Rabbit Escabeche

My grandmother recently sent me a handwritten notebook containing family recipes. One of the recipes in that book was for Rabbit Escabeche. For those who don’t know, escabeche is chicken or rabbit (or fish) braised in vinegar and served at room temperature. It is one of those old dishes from when refrigerators did not exist, and people had clever ways of preparing food to keep for later.
Strictly speaking this is not an escabeche, but the flavours comes close. I have played around with the original recipe slightly (I hope my grandmother doesn’t mind). I have kept the aromatics whole, whereas my grandmother cuts them into julienne. I have also changed the cooking technique; my grandmother does the whole thing over the stove, I slow cook mine in a covered dish in the oven. Obviously the stovetop version is quicker but I’m keeping that to do with boneless chicken thighs for a speedy, summer meal.
I must say I am extremely fussy when it comes to vinegar. Vinegars are not all the same, and the only way to find a good one is by trial and error. I’d heard people rave about a certain Spanish wine vinegar, which I reluctantly tried, thinking to myself that it was rather expensive for vinegar. Up until then I’d thought all vinegars where the same, but I now know better, and I now have 13 types of vinegar sitting in the pantry.
The accompanying rice dish is one from Chile. My mother had many Chilean girlfriends when I was a small boy. They were always popping around to have a chat in their native language Spanish. This particular dish was introduced to my mother’s repertoire by one of those friends, and I find it addictive. It is a very simple dish- white rice infused with garlic and green peppers, all cooked in the rice cooker. So simple, but so good. I had become nostalgic when I read about the recipe on Vida's blog the other day, and I just had to make it that night to serve with my braised rabbit.

Components
4 rabbit legs
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper
2 carrots, peeled and cut in two pieces.
1 brown onion, peeled and quartered
50ml excellent red wine
50ml excellent white wine vinegar.
1 tsp sugar
Extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
4 small fresh bay leaves

For the rice
1 cup white, long grain rice
Sea salt
1 garlic clove, crushed but whole
1 green pepper, cut into large chunks
Extra virgin olive oil

Process
Heat the oven to 150c.
Season the rabbit legs with salt and pepper.
Place the rabbit pieces, carrots and onion into a small ceramic baking dish with a lid.
Pour over the wine vinegars and sugar.
Top each rabbit piece with a bay leaf and a piece of garlic. All should be in one layer and fit rather tightly.
Drizzle over a generous amount of olive oil. The oil will help balance the vinegar, and it will lubricate the lean rabbit.
Cover the dish with the lid and place in the oven for about 2 hours, or until the rabbit is tender and lightly golden.
Discard the onion and garlic. Allow to cool in the dish.
Rinse the rice until the water is clear(ish) and place it in the rice cooker.
Add an equal amount of water and a drizzle of oil. Season with salt.
Lay the garlic clove and green pepper pieces on the rice- they should sit on the rice and infuse it with their fragrance as it cooks.
Serve the rabbit and the carrots at room temperature, accompanied by the warm rice and green peppers. Serves 4.

Wild Rabbit Braised with Vinegar and Thyme

Do you ever have days when you simply do not have any idea what you wish to cook or eat? Yesterday was one of those days for me. As I wondered the market place rather aimlessly, I finally decided on rabbit legs, to braise slowly. And when I say rabbit, I mean “wild” rabbit. Oh how I adore wild game meat! And of course winter is the perfect time for all things wild of the culinary nature.
Now wild rabbit isn’t exactly what I would describe as tender meat. The farmed variety is, but not its wild relative. However where it lacks in tenderness, it makes up for in flavour. People, I think, are too obsessed with having tender meat all the time- boring veal and intensely farmed chicken. Leave those meats to infants and the geriatrics! I don’t mind meat to be on the firm side as long as it has a good flavour. Of course, I don’t want to eat meat with the texture of leather boots, but a little chew factor I am absolutely fine with. After all, that’s why God gave us teeth. Use them!

