Programme 1

In the first instalment of Series One, 23-year-old Cowbridge student Tom Watts-Jones is the home cook attempting to impress award-winning chef Bryn Williams with his wild Welsh rabbit recipe. And before cooking the rabbit Tom catches it too!

Simon's blog
When Tom told us we were going hunt our own wild rabbit for this dish I'd assumed there would be shooting involved. Instead our culinary fortunes were entrusted to an elderly female ferret Jill (they're all called Jill), an octogenarian in human terms, who was also theoretically retired and possibly arthritic. My doubts grew as we slipped her into one muddy hole after another, each time waiting for ten-minutes or so, only to see her emerge nonchalant from another opening a few yards away. After 3 hours I had the feeling Tom might need to revise his recipe a little - most notably to something that didn't involve rabbit. But then, at the last chance warren, the silence was broken as a fat and understandably alarmed bunny burst into the winter sun pursued by Jill with a vigour that belied her advancing years.

Tom's recipe was a bit crazy really - the more complex the dish the more that can go wrong. In his mum's farmhouse kitchen he struggled at times and I thought that the pressure of a top restaurant kitchen might see him cave in completely. Quite the opposite, surrounded by professional chefs and watched over by Bryn Williams, Tom showed resolve, patience and determination that reminded me of nothing less than an elderly ferret. I was impressed - as was Bryn, so much so that he offered him a job!

Tom's Recipe: Trio of Wild 'Vale of Glamorgan' Rabbit

Potted rabbit and pistachio on home made almond bread, rabbit cutlets on a butternut squash puree and ballantine of rabbit saddle on rhubarb.

Potted rabbit, day before plating food.

1 large VoG wild rabbit - personally shot - jointed
150 g slab of smoked bacon, cut into pieces
1 pig trotter, washed
1 onion
2 carrots, chopped
2 bay leafs
5 thyme spings Large glass of white wine
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp of djion mustard
Handfull of roughly chopped pistachio nuts
Salt + pepper.

Method

Fry the jointed rabbit until brown with bacon
Put the browned meat into a large casserole dish with trotters, veg, thyme, bay leaves and wine and enough water to cover the rabbit.
Once tender stir in herbs, trotters, veg and boil the liquor until 300 ml.
While the liquor is reducing, pick rabbit meat off the bones and shred finely into a bowl, and parsley, mustard and chopped pistachio nuts
Loosely pack into a terrine jar and pour over the reduced, gelatinous cooking liquor and leave for 24 hours until set.

400 g strong white bread flour
2 tbsp dried yeast
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp salt
pint of warm water
250 g crushed almonds
quarter pint of milk

Method

Mix yeast, sugar, salt into water.
Pour out flour and mix almonds into it.
Add the yeast water little by little until its finshed then add milk
Knead for 10 minutes and wrap in cling film and let sit for hour.
Put into a small rectangular bread roasting tray
Cook for 25 -40 minutes.

Rabbit cutlets on a butternut squash puree

4 small rabbit cutlets
1 butternut squash
2 shallots
Garlic
double cream

Method

Roast butternut squash and garlic until soft in a hot oven
Once soft put into a blender and add a little double cream to decrease viscosity, puree
Fry rabbit cutlets in olive oil for 3-4 minuets.

Rabbit ballantine and rhubarb

1 rabbit saddle
Thyme
garlic finely chopped
salted butter -150 g- softened
Rhubarb cut into 2cm lengths then halved
large pinch of saffron
45g sugar
half pint of water
2 tlsp organic honey

Method

Mix thyme, garlic and soft butter together
Rub the butter mixture onto one side of the saddle, add seasoning
Roll the saddle into a sausage/swiss roll using cling film. Make sure the cling film is water tight. Place in a barely simmering pan for 40-45 mins.
While the ballantine is cooking, put the rhubarb into a non metallic roasting tray and cover with water, sugar and honey for 15-20 mins at 150 degrees until soft.
Take rhubarb out of oven and drain the liquid from the pan. Put liquid into a sauce pan, add a pinch more sugar, salt and add saffron and reduce until slightly caramelised.
Take ballantine out of water. Slice half cm thick. Put the rhubarb on the plate followed by some of the slightly caramelised sauce then the rabbit.

Final Plating up!

Plate on a long rectangular shaped plate.

RIGHT: place the potted rabbit on almond bread; MIDDLE: rabbit cutlets on butternut squash puree; LEFT: ballantine of rabbit and rhubarb.

About The Home Cook Tom Watts-Jones
Tom, who was brought up in Aberthin, is passionate about Welsh produce - so passionate he's actually writing a thesis on it for his Masters in Business Studies. A love of cooking runs through his family. As a child he spent hours in the kitchen helping his Danish grandmother bake and cook while his mother Greta has her own wholefoods company. His student housemates are enthusiastic 'guinea pigs' for the recipes he tries out on them Tom's ambition is to run his own restaurant. For Wales On The Menu he creates a complex rabbit dish with three separate elements. "It represents the area where I grew up in, the Vale of Glamorgan, and the days I go out hunting rabbits," he explains.