Hare in Sweet and Sour Sauce (Tuscany)

Meat

Ingredients

Hare, well hung and cleaned - 1

Onions, sliced - 2

Garlic, crushed - 2 cloves

Celery, diced - 2 stalks

Bay leaf - 1

Rosemary, finely chopped - 3 sprigs

Sage - 2-3 sprigs

Parsley - 2 sprigs

Red wine - 1 bottle

Salt and pepper

Olive oil - 1/2 cup

Ham fat, chopped - 2 tbsps

Flour

Sugar - 2 1/2 - 3 tbsps

Wine vinegar - 1/2 cup

Bitter chocolate, grated - 1 square

Pine nuts - 2-3 tbsps

Seedless white raisins - 3-4 tbsps

Mixed diced candied peel - 2 tbsps

Cut the hare into pieces, wash them well and dry them. Marinate the hare overnight with the vegetables, herbs, wine, salt and pepper, tightly covered, in a cool place. Drain and dry the hare, reserving the marinade.

Heat the oil with the ham fat in a large enamelled or earthenware pan and brown the pieces of hare. Dust with flour and as soon as it has browned, add the marinade with its vegetables. Cover and cook gently for 2 hours, turning the hare occasionally.

Meanwhile, slowly dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a small enamelled pan. Add the chocolate, pine nuts, white raisins and candied peel. Strain off the liquid in which the hare is cooking and mix it with the sweet-sour sauce. Pour this back over the hare.

The hare is reheated and served on the day after it  has been cooked so that its meat is thoroughly impregnated with the sauce.

Serves 6-8