barbarossa
Well-Known Member
Cooked a rabbit tonight. This is real comfort food for me, my German grandma used to cook this all the time.
Try as I might, I can't not get anywhere near the deliciousness of my grandma's rabbits, so I had to come up with my own version. Based on hers, but different. This way I can enjoy it without being frustrated. It does taste delicious.
It's really simple and avoids exotic ingredients to let the natural, sweet rabbit meat come through. One could cook this with squirrels or nutria as well, it's really good either way. I thing rabbit is available in some supermarkets for those who don't hunt.
I cut the rabbit up in seven pieces. Front legs, hind legs, back, ribs/belly. Season with salt and pepper and brown the pieces in a heavy pot in ghee. I love that butter flavor, you could use an olive oil/butter mix if you don't have ghee.
Once the pieces have some color on them, remove them from the pot.
Now add a mirepoix (onion, carrots, celery) in the pot. Add a few cloves of garlic, some bay leaves and raid the garden for fresh herbs. I'm using sage, rosemary and thyme.
Cook until the veggies turn translucent. Now add a couple tbs of tomato paste (doppio concentrato) and keep stirring until the tomato paste turns from bright red to a mahogany color.
If you want any additional spices, add them now. I'm currently addicted to Seven Spice, so I sprinkled a little on there.
Add half a bottle of white wine (I used Trader Joe's $3 Pinot Grigio) and return the meat to the pot. Add stock until the meat is about 2/3 covered.
Put on a lid, turn fire down to low and let it simmer until the meat falls off the bone. Can't tell you how long that will take. A young domestic rabbit from the supermarket, probably 1 1/2 hours. This wild swamp rabbit took 4 hours.
Once the meat is done, remove it from the pot again. Fish out the stalks of your herbs and the bay leaves. With an immersion blender, blend everything into a smooth sauce.
Take about 1 tbs of flour and mix it with 1/4 pint of heavy cream. Add that to the sauce and blend some more to make sure there are no chunks of flour.
Bring back up to a boil (the sauce will thicken) and taste for seasoning. Adjust as needed.
Now for the secret ingredient, don't question it, just trust me. One tbs of regular plain ketchup. No, you will not taste the ketchup, but it will do wonders. Learned that from an Indian chef...
Once you adjusted the seasoning of the sauce, return the meat to the pot, making sure it's all covered. Let it sit on very low heat for another 10 minutes or so, the serve.
Carb eaters may want to add noodles, gnocchi are a perfect fit as well.
Bon appetit!
Try as I might, I can't not get anywhere near the deliciousness of my grandma's rabbits, so I had to come up with my own version. Based on hers, but different. This way I can enjoy it without being frustrated. It does taste delicious.
It's really simple and avoids exotic ingredients to let the natural, sweet rabbit meat come through. One could cook this with squirrels or nutria as well, it's really good either way. I thing rabbit is available in some supermarkets for those who don't hunt.
I cut the rabbit up in seven pieces. Front legs, hind legs, back, ribs/belly. Season with salt and pepper and brown the pieces in a heavy pot in ghee. I love that butter flavor, you could use an olive oil/butter mix if you don't have ghee.
Once the pieces have some color on them, remove them from the pot.
Now add a mirepoix (onion, carrots, celery) in the pot. Add a few cloves of garlic, some bay leaves and raid the garden for fresh herbs. I'm using sage, rosemary and thyme.
Cook until the veggies turn translucent. Now add a couple tbs of tomato paste (doppio concentrato) and keep stirring until the tomato paste turns from bright red to a mahogany color.
If you want any additional spices, add them now. I'm currently addicted to Seven Spice, so I sprinkled a little on there.
Add half a bottle of white wine (I used Trader Joe's $3 Pinot Grigio) and return the meat to the pot. Add stock until the meat is about 2/3 covered.
Put on a lid, turn fire down to low and let it simmer until the meat falls off the bone. Can't tell you how long that will take. A young domestic rabbit from the supermarket, probably 1 1/2 hours. This wild swamp rabbit took 4 hours.
Once the meat is done, remove it from the pot again. Fish out the stalks of your herbs and the bay leaves. With an immersion blender, blend everything into a smooth sauce.
Take about 1 tbs of flour and mix it with 1/4 pint of heavy cream. Add that to the sauce and blend some more to make sure there are no chunks of flour.
Bring back up to a boil (the sauce will thicken) and taste for seasoning. Adjust as needed.
Now for the secret ingredient, don't question it, just trust me. One tbs of regular plain ketchup. No, you will not taste the ketchup, but it will do wonders. Learned that from an Indian chef...
Once you adjusted the seasoning of the sauce, return the meat to the pot, making sure it's all covered. Let it sit on very low heat for another 10 minutes or so, the serve.
Carb eaters may want to add noodles, gnocchi are a perfect fit as well.
Bon appetit!
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