By Aaron Patterson, head chef at Hambleton Hall

This, surprisingly, is one of our bestselling dishes at Hambleton Hall. The most important thing when making this dish is to have fresh hare otherwise the taste is too strong and vulgar.

Hare Wellington

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• Puff pastry
• 1 chicken breast
• 4 hare loins
• 2 whole eggs
• Splash of Armagnac
• 50ml olive oil
• 30 raisins soaked in balsamic vinegar
• 20 pistachio nuts
• 4 thin pancakes

Method:

Roll out the puff pastry 2mm thick, 18cm long and 15cm in width and rest in the fridge.

Make 4 thin pancakes and place in the fridge.

Dice up the chicken breast, put in a Robot Coupe along with 2 eggs and any lean hare trimmings.

Add 2 tablespoons of Armagnac and blend until smooth.

Slowly add olive oil.

Turnout into a stainless-steel bowl and mix in the drained balsamic raisins and pistachios.

Season with salt and pepper.

Roll out cling film on a work surface and put a thin pancake on top.

Using a palate knife spread out some of the blended stuffing evenly on top of the pancake, approximately 2mm thick.

Put the hare loin on top and wrap up the package in cling film until a neat sausage shape has been achieved.

Trim excess pancake from the ends and overlaps.

Remove the cling film and now wrap the 'sausage' in pastry to minimize any overlap. Seal the sides and ends of the pastry with egg white.

Cooking the Hare Wellington

Put the Hare Wellington into a roasting tin with a little vegetable oil and cook in the oven on gas mark 6, 200°C.

The parcel should have 4 sides, when the first side is brown repeat the process until all sides of the Hare Wellington are of even colour. This should take about 10 minutes.

When cooked, slice excess pastry off both ends and slice into 3 medallions.

Serve with root vegetables and game sauce flavoured with prunes.

NB: Hare, like many other types of game doesn’t taste good when it is overcooked. The pancake and the farce are not unnecessary complications. They are there to soak up the juices released during the cooking, and to ensure that the pastry does not become soggy.

Head Chef Aaron Patterson