Fettuccine with wild rabbit sauce

Season the flour with salt and pepper. Dip each piece of rabbit (except the fillets) in the flour, then heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the pieces of floured rabbit and cook over a high heat until the meat is golden and caramelized. Remove the rabbit from the pan and set aside.

Chop 3 pieces of pancetta into small pieces. In a small casserole dish, heat a little olive oil and add the pancetta. Cook for a few minutes until it starts to colour, then add the chilli, carrot and onion. Cook the vegetables over a medium heat for 5 minutes, add the garlic and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Season well.

Add the rabbit pieces back into the pan, then pour in the white wine and let this bubble up. When the wine has reduced by about two thirds, pour in enough stock so that the contents of the pan are just covered. Bring the liquid up to the boil, place the lid on the pan, then let it simmer gently for 30-40 minutes.

Remove the pieces of rabbit from the casserole with a slotted spoon. Carefully strip the cooked meat off the bones. Add the meat back into the casserole, then pour everything into a blender and blitz to make a coarse textured sauce. Return the sauce to the casserole dish and stir through the cream. Check for seasoning.

To make the pasta, mix the flour and semolina in a pile on your work surface. Make a well in the flour and add your eggs. Gradually mix the flour into the eggs until you have made a dough. Add a tablespoon of olive oil and then knead the dough well for a few minutes. Cover with cling film and put the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

Take the pasta dough out of the fridge and knead again for a few minutes to develop the gluten in the dough. Flour a rolling pin and the work surface, then begin to roll out your pasta dough. When the dough is only a few millimetres thick, cut it into thin strips to create the fettuccine. (You could also use a pasta machine for the rolling and cutting of the dough.) Set the fettuccine aside to dry a little until you are ready to cook it.

Heat a large frying pan with a little olive oil. Season the rabbit fillets, then pan fry until golden and cooked through (about 5 minutes). Remove from the pan and allow to rest.

Meanwhile, cut the last piece of pancetta into 4 pieces, add it into the frying pan and cook until crisp.

To finish the dish, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop in your fettuccine. When the water had come back to the boil, the pasta should be cooked. Drain the pasta well, then add it into the pan which contains the sauce. Toss well, and place a blanched cabbage leaf on each serving plate. Pile a generous portion of pasta on top of each leaf, then slice the rabbit fillets into 4 pieces each.

Top each plate of pasta with a couple of slices of rabbit fillet and a piece of crispy pancetta.