Rabbit Ragu with Spaghetti Recipe

Rabbit is a very underestimated meat, its very low in fat, tasty, and most of all, relatively cheap to purchase. Most people are put off from eating this delicious gamey meat, by the fact that they think of rabbits as fluffy, hopping, children's pets, not a food to be eaten. Wild rabbit has a very rich game taste to it, and some people prefer the flavour of a farmed rabbit, I like both. It has similar texture and cooking methods to chicken.

This recipe is inspired by a dish that I tried at Jamie's Italian in Covent Garden. I used one whole rabbit, which I de-boned and filleted myself, (see gory image above!) it easily fed two adults, and there was enough left over for a snack the next day. I would love to hear your experiences of eating and cooking with Rabbit, and please don't be scared to try this, it really is one of the best dishes I have ever cooked.
Ingredients
1 Small red onion, finely chopped.
1 Carrot, peeled and chopped.
1 Thin stick of celery, chopped.
1 Sprig of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped. 
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh thyme leaves.
1 bay leaf.
1 clove of garlic, crushed or finely grated.
1 level tablespoon of flour
1 Whole rabbit, boned and cut into 1cm pieces. (ask your butcher to do this, if you prefer)
1 glass of white wine (as good as you can afford).
250ml of chicken stock.
50g of freshly grated parmesan, or similar hard italian cheese.
Small knob of butter.
Zest of one small orange or a lemon.
Extra virgin olive oil.
Handful of fresh flat leaf parsley.
Spaghetti, enough for two people. 
Salt.
Fresh ground black or mixed pepper.

1.Preheat your oven to 180°c/350°F or gas mark 4.
2. Add a nice glug of the olive oil to a casserole pan, (one which can also be used on a hob) place onto your hob to heat, then add the onion, carrot, celery, rosemary, thyme and bay leaf, and finely add the garlic. Cook these ingredients gently for about 10 minutes, until softened slightly.
2. Stir in the rabbit, sprinkle with the flour, then add the white wine. Season well with the salt and pepper. Pour in the chicken stock, which should just just cover the meat, and bring to a slow boil.
3. Put the lid on the pan, and place in the oven, for around 1 hour 15 minutes, the meat should fall apart when checked. If it doesn't, then cook for a further ten minutes.
4. Add the spaghetti to a pan of rapidly boiling salted water, and cook to the packets instructions.
5. Whilst the pasta is cooking, remove the bay leaf from the stew, add the butter, half of the cheese, and half of the orange or lemon zest. Check the seasoning, and alter accordingly. Place the lid back on, to keep warm.
6. Chop the parsley.
7. Drain the pasta, drizzle it with some olive oil, and place onto two plates. Spoon the Ragu over the top, add the remaining cheese, zest and sprinkle over parsley. I also like to add a few fresh thyme leaves to the plate for decoration too.