Rabbits and Pigs

[Galeazzo_Ciano]

Hi foodies.

I was in the fish (!) market this morning and could not resist buying a couple of rabbits and four pigs trotters.

So, in the words of Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction: "Please, pretty please, with sugar on top..."

Any recipes and/or advice for

1) Rabbits (they are "oven ready")

2) Pigs Trotters

Thank you

 

[ChefJune]

I copied this from the file that became my book. This is a winner!

Burgundy-Style Rabbit, My Way
Isn¹t it romantic! My favorite person to cook for is the most adventurous eater I know. He LOVES rabbit! I created this recipe for him quite a while before I went to Burgundy, but I DID make it there. The “My Way” in the title concerns the several peppers in the recipe (which are VERY Creole). Burgundians wouldn¹t make it so spicy, but we like it like that!
makes 4 servings
6 ounces red onion finely chopped
6 ounces green pepper finely chopped
6 ounces celery finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 3-pound rabbit cut into 6 pieces
¾ cup flour
2 ½ teaspoons sea salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne
¼ teaspoon mace
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon crushed brown mustard seed
2 cups red wine (such as Côtes du Rhône)
1 cup water
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup Cognac
1 basket pearl onions

1. Dredge rabbit pieces in flour mixture. Heat the olive oil in a deep-sided sauté pan. Sear rabbit on all sides to brown very well. Remove from pan and keep warm.
2. Sauté vegetables in the same oil until soft.


3. Blend the mustard and crushed seeds into the chicken stock. Add all the liquid to the pan. Add the salt and crushed red pepper. Return the rabbit to the pan. Cover tightly and allow to braise for 1 hour, or until very tender.


4. Remove rabbit from pan. Raise heat and cook liquid down to one half. Purée vegetables in sauce in a food processor fitted with the metal blade.


4. Return sauce to pan and add ¼ cup cognac. Add 1 basket of pearl onions (peeled and trimmed) and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes, or until onions are tender. Return rabbit pieces to sauce to reheat and coat well with the sauce.


Serve with buttered noodles or mashed potatoes to sop up all the delicious sauce.
Wine Tip: I like to serve a luscious red Burgundy with this, such as a Nuit St. George, or my favorite California Pinot Noir, Vision Cellars (www.visioncellars.com).

 

[VeraBlue]

rabbit cacciatore

do it the same way you'd do chicken cacciatore! You'll love it. Wishing I had one right now...

 

[BreezyCooking]

Unfortunately, although I do like rabbit, I've only enjoyed it in restaurants as my husband would rather eat worms & die than eat it - lol!!

That said, the most fabulous rabbit entree I ever enjoyed in a restaurant here in Virginia was a "Duck & Rabbit Stew". It consisted of a leg/thigh piece of duck & a similar piece of rabbit that had been browned & then braised with some lovely young carrots & baby turnips in a brown/red wine gravy. It was served atop a pile of lovely perfectly prepared cheese grits. I know that may sound strange, but trust me - it was anything but "froufrou" - rather a real peasant-type dish. It took all my steely composure not to lick the plate clean - lol!!!

 

[ChefJune]

Breezy, that wasn't at Luce, was it? When I was in your area in November, we had a spectacular meal there....

 

[Constance]

I love "fried" rabbit with mashed potatoes and rabbit gravy. The rabbit is seasoned, dredged in seasoned flour, browned on all sides (bacon grease is awfully good for this), and then the heat is turned down, water or other liquid added to the skillet, and lid put on, so the rabbit steams till it's tender.
Rabbit also makes a great jambalaya.

 

[CharlieD]

Here is a simple recipe for rabbit stew. Season rabbit with whatever seasoning that you normally like. Seer the rabbit pieces on both sides in the frying pan. In the mean time sauté diced onion in heavy, oven proof, pot until golden brown. When onion is done and rabbit is fried put rabbit into the pot add a pinch of baking soda and a cup/glass of boiling water stir, let it cook for 15-20 minutes. Add more water, enough to cover rabbit completely, warm up the oven to 300-350 degrees (sorry not sure about Celsius) put the pot into the oven cook for couple of hours, until meat is very tender. When meat is done take the pot out of the oven, take the meat out, add some potato, some carrots (about 1 carrot per 3 potatoes) cook till done check and reseason during cooking because potato will draw the salt on it self. You can do the same thing with rice.


P.S. Sounds very much like recipe above.

 

[Trip]

Hmmm, can honestly say never tried Rabbit, may have to give it a shot.

 

[auntdot]

Love rabbkit but have never made it because cannot find anything but the very frozen stuff in the supermarket (think the brand is Pell, if anyone has tried it would love to know how it is).

Have always thought rabbit would go well as the meat in a coq au vin recipe, and that is essentially, at least in my mind, ChefJune's recipe.

Have had it in many ways in restaurants. Gotta find it somewhere.

Hope you enjoy it.

 

[CharlieD]

you should try it, if it's done right it is really a treat.

 

[Constance]

Wild rabbit is the best, but I don't know any rabbit hunters anymore. We have lots of them out here in the country, but I've got a pair of red-tailed hawks that keep them "thinned out". The cayotes get their share, too.

 

[BreezyCooking]

Many years ago (I'm talking, like, 40 years ago here) my grandfather made a fricasee using the frozen Pell's rabbit from the supermarket & it was delicious. Pell's is the only supermarket supplier of rabbit I've ever seen anywhere.

It's unfortunate that my husband won't eat it, because we have an organic farm right around the corner that raises free-range bison, chickens, turkeys, goat, pork, & rabbit - & sells it all both fresh & frozen right off the farm. They also supply local restaurants & sell at a number of farmers' markets in the DC area (www.cibolafarms.com).

But again - the Pell's product is good, but that also probably very much depends on how it's been stored & how long it's been stored.

 

[Galeazzo_Ciano]

Thanks folks - have a sort of hybrid version of several rabbit recipes in the oven just now. Plan to eat a good deal of it from the oven and save some for a rabbit ravioli.

Many thanks.

Pigs trotters are on the stove. Found this and am giving it a try: http://inpraiseofsardines.typepad.com/blogs/2006/01/oink_oink_le_pi_2.html

Wife and daughter not too keen.

 

[Robo410]

a Brunswick stew, a traditional Appalachian mountain dutch oven recipe, is often made with chicken, but rabbit or squirrel are the originals.

brown bacon salt pork or fat back, season and brown rabbit pieces, sautee onions, (and garlic) add lima beans, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, pot liquor (broth or water), salt pepper...and to go fancier...some white wine, bay leaf thyme worcestershire sauce, and finish with hot sauce!

cook time about 1 1/2 hours. top of stove or camp fire or oven.

 

[ChefJune]

Have always thought rabbit would go well as the meat in a coq au vin recipe, and that is essentially, at least in my mind, ChefJune's recipe

Aunt Dot, My rabbit recipe is the classic Burgundian Rabbit with mustard sauce -- with added hot peppers. Coq au Vin and Boeuf Bourguignon are the same recipe, basically..... but don't know why you couldn't "do" that with rabbit! IT's just that my FPTCF always asks for "his" rabbit!

I'm sorry I can't help re: the frozen rabbit. I've never used it. I get my rabbits from a farmer at the Greenmarket in New York. When I first started cooking it, I got them from my butcher in the North End (Italian) of Boston. If you live anywhere near an ethnic butcher shop... be it Italian or Eastern European, I'll bet you can find fresh rabbit.

 

[lindatooo]

My Dad used to serve Rabbit and Polenta and I LOVED it! I'm sure it was substituted for chicken in a cacciatore recipe but with polenta it was nothing short of grand!