HARE WITH POTATO GNOCCHI

12th November 2015

Michelin-starred chef Martin Wishart has been creating award-winning dishes in his famous restaurants across Scotland. Find out how to create this autumnal dish with delicious seasonal ingredients.

Autumn months call for comforting food that sets us up for an evening by the fire. The warming taste of red wine is perfect for the season and even better when used to create a favourite recipe. I’ve chosen the Guy Louis Tardieu-Laurent 2012 red wine to enhance this dish and give it real depth of flavour.

HARE BRAISED IN RED WINE SERVED WITH ROASTED HARE SADDLE AND POTATO GNOCCHI
Serves 4

You will need

For the hare
2 whole hare, skinned
1 carrot, peeled
1 onion, peeled
2 celery stalks, washed
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and halved
2 bay leaves
6 cloves
1 tsp ground cinnamon
750ml red wine
75ml marsala wine
500ml fresh chicken stock
250ml fresh beef stock
Vegetable oil for frying
Salt

For the Gnocchi
600g dry mashed potatoes
100ml olive oil
3 tbsp grated fresh parmesan
1 egg yolk
½ lightly beaten egg
125g ‘00’ pasta flour
Salt

Directions for the Hare
Remove the legs from the hare and take the loins off the bone. Alternatively, ask your butcher to do this for you. Season the legs with salt and fry them in a large heavy pot and set them aside. Chop the vegetables into equal sized pieces, around 2cm square. Cook the vegetables in the pot used for the hare until browned. Add the cinnamon, cloves, garlic and bay leaves to the pot and cook for a further minute. Add the red wine to the pot and cook on a medium heat until reduced by about 2/3 volume.

Put the legs back into the pot and cover with the stocks. Bring the liquid to the boil and cook the legs in the oven at 200°C for 1 hour. Add the Marsala wine and cook for a further 30 minutes or until the legs are tender. Top up the pot with a little water if necessary when cooking, the stock should be reduced by about 2/3 volume and thickened nicely. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and discard the vegetables and spices. Put the legs into the sauce and allow it to cool.

Directions for the Gnocchi
Mix together all the ingredients while the mashed potato is still warm, season with salt to taste. Roll the mix into sausage shapes on a floured surface approximately 1 1/2cm thick. Cut along the sausage shapes to create rectangular pillows. Drop the gnocchi into boiling salted water a few at a time. The gnocchi are cooked when they float to the surface. Remove the cooked gnocchi from the pan with a slotted spoon and place into a bowl of iced water.

To Finish
Re-heat the leg in a pot on the stove gently until hot all the way through, add a little water to the sauce if necessary. Season the hare loins with salt and fry in a little oil on a very high heat to brown all sides. Place the loins onto a tray and cook in the oven at 200°C for 3 minutes, they should be served pink. Pan fry the gnocchi and place onto each plate. Place a cooked leg onto each plate. Carve the hare loins and divide between the plates. Finish the dish by pouring over the sauce.

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