Rabbit Stew Recipe

Looking for a cute companion that helps relaxing after a hard day at work or just after a lovely meal? Interestingly rabbits have it both.

It’s hard to believe that Bugs Bunny or Peter rabbit could be served as a family dinner on a calm and sunny Sunday though. Well, actually it’s not that hard to imagine that of Bugs Bunny given his nature. Probably the ester bunny would be a much harder piece to shove down on our 5 years old throat. Luckily the media industry hasn’t attached to much emotional value to chickens (Ginger), beef (Ferdinand) or pork (Babe) so we can have them anytime and everywhere without them leaving a bad taste in our mouth.

In the US rabbits are relatively rarely eaten but in the past couple of years demand seems to be growing thanks to it’s likeliness to chicken meat both appearance and texture.  Chefs from Europe or trained in Europe -where it is fairly common ingredient- are helping the meat gaining it’s ground again. More and more restaurants in search of new trends and flavors are including them on the menu. Due to the rabbit’s diet its taste is different from that of the chicken. It has a slightly gamey taste but with the right herbs and spices it can be perfectly complemented and blended into delicious dishes.

As with poultry rabbits need to be cooked well to avoid any food poisoning and of course mind not to be eaten raw.  Wild rabbits are leaner, chewier and taste different due to their diet and if luck presents itself in the form of a dead coney grab it and don’t look back. Mind to skin it quick as it will go bad fast though. However most of us should stick to the shop bought version that is skinned then gutted properly and doesn’t need anything but a hot skillet.

It’s an interesting fact that rabbit meat is so lean that people who had access to no other food at some part of the year only rabbit for months died from it. Actually not from it but from the lack of nutrients that our body can absorb apart from vegetables and fruits from animal fat. As other food was not available due to being winter and the bunnies didn’t have fat on them they didn’t get the necessary food supplements to get them going and with protein only they could go only that far as the bunnies tail.

As it was mentioned before rabbits are eaten for a long time in many places which results a variety of fancy recipes floating around all over the world. In Italy they are escpecially favored and served with various type of pasta or even better with dark chocolate sauce.

This recipe will won’t go that far though but we will get far enough. Given that sour cream is the other end of any know spectrum.

So basically we are preparing a rosemary and onion based stew that will enrich and complement the taste of the meat. Then we will try to sneak in some sour cream and carrot that will take away some of the rabbits rough edges and blends together the sweet slow cooked vegetables creating a soft tasting dish with a touch of wildness and a breath of rosemary. Like walking on the countryside in the sweet sunshine on a spring afternoon while the smell of fresh herbs in the air dancing with the wind.

That’s enough pep talk. Let’s get to it.

Ingredients

Rabbit stew

• ½ cup / 125ml Oil
• 1 Rabbit (pieces)
• 2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 tablespoon Parsley
• 1 Onion (diced)
• 1 teaspoon Black pepper
• 1 piece Rosemary
• 1 cup / 250 ml Water

Carrot sauce

• ½ cup / 125ml Olive oil
• 1 Onion (diced)
• 4 Carrots (diced)
• 8 oz / 200g Sour cream

 

How to make Rabbit stew

Rabbit stew

1. Pour oil into a pan and on high heat start searing the rabbit. Once one side is getting some golden brown crust sprinkle parsley and half of the salt on top and flip it over.
2. Once the other side of the meat is getting a golden brown crust stir in the diced onion with the other half of the salt.
3. Fry the onion under the meat while stirring it until at least it gets a translucent, glassy look. It takes about 5 minutes on high heat. If we are after a bit sweeter flavor then we can cook it longer on low heat until it gets a brownish caramelized look but this takes at least 15 minutes.
4. Add black pepper, rosemary then pour a cup of water into the pan place a lid on and bring it to boil. Lower the heat and simmer for about 40 minutes.

Carrot Sauce

1. Heat up oil to medium to high heat and fry onions until glassy / translucent look for about 5 minutes.
2. Add the carrots and saute for 5 more minutes on high heat then lower the temperature to low and stir-fry until it starts to caramelize for about 10 – 15 minutes. Stir it frequently as it could burn down badly spoiling the sweet sauce with a bitter burnt taste.
3. When the onion gets a brownish caramelized look pour the mixture into a big bowl add the sour cream and mix it together. If it feels too thick add some liquid from the stew or water. Some like to mix the whole carrot sauce with the stew making a creamy rabbit stew.

Enjoy!

 

 

Pin now, Enjoy  later!