Saturday, April 9, 2011

Clarissa's Stewed Rabbit: A Recipe

If you never tried rabbit, maybe it's time you did. Rabbit is good, lean meat and, if cooked right, it is delicious.

What you will need:

1 medium sized rabbit
1 onion
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons of coarse-grained Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of sour cream
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon of rosemary
half a can of green peas
herbs of your choosing
water of bouillion
salt and pepper

1. First, you'll have to defrost your rabbit because they are usually sold frozen in this country and wash it.

2. Then, you'll have to butcher it. So if you are at all sentimental about cute, little bunnies, then maybe this is not a recipe for you. The good news is that butchering a rabbit is extremely easy. It usually takes me about five minutes to cut it into pieces like the ones you can see in the picture:


3. Season the pieces of rabbit with salt and pepper. Then, brown them lightly on both sides in olive oil:


4. After the pieces have browned, add them to a large pan, and cover them with bouillion or water. Add an onion, some black pepper and your favorite herbs. I have added a bay leaf, rosemary (which goes really well with rabbit), some mustard seeds (because I love them) and some coriander. Bring the water or stock to a very light boil and put the pan on medium-low heat for about 30 minutes.


5. Add 1-2 tablespoons of coarse-grained Dijon mustard to the pan. However, if you only have cheap mustard of the kind that people put on hot dogs, it's better to skip this step altogether. Bad mustard can kill this dish completely. Dissolve two tablespoons of sour cream in cold water and add it to the stew. Then, dissolve a tablespoon of flour in cold water and add it to the pan. This is how your rabbit will look after you do all this:

Add some salt to taste to the stew, cover it and leave it to simmer for another 45-60 minutes, or until the rabbit becomes tender. When the rabbit is almost done, add some green peas.

6. I serve the rabbit over mashed potatoes but any other garnish will do, of course:

Enjoy!

6 comments:

liese4 said...

We just went to a Tartan fest today and had a really good lamb stew. The recipe's on my blog, I'll put it here for you too:

650 g cubed lamb
25 g pearl barley
1 onion finely chopped
3 celery sticks
225 g carrots in chunks
25 g margarine
150 ml cider
150 ml stock
salt and pepper
thyme fresh or dried

Simmer barley for 10 min then drain. In a large pot melt margarine and cook veggies for 7 min, add lamb and stir. Stir in cider, stock, add seasoning, thyme and barley. Cover and cook for an hour.

It was really good.

Clarissa said...

A great recipe! I love lamb. Maybe I'll put up the recipe of my killer lamb stew one of these days. I never cooked it with barley, though, and I wonder why since I love barley.

Sarah said...

Hi! Just popped over from IBTP. Out of curiosity, what does rabbit taste like? I love trying new things in the kitchen, and I've never tried rabbit before - but I'm a little wary of trying new meats after trying liver, bear, deer, pheasant and duck and deciding I didn't like any of them. :/


Adventures in Mediocrity

Clarissa said...

The good thing that it tastes nothing like liver, bear, deer, pheasant and duck. It's light meat that I don't know what compare it to. It doesn't have a very overpowering, distinctive taste. Which maybe is a good thing.

Clarissa said...

liese4: when will your husband's current tour end? Do you have any info on that?

I can't tell you how much I admire what you do to keep the relationship of the two of you going.

You are my hero, buddy.

Sarah said...

Sounds like it's definitely worth a shot for me to try, then! Thanks for posting this recipe.