Cretan rabbit pie

CLARISSA DICKSON WRIGHT announces, with a certain element of pride, that she used to be number three on the Animal Liberation Front’s death list. She hasn’t checked the stats for a while, but expects she will go up again when her new show hits screens.

The outspoken cook, a staunch campaigner on countryside issues, will be seen in an upcoming episode of The Great British Food Revival, extolling the virtues of eating wild rabbit.

‘‘We bury 40 tons of rabbit a year in landfill site because people don’t eat it, and the rabbit that gets sold in the supermarkets and indeed in some butchers is imported from China,’’ she explains.

‘‘I wouldn’t import food from China because they have very few health regulations. It’s also a terrible waste to throw away all that rabbit when it’s very good. If you want to do lean, healthy, wild and organic there is almost nothing better. There’s no fat on it, it’s an excellent source of meat and it’s totally versatile.’’ She thinks Beatrix Potter and the shadow of myxomatosis have put people off tucking into rabbit, but she would love to see supermarkets stock more of the wild variety. ‘‘They’ve got to be killed anyway. You might as well eat them.’’ While she’s on the subject, she also reckons we should have a go at eating badger, and can vividly remember when badger hams were served as a bar snack like jamon iberico. ‘‘It was once the staple food of the population, well before rabbit because rabbit was a luxury food,’’ she says.

As well as celebrating rabbits, she will be seen in a new three-part series for BBC Four on breakfast, lunch and dinner. She’s also got a new book, Clarissa’s England, on the shelves. It’s described as a ‘‘a gamely gallop through the English counties’’.

She clearly has her hands full with work – but that hasn’t stopped her planning her final meal, which she says jovially will be cooked by chef Shaun Hill.

‘‘The last time I was at the Walnut Tree (near Abergavenny, in South Wales), he did these beignets made with oysters and they were so good.

I told Shaun they would definitely be on the menu, but he said it’s a work in process.

‘‘Anyway they haven’t brought back the death penalty and we haven’t got Tony Blair in government any more so I am unlikely to be hanged at the moment.’’

Cretan Rabbit Pie (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil

2 good-sized rabbits

2 tbsp seasoned flour

Juice of 1 lemon

Cayenne pepper

2 onions, roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

Knob of butter

175g cooked rice

1 tbsp sultanas

1 tbsp capers, halved

225g Cheshire cheese, cubed and sliced

White stock to moisten

Salt and pepper

1 packet puff pastry

METHOD

PREHEAT the oven to 200ºC/400ºF/gas 6. Heat the oil in a pan. Toss the meat in the seasoned flour and brown in the oil. Remove the meat, pour over the lemon juice, sprinkle with cayenne pepper and set aside.

Fry the onion and garlic in the butter, until soft.

Mix with the rice and put into a buttered pie dish.

Arrange the meat on top, then the sultanas and capers.

Sprinkle over a few cubes of cheese. Pour in any remaining lemon juice from the marinade and any stock you think necessary. Season lightly.

Arrange a layer of sliced cheese over the mixture.

Roll out the pastry and cover the pie. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until the pastry is risen and golden.

• Clarissa’s England by Clarissa Dickson Wright (Hodder & Stoughton, £20) 
• Recipes are taken from Clarissa’s Comfort Food by Clarissa Dickson Wright (Kyle Books, £15.99) 􀁧 Clarissa Dickson Wright can be seen in the Great British Food Revival on BBC Two at 8pm on Wednesday.