It’s probably not on the top of most people’s shopping list, but rabbit is in season, it’s pretty cheap, it’s lean, and it’s really tasty. This recipe for a rustic Italian style ragù takes a bit of time and effort, but trust me, it really is worth it. One tip, if your butcher is any good he / she should sell you the rabbit with the liver and kidneys. Don’t throw these away, they’ll add richness to the dish. The ingredients below will serve 4-6 people.
Ingredients
Olive oil
1 large rabbit (around 1kg with the liver and kidneys), jointed
100g pancetta or smoked streaky bacon, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
1 large stick of celery, diced
1 onion, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large red chilli, finely chopped including seeds
600ml chicken stock
200ml red wine
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 sprig rosmary, finely chopped
Small handful of sage leaves, finely chopped
2 bay leaves
Freshly ground black pepper
Fat ribbon style pasta (pappardelle / futtucine / tagliatelle) to serve
Method
Firstly remove the offal from the jointed rabbit and set to the side. Heat olive oil in a heavy casserole dish, and then brown the rabbit joints. You’ll probably have to do this in a couple of batches. Whilst this is going on, prep all the vegetables. Once the rabbit is nicely browned, remove from the pan and set aside.
Next fry off the pancetta for a couple of minutes until it’s golden, then add all the vegetables, garlic and chilli. Sweat these off for a few minutes until tender. Then add the herbs closely followed by the tomato puree. After a couple of minutes, add the red wine to de-glaze the pot. Then add the tinned tomatoes and chicken stock and bring up to the boil. As the cesserole is coming up to temperature, chop the liver and kidneys as finely as you can (they will form a kind of puree), then add them ito the mix along with a good few grinds of black pepper, and stir.
Now return the rabbit joints to the casserole. They should fit snugly into the pot and just be covered by the cooking liquid. Put the lid on, and then simmer for at least one hour. The longer you cook the rabbit, the softer and flakier the meat will become. Ideally you would slow cook it until the meat falls off the bone (around two hours).
When the meat is cooked, remove it from the pan and set aside. Carry on simmering the cooking liquid with the lid off to reduce it a bit and intensify the flavours. When the rabbit has cooled enough to touch it, fork off the meat. Hopefully it will flake off the bone in ribbons. Once you’ve stripped the joints, add the rabbit back to the pan and stir, beaking up any large pieces of meat.
Whilst the ragù is coming back up to simmering point, cook your pasta in a pan of boiling salted water. Fat ribbon pasta works best for this dish as it has more surface area for the ragù to stick to. When the pasta is cooked, drain and add back to the pan, then spoon over enough of the ragù to coat the pasta nicely. Finally drizzle a little olive oil over the dish, and then serve.
Tags: Celery, Futtucine, Herbs, Onion, Pappardelle, Pasta, Rabbit, Ragu, Rosemary, Tagliatelle, Tomato
