of white broth ([No. 99]). Stir until it boils, then season again with half a pinch of salt and half a pinch of pepper; cook for one hour longer, and fifteen minutes before it is done put in the blood, heart, and liver, finely chopped and all well mixed together. Serve on a dish with six croûtons ([No. 133]).
894. Gibelotte of Hare.
—Proceed exactly the same as for the above ([No. 893]), replacing the glassful of red wine by a full pint of white broth ([No. 99]), and adding twelve whole mushrooms four minutes before serving.
895. Fillets of Hare, Sauce Poivrade.
—Have two fine English or American hares; clean them neatly as for [No. 893], cut them off from the end of the rack, remove the skin from the fillets, and lard the surface with a small needle. Put them on a dish, and season with a pinch and a half of salt, half a pinch of pepper, and the third of a pinch of nutmeg; add one onion, and one carrot cut in pieces, also three tablespoonfuls of white wine. Let all souse together for two hours, then transfer the whole to a roasting-pan, with any scraps of pork-rind, one sliced carrot, and a sliced onion at the bottom of the pan; put it in the oven, and let cook for thirty minutes. Place the fillets on a dish, add to the pan one gill of hot broth ([No. 99]), let come to a boil, and then strain the gravy over, and serve with half a pint of poivrade sauce ([No. 194]) separately.