Ingredients
700g wild rabbit legs, back only
20g unsalted cultured butter
20 duck fat
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp fresh chopped thyme
1 tbsp brown sugar
50ml vinegar (I used balsamic)
Rich brown stock- 1 or 2 ladles
Sea salt
Fresh black pepper

Method
Ask the butcher nicely, to cut each leg in two pieces.
Rinse the rabbit and pat dry.
Melt the butter and duck fat over a medium heat and sear the pieces of rabbit, until lightly golden.
Add the garlic cloves, thyme and sugar.
Splash in the vinegar and a ladle of stock.
Cover the pan, turn the heat to low and braise very slowly for 1 hour. Check from time to time the juices are not drying out. Add a ladle of stock if need be.
At the end of the hour the rabbit will be well done, but still firm. This is the nature of the beast.
Check the seasoning and enjoy it with parsnip puree to which you have added sour cream and nutmeg.
Serves 2 on a cold winters night.

Bugs Bunny (Roasted)

Years ago (before I knew any better) I decided that I was going to cook a rabbit. This was after I had experienced a delicious Spanish style rabbit dish dinning out. So I chose my recipe and bought my rabbit from a rather posh butchery. When I opened the vac-pac at home I was a bit disturbed. The first thing I noticed was the perculiar smell. It was like chemicals and lavender soap. It was revolting, actually. I can honestly say that to this day I have never had any meat which gave of this odour. So I began to inspect the meat. Had it gone off? That’s when I noticed that the colour of the flesh was dark pink and the fat very yellow, but it seemed fresh (the rabbits that I have cooked since have had a paler meat and white fat). Anyway, as I am always ready for a culinary challenge, I commenced the plan of attack. I read in a book that strong tasting rabbits should be soaked in a vinegar bath, prior to cooking. So this is what I did for a few hours. It still smelled wrong. “Not to worry” I thought. ”It will taste divine” I lied to myself. I cooked the recipe. The meat was perfect in texture and falling of the bones. But the smell.Yuck! It had permeated every corner of the house and if I could smell it right now it would induce a vomiting fit. But still being in denial, I persevered. I had come this far so I may as well continue. I served myself a portion and cut the meat with my cutlery. It was the vilest (and still is) thing I have ever put in my mouth. It went straight into the bin, as did the contents in the pot. I had to wash the pot numerous times to get rid of the pungent odour. And the smell that had soaked into every crevice in my apartment didn’t leave for a few days either. In hindsight I don’t think it was rabbit. I have no idea what it was. Maybe some other type of rodent- a possum perhaps I will never know. Needless to say, the butcher who sold me the mysterious feral, has since gone out of business. Live and learn I say. I hope I haven’t put you off rabbit. To me rabbit is luxurious.
I did not eat rabbit growing up (apart from once, although it was tough and dry), so to me it is not common the way chicken is. And in fact, if it where more easily available and cheaper, I would eat rabbit more often. I guess chicken has become the poor mans rabbit. Generations ago the reverse was true. Rabbit can be tricky to cook. It is easy to end up with meat that is too tough, so the trick is to roast it quickly, or braise it slowly. The following recipe will result in meat that is tender and very juicy. Rabbit meat is lean but rich. This recipe is plenty for 2 carnivores.

Ingredients
1 farmed rabbit
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp red wine
1 garlic clove
1 rosemary sprig (small)
Salt
Fresh black pepper

Method
Ask your butcher to joint the rabbit for you- 2 hindlegs, 2 forelegs, and the saddle. So a total of 5 pieces. You only need the 4 legs. The saddle tends to dry out. So reserve it for making stock, along with the kidneys and liver (if your butcher has included them)
Process the garlic, seasoning, rosemary, oil and wine in a baby processor (for best results). Massage the rabbit pieces with this marinade and leave for a few hours at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 180c. The temperature is important here. I use an oven thermometer to be sure.
Place the rabbit dishes into a baking dish and roast for 15 minutes. Turn the pieces and sprinkle them with a bit of water- about ½ tbsp on each piece. Roast them for a further 15 minutes.
A very fine dish indeed. I served this with roast Kipfler potatoes, Swiss brown mushrooms, onion, pancetta and thyme. My palate tends to be rather extravagant (really), so I made a reduction of clarified rabbit stock, flavoured with red wine. But that requires another recipe in itself.