Be Vewwy Vewwy Quiet...

I was browsing the mushroom selection at Far West Fungi a few weeks back when I saw them: morels! I've been waiting to cook them ever since I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; she and her family go hunting for them on their farm in Virginia. Until now I had never cooked nor tasted them. I should have just left it at morels, to give them the focus they needed, to really showcase them for this first experience. But I got carried away when I saw the fiddlehead ferns - another item I had never tasted nor prepared - and I started envisioning a truly 'woodsy' dinner...I was thinking along the lines of game hen or quail or some other wildish fowl from my local butcher.



But alas, when I arrived at my butcher later that evening there was no wild fowl to be had. There WAS, however, an item I had never seen there before: rabbit! WHOLE rabbit - without the head, of course - set back behind the free-range chickens. I started wracking my brains for anything I knew about cooking rabbit...I'd only eaten it once, and couldn't recall what the experience was like. I'm a little squeamish about the idea of eating them, perhaps because I have owned several pet rabbits and the idea is just strange and a little wrong to me. But my butcher only sells meat and fish obtained from sustainable and humane - and mostly organic - sources, so I trusted that this rabbit had led a good life, however brief. I also have come to believe that as long as you have respect and on some level a relationship with the meat you are eating, you can feel okay...I mean, we are omnivores; the important thing is to not abuse in any way the right to eat other living beings. When I purchase organic meat from sources I can trust, I rest easier knowing that the animal was treated properly and is being appreciated fully even after death.

Plus, I mean C'MON, it seemed to fit perfectly with my "woodsy" theme, and my boyfriend - having lived in Scotland, where apparently "mangy" little rabbits run rampant like squirrels or gophers - was quite encouraging. I knew they aren't the easiest thing to cook, but I had the whole night ahead of me. I asked my butcher for some tips, and wound up opting out of having him butcher it for me. A little while later, there I stood with this bright pink skinless carcass-the-exact-size-of-my-adorable-cat in front of me on the butcher block, desperately wondering what I had got myself into since every recipe I found called for butchering the thing into pieces and A) I did not have a roasting pan big enough to cook it whole, B) I did not have enough TIME to cook it whole, and C) the knife I thought was quite sharp failed to slice through rabbit bone in ANY WAY like the one the guy in the youtube video used. And I was more than a little freaked out when my adorable cat sidled up to the butcher block, demonstrating just how uncannily the thing resembled her in size and shape, sans head and fur. But my mom and my boyfriend were looking on, so this needed to get done. I ended up cleaving the thing with an extremely dull but rather intense-looking machete-like knife. My 'audience' expressed amazement when I managed to hit the same exact spot twice in a row; it really wasn't too difficult, although I doubt my butchering skills would stand up to professional scrutiny!



Once butchered, I used a few online recipes for reference and arrived at my own strategy. It's very easy, and the results were outstanding, beyond what I could have hoped for considering my lack of skills, time and knowledge about this particular meat. I've always heard that rabbit can be tough, but apparently not THIS rabbit, when cooked in broth and white wine and cream. It tasted like supremely tender roast chicken with a hint of what I guess has to be called "gaminess," but which I prefer to call the wild.



The funny thing is, the morels that started this whole thing wound up engulfed by a huge mass of too much, too-dense, farro-flour-based pasta; after cooking the mushrooms beautifully in wine and cream and butter, they were almost nonexistent amongst all that starch. The sauce - cooked with morels and consisting of cream, white wine, and goat cheese added at the very end - was delicious, but only helped to overpower the mushrooms. I blame my lapse in judgment on that wascally wabbit. It stole the limelight, and thus my attention. Luckily the next day I turned the pasta into a rich baked dish with goat, parmesan and white cheddar cheeses, which completely saved it. Still, it was a shame to have abused such marvelous little fungi; next time I won't be so easily distracted.



Braised Rabbit

one rabbit, butchered into 6 pieces
several cups of chicken broth
1 cup dry white wine
1/4-1/2 cup cream
2-3 shallots, chopped
2-3 TB olive oil
chopped parsley
black truffle salt (totally optional)

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Heat oil in large saute pan over medium heat.

Season rabbit pieces well with salt and pepper. Brown in hot pan for about 5 min a side, until deeply browned. Place in large, high-sided oven-proof dish.

In same pan, saute shallots 2 min (add butter or oil if too dry). Add wine, turn heat up to medium high, scraping up brown bits. Cook for 2-3 min more.

Pour wine/shallot mixture over rabbit, add broth and cream to dish until rabbit is 3/4 of the way submerged in liquid. Top with salt & pepper and some parsley, and sprinkle on a little truffle salt if desired.

Braise in oven for 1-1.5 hours, until deeply golden brown and tender enough to shred easily off the bone. Remove from liquid, let rest 5-10 minutes before serving.

Pour off liquid into hot saute pan, turn up heat relatively high and reduce, about 5 minutes, until slightly thickened.



Serve rabbit with your choice of veggies and starch, top with a little of the sauce.




Don't be afraid to try this! It's not that difficult. Just take care that you purchase your rabbit from a responsible and humane source!


*Happy Eating*