Slow Cooked Belgian Beer Rabbit Stew

Hello,

I am from Belgium, home of great beers and delicious fries.

This dish is based upon two things: a real classic, called "stoofvlees met frieten" and the rabbit stew my grandmother used to make when i was a kid.

For two persons you will need:

• 4 pieces of rabbit
• 2 carrots
• 5 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 7 big mushrooms
• 3 tablespoons of sifted flour
• 1 teaspoon of vinigar
• 1 teaspoon of mustard
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 dark beer (33cl/ 12 fluid oz) ( Chimay goes really well with rabbit, but most of the brown beers will work.)
• 30 grams ( 1.164 oz) of brown sugar
• 50 grams ( 1.764 oz) of butter
• salt and pepper

Salt at least 40 minutes in advance of frying. Salting too soon before cooking will dry out the meat.

Let it fry until the meat has a good color.

Cut the onion, carrots and mushrooms in big pieces.

Put the cut onion and mushrooms in the same frying pan as the meat, let it fry until you have the same result as on the photo above.

Put the meat, onions and mushrooms in one cooking pot or slow cooker. Now add the beer, bay leaves, thyme, mustard, vinegar, brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of sifted flour. Give it a good stir and now slow cook it for about 5 hours until the meat is tender (stir it occasionally).

And now the Belgian specialty: French fries.

1. Cut the potatoes into fries, choose the thickness according to your preference.
2. Put the fries into a bowl of water
3. Poor away the water and dry the fries
4. Deep fry the fries first at 150°C (302°F) for 1 minute
5. Wait half a minute and then deep fry at 175°C ( 347°F) untill the fries are gold-brown
6. Lay them on a paper towel so the cooking oil gets absorbed.
7. Add salt

Enjoy!

Best eaten in combination with a good beer and some mayonnaise.