Wednesday's "Wabbit Wecipe"

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A peasant dish that’s fit for a king, this easy midweek dish has plenty of flavour - the perfect hearty stew for cooler weather!

Because rabbit meat has a tendency to dry out during the cooking process, braising it slowly in liquid in this way guarantees an unctuous result with meat so tender it falls off the bone.

Ingredients

  • 1 whole rabbit, jointed (6-8 pieces)

  • salt & pepper

  • handful of plain flour

  • handful of kalamata olives

  • 100g speck, roughly chopped

  • 25g of butter

  • 1 tbsp of olive oil

  • 1 large onion, roughly chopped

  • 1 stick of celery, roughly chopped

  • 200g mushrooms, sliced

  • 500ml of white wine

  • 1L chicken stock

  • 1 sprig fresh or 1tsp dried thyme

Method

1

Season the rabbit with salt and pepper then coat in the flour. Shake off the excess flour (reserve the excess flour as you’ll use it later).

2

Put the butter and oil into a large heavy-bottomed pan over a medium heat and when the butter has melted and the oil is hot, add the rabbit (in batches if necessary – the meat should sear, not steam). Brown the rabbit on all sides then remove from the pan and set aside.

3

Add the onion, speck, celery and mushrooms to the pan and cook until soft and beginning to caramelize.

4

Stir in the reserved flour and add enough wine to deglaze the pan. Return the rabbit and add the rest of the wine, the chicken stock and the thyme making sure the rabbit is submerged.

5

Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 60–70 minutes until the rabbit is tender. After 30 minutes, remove the lid to allow the liquid to reduce.

Variations

If you are using diced rabbit rather than whole pieces, reduce the cooking time to 25 minutes.

This is a very simple recipe and can be altered and embellished – swap the thyme for rosemary or sage; use red wine instead of white or try cider; stir in some whole grain mustard towards the end of the cooking time and so on.

Or - mix it up with some continental variations – the Italians add ripe tomatoes as well as olives to their rabbit stews, the French prunes, red wine or brandy and the Spanish are partial to a generous glug of sherry and some Serrano ham.

Johanna Bostock2 Comments