Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style recipe

Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes

Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style

This is the first of three recipes featuring rabbit. The recipe I am describing here is from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, so we are speaking about the north of the country. For the initial sauté of onions, we will use lard and butter because, in the past, these were the most available cooking fats to the people of that area. Olive oil was more available to those families living along the coastline of Liguria or in regions like Tuscany and Umbria where there is extensive cultivation of olive trees. Rabbit is very popular in Italy and every farm I know there, breeds some for their own use. I have eaten rabbit all my life; I think it is a very good alternative to chicken and give us the chance to cook something different. It’s cheap to buy, easy to cook and delicious to eat. As an accompaniment to this dish I would recommend polenta.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4
Calories 650 kcal

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Ingredients
 

  • 1 Rabbit (adult animal)
  • 75 grams (3 oz) Lard
  • 50 grams (2 oz) Butter
  • 2 Onions (medium size – thinly sliced)
  • 1 Celery stalk (thinly sliced)
  • 1 Clove of garlic (finely chopped)
  • 100 grams Tomato passata
  • A small bunch of flat leaf parsley (finely chopped)
  • 100 ml (4 fl oz) White wine
  • 60 ml (2 fl oz) White wine vinegar
  • 250 ml (1/2 Pint) Chicken or vegetable stock
  • Salt and black pepper for seasoning

Instructions

  • First of all, cut the rabbit into pieces. You should be able to cut the front and back legs without crunching any bones. Split bones are a nightmare when cooking rabbit, so try to cut the animal neatly. Keep the kidneys, liver and heart because these are the best parts to eat.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Put the rabbit cuts into a large bowl filled with cold water. Add the vinegar into the water, then cover with cling film and refrigerate for one hour or so.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • At the same time, put kidneys, liver and heart into a small container and refrigerate.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • After about an hour, take the bowl out of the fridge, discard the water, rinse the rabbit cuts and finally pat them dry.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Take a large sauté pan and start melting the lard together with the butter. At this stage, cook on a medium-high heat.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • When the fats start sizzling, add the onion and the celery into the pan (both thinly sliced).
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Sauté for 3-4 minutes, to give some colour.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Add the rabbit cuts into the pan.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Cook each side of the cuts for few minutes.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Here, I am cooking the second side.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Then, when both sides have achieved some colour, add the wine into the pan.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • A couple of minuets after the wine, add the tomato passata into the pan.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Stir, so that the tomato passata is evenly distributed around the pan.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Then, add only half of the stock available. Technically speaking you should not need any more stock; however if something goes wrong and you think that the pan content is getting too dry or slightly burnt, you still have some extra stock left.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Season with salt.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Season with black pepper.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Turn the heat to low, cover with a lid and cook for about 1 hour, turning the rabbit cuts every 20 minutes.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Meanwhile, finely chop the parsley and garlic together.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • After the rabbit cuts have been cooking on low heat for 1 hour, add the parsley and garlic mix. Give the whole thing a good stir and continue cooking for another 10 minutes with the lid on.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Once the 10 minutes have passed, add the kidneys, liver and heart into the pan. These need only 10 minutes to cook and you can do so without lid, so that we start to reduce the sauce to a thicker consistency.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • This is what you should get after about 90 minutes cooking.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes
  • Plate the rabbit and serve. As I said, ideally I would serve this dish with polenta and, of course, a large glass of robust red wine.
    Rabbit Emilia-Romagna style | Meat Recipes

Nutrition

Calories: 650kcal
Keyword Meat
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Categorised as Meat

By Federico

Federico Pezzaioli is an ex-badass Italian Paratrooper on a mission - to make creating delicious authentic Italian food really easy. He researches, writes and photographs each recipe with the same attention to detail he used to apply to packing his parachute.

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