SOME people recommend eating roadkill as an ethical way of eating meat. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend eating roadkill unless you really knew what you were doing. Also, for this recipe, the chances of getting a squirrel that’s not totally flattened are remote.

So, unless you are pretty nifty with an air rifle, ask a good butcher/game dealer; most of whom should be able to get you squirrel. It will be gutted and skinned and ready for the pot. And in this recipe, is left whole for cooking before incorporating into the rest of the ingredients.

And if a squirrel really is too “weird” for you, the recipe works equally well with a bunny.

INGREDIENTS
Serves two

One grey squirrel – left whole
One small onion – peeled and diced
One medium potato – peeled and diced
Two carrots – peeled and diced
One stick of celery – diced
One sprig of thyme
A good handful of pearl barley
Salt and freshly-ground black pepper

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (gas mark 4) Place the squirrel in a roasting dish, cover with water, add a little salt and pepper, cover with foil and place in the oven for two hours. Remove from the oven, allow to cool a little and then lift the squirrel onto a plate so that you can pick the meat off the bones. Be careful not to include any small rib bones in the reserved meat.

Pass the resulting stock through a fine sieve into a saucepan, add the onion, potato, carrots, celery, thyme and barley, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the squirrel meat and simmer for a further five minutes. If there’s too much liquid, pour most of it off into another pan and reduce it at a fast boil before returning. Then taste and season if necessary.

Serve in warmed bowls with crusty bread or maybe some dark green buttered cabbage.

For further recipes, go to www.billoldfield.com

Oldfields Pantry ready meals are available direct from the restaurant on Claypath in Durham on 0191 370 9595 or go to www.oldfieldspantry.co.uk for delivery by mail order. 

Twitter: @eatoldfields