Having just had a wonderful rabbit dish the other day, I wanted to bring this recipe to the front of the line. There is nothing quite as good as rabbit in whatever manner you wish to present it, as a fricassee which is wonderful or country-style smothered in good old fashioned French mustard, plenty of cream and white wine. I am getting hungry again just writing this down, thank you.
A Rabbit’s Tale
As we all know, back in the 19th Century, this succulent dish use to be called le lapin à la dijonnaise. These days I find there are more rabbit dishes than there are rabbits. Rabbit stew takes me back to those days when, as a child, we would spend our holidays, en famille, at our house in the Brittany countryside, it was colder than… well let’s just say it was pretty cold. But when our delightful housekeeper and cook made her famous rabbit dish it was guaranteed to bring smiles to everyone and we quickly forget about our then rather Spartan surroundings and the cold and damp. I will spare you the details of the early morning execution of said “wabbit” other than to mention that he didn’t stand a hare of chance of ever being proven innocent. To the sound of a slow drum beat, he was un-ceremoniously marched down the gravel path to the back garden and from there ten paces to ye old apple tree where he was offered his last Gauloise cigarette. The country cook’s weapon of choice was a long, menacing looking, razor sharp kitchen knife with a well-worn handle; it might well have been left from another century perhaps it was brought back by the Knights Templars. The deed was swift and I, ever the lucky one, was offered a now limp rabbit to carry back to the kitchen. Country living at its finest.
One morning over the recent holidays I put on my tweeds (cap included) and work boots and ventured into the field behind the house followed by my good and trusty friend Monsieur Louie who believes himself, like me, to be quite the hunter. He dreams about it and I read about it, so we are experts on this subject. The rabbit is a small-sized animal which means that we manly hunters do not need powerful elephant hunting guns, rather we need a gun that offers accuracy above all else. I won’t bore you with details of the Great White Hunter but I shot at what I thought were rabbits and missed more than a few times (my dog by then had retreated home with his tail intact) leaving me no other option than to present myself, hat in hand, before Marcel my local butcher who grinned and promptly pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Or was it his beret? In any event I had this dish for New Year’s Eve dinner and what a spectacular success!! I chose a great wine from the southern Rhone valley, Chateau Pesquie Terrasses. It was a no brainer selection after all what better than a wine from the part of the country where people live long comfortable lives in the sun in a region where rabbit’s days are numbered.
Rabbit in Mustard Sauce
This recipe (modified) comes from David Tanis, a chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.
Ingredients:
2 rabbits (about 2 1⁄2 lbs. each),each cut into 6–8 pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1⁄2 lb. pancetta or unsmoked bacon, cut into 1⁄4″-thick strips
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
1 1⁄2 cups crème fraîche **Note: If you do not have any CF use 1/2 cup each of sour cream and whipping cream (for 1 cup) and let stand for 12 hours; or use Mascarpone cheese as an alternative.
1 cup Dijon mustard
1 – 2 cups white wine
2 tbsp. roughly chopped fresh thyme
2 tbsp. roughly chopped fresh sage
2 tsp. black or yellow mustard seeds, crushed
8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
4 bay leaves
Serves 8
Directions:
- Season rabbit generously with salt and pepper and place in a large bowl along with remaining ingredients. Don’t go stingy on the mustard as some of the flavor will get lost in cooking.
- Mix together with your hands until rabbit pieces are coated. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let marinate at room temperature for at least 1 hour or overnight in the refrigerator.
- If rabbit has been chilled, allow it to come to room temperature. Heat oven to 400° and arrange a rack in the middle of oven.
- Divide rabbit in a single layer between 2 shallow roasting pans and top with any of the remaining marinade.
- Roast the rabbit, add the wine, turning wabbit once and basting with pan juices occasionally, until the juices have reduced and rabbit is cooked through, about 55 minutes.
- With 15 minutes left to go on the cooking, add the mushrooms.
- Set oven to broil and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes more. Serve rabbit with pan juices.
Serving Suggestions:
Add 8 small Red Potatoes, quartered to the dish mid-way through the cooking cycle that way they will absorb all the delicious juices. Finger-licking good mes amis.
Comme vins, je vous propose:
Chinon Val de Loire
Coteaux du Langedoc
Tardieu-Laurent 2007 Côtes-du-Rhône Villages, Les Becs Fins
Terrasses Chateau Pesquie 2008- Ventoux Rhône Valley
Savigny-les-Beaune Cote de Beaune
Culinary Travels in France 