As it's Easter at the end of this week, I thought I'd provide an Easter-related recipe with a decidedly French spin. Everybody seems to eat lamb for Easter, and while baby sheep are very much of the season, so are bunny rabbits. Rather than have another herbed rack of lamb, why not try some Flopsy in mustard sauce?

Rabbit is becoming more popular in the UK, but it is a brave parent who serves bunny (of the non-chocolate variety) at Easter. Nevertheless, this is a delicious recipe that works throughout the year. In the summer, swap the roast potatoes for a hunk of baguette and a salad of bitter greens to mop up the leftover mustard sauce.

1 rabbit, jointed (you can get the butcher to do this)
100g lardons
250 ml grain mustard
3 tbsps olive oil
1 white onion, thickly sliced
1½ tsps fresh thyme
1 tsps fresh rosemary
500ml white wine
125 ml cream
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Put the mustard, olive oil, and the jointed rabbit in a large mixing bowl. Use your hands to cover the rabbit with the mustard and oil mix, ensuring that all of the pieces have been well coated.  Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave the rabbit to marinade in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
2. In a large-based saucepan over a medium heat, cook the lardons in their own fat for 5 minutes. Once browned, remove from the pan and set aside to drain. Keep the fat from the lardons in the frying pan.
3. Return the frying pan to a low heat, and colour the onions in the fat from the lardons. Keep stirring so they don't burn. Once the onions are lightly browned, add the rabbit pieces to the pan and cook for about 10 minutes, turning so that the rabbit is coloured on all sides.
4. Add the bacon, finely chopped herbs, and white wine to the frying pan. Turn up the heat, and bring the liquids to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat, cover, and cook for approximately 45 minutes. The rabbit should be tender, and ready to fall off the bone.
5. When the rabbit is thoroughly cooked, add the cream to the saucepan, stir well, and cook for another 5 minutes on the same low heat. You might want to add another tablespoon of mustard and a tablespoon of honey at this point, but it's entirely optional. Season to taste.

Serve with roasted potatoes.

Last week, a neighbour lent me her school cookery book from the 1950s.  It is a wonderful guide to the basics of French cooking, and contains dozens of recipes that should be preserved for posterity.

The book builds on previous recipes, assuming that students will work their way through from start to finish. Flipping through, the recipe for friands caught my eye - it requires a portion of puff pastry (covered earlier in the book), some ham, and a half portion of mornay sauce (also covered in a previous chapter). Later in the book, basic preparations for preserves, tarts, pâtés, and stews all build on the skills learned earlier.

To cook your way through the book, from start to finish, is to get an education in traditional French home cooking. Unfortunately, I won't have access to the book for long enough to copy it out - and translate it - in full. I do, however, have time to present some of the greatest hits in the form of forgotten classics.

1 young rabbit, skinned, boned, and cut into pieces
60g fat (type unspecified)
1 glass white wine
½ glass water or bouillon
1 tbsps flour
2 tbsps tomato puree
bouquet garni
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a frying pan or saucepan over a medium heat, fry the pieces of rabbit in the fat.
2. Increase the heat to high, and stir for around 20 minutes.
3. Sprinkle with flour, then stir to coat.
4. Moisten the meat with the glass of wine and the half glass of water or bouillon. Add the tomato puree and stir well.
5. Add the bouquet garni and season to taste. Cook for a further 10 minutes.