Tomato Basil Hare with Zucchini

[hare_assassin]

Since I finish work around 2:30pm each day and since I enjoy cooking game meat so much, I am often the one who prepares our family's evening meal. I love supper time. I always have, ever since I was a kid, and I want my daughters to grow up with the same love for this important time that we spend together. We have our "go to" recipes that we all love, but sometimes it is just time for a change.

Some of you will already know from this thread (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/showthread.php?98560-First-9-Hare-of-the-Season!) that I recently bagged a few snowshoe hare. I de-boned and divided them all into cuts, and based on advice from biggyun68 (http://www.huntingbc.ca/forum/member.php?33429-biggyun68) I brined/marinated some of the thighs. My intent was to BBQ them, but plans changed...



I went out to my garden and harvested some fresh shallots, tomato, basil, and zucchini, then chopped/sliced them up...
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/tomato_basil_hare_2.jpg

Carmelized the shallots in some olive oil...
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/tomato_basil_hare_1.jpg

Lined a casserole dish with some olive oil and laid out a layer of zucchini, then covered it with chopped basil and tomato...
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/tomato_basil_hare_3.jpg

Cranked the heat back up in the skillet and quickly seared the brined hare thighs just until the carmelized shallots started to stick all over the thighs...
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/tomato_basil_hare_4.jpg

Placed the thighs into the casserole dish and then added another layer of tomato and basil...
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/tomato_basil_hare_5.jpg

Cont'd in next post...

[hare_assassin]

Finally, another layer of sliced zucchini, more olive oil, and some fresh ground black pepper...
http://www.cogitech.ca/photos/hunting/tomato_basil_hare_6.jpg

Into a 350 oven for an hour. (Sorry, no photo of the cooked dish)

We ate it with rice, because that's what we had on hand, but next time I will serve it on a bed of pasta. Maybe fettuccine. I might also add a bit of garlic next time.

We all really enjoyed it!

[biggyun68]

My cornflakes do not look so good anymore:-D

I envy your garden too... Vancouver is hit or miss unless you have a greenhouse or have to time to constantly mind the darn thing because one stretch of bad weather can ruin you items:

[hare_assassin]

Actually, that was the last zucchini and I hardly got any tomatoes this year. It is a constant battle here trying to keep water in the soil. Take a week of vacation and come back to dead plants. Oregano, basil, sage and shallots just grow like crazy though. I plan on really ramping up my effort to prepare my soil this fall. Lots of places to harvest manure up in the hills. :D

[biggyun68]

Actually, that was the last zucchini and I hardly got any tomatoes this year. It is a constant battle here trying to keep water in the soil. Take a week of vacation and come back to dead plants. Oregano, basil, sage and shallots just grow like crazy though. I plan on really ramping up my effort to prepare my soil this fall. Lots of places to harvest manure up in the hills. :D

Problem with your area is there is not enough clay in the soil: Clay has a electrical charge in it holds onto the water longer: Another answer to the problem is having a mulch layer on top of the topsoil: an aged leaf mulch works well: aged because in the first part of the decomposition process the leafs release an acid that changes the PH in the soil - it is only temporary but that is all it takes with vegetables

[hare_assassin]

Cheers! I'll try the leaves.