Rabbit Ragù Recipes

BRAISED RABBIT PAPPARDELLE

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large pan. When hot, add the rabbit, brown on all sides, then remove from the pan and set aside.
• Add the bacon, onion and carrot to the pan and cook for 10 mins until soft. Add the garlic, rosemary and tomato purée, stir for 1-2 mins, then pour in the wine and chicken stock.
• Return the rabbit to the pan, season, cover with a lid and cook over a low heat for 1 hr until the rabbit is really tender.
• Remove the rabbit from the pan and shred the meat using 2 forks. Be careful to remove all small bones. Meanwhile, increase the heat under the pan and boil the liquid for 5 mins until reduced by half. Add the shredded meat and reduce the heat to low. Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted water following pack instructions. Drain, reserving a little pasta water to thin the sauce if necessary.
• Stir half the orange zest, mustard, cream and parsley into the rabbit sauce. Add the cooked pasta to the pan, toss everything well to coat and heat through for 1-2 mins. Serve in bowls with grated Parmesan, parsley leaves and the remaining orange zest.

RABBIT RAGU WITH PAPPARDELLE

Steps:

• Pat the rabbit pieces dry and season with salt and pepper. In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, add the oil and brown the pieces, working in batches if needed to avoid crowding. Transfer to a plate.
• Reduce the heat to medium. Add the anchovy (if you choose) and mash it until it dissolves into the oil. Add the onion, carrots and celery, stirring until soft, about 5 minutes. Then add the red-pepper flakes, garlic and tomato paste, stirring for another minute. Deglaze the pan with the wine, turn the heat to high and boil to burn off the alcohol, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes, broth, bay leaves and thyme. Return the rabbit pieces to the pot, spacing them evenly so they are partly covered by the liquid. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the rabbit is falling off the bone, about 2 hours. Turn the pieces at least once.
• Turn off the heat and discard the thyme and bay leaves. Remove the rabbit from the sauce and let cool; then pull the meat from the bones. Shred some pieces and leave others large. Return the meat to the pan and simmer the sauce until thickened, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the butter, piece by piece. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pappardelle until al dente. Before draining, save a cup of the pasta water. Toss the pappardelle with the sauce over low heat, adding pasta water as necessary if the sauce is too thick. Divide among pasta bowls and top with the grated cheese.

RABBIT RAGU

Steps:

• Heat oil and butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet - 2" deep - over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add pancetta (or bacon) and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minute
• Add sage and rosemary and cook stirring, 30 sec.
• Add rabbit and cook, stirring occasionally, until rabbit is no longer pink on the outside, 2-3 minute
• Add onion, carrot and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minute
• Add wine and simmer, uncovered until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup - 10-15 minute
• Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper and simmer until sauce is thickened, 5-10 minute.
• Serve over Buttered Polenta, grits, rice or mashed potatoes.

12-HOUR RABBIT BOLOGNESE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 110°C/225°F/gas ¼.
• Wash and trim the leeks, then trim the carrots and celery, and wash the onions (skin on). Roughly chop the bacon.
• Place the bacon in a large casserole pan on a medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, fry for a few minutes until golden, then add the bay, strip in the rosemary leaves, and put the rabbit and offal on top.
• Peel the white skin from the garlic, leaving the bulb whole, then drop into the pan with the leeks, carrots, celery and onions.
• Add the dried porcini, followed by the tinned tomatoes, breaking them up with a spoon as you go. Pour over the beer, add the tomato purée, and just enough water to cover everything (roughly 1 litre).
• Bring to the boil, season generously with black pepper and a few pinches of sea salt, then finely grate in half the nutmeg. Cover with a lid, then place in the oven to tick away for 12 hours.
• When the time's up, let the stew cool down a little, then get yourself a big pair of clean Marigold gloves and another large pan. Pick through small handfuls of stew at a time, taking out any bones or vegetable skins. Discard the herbs, and flake the beautiful meat off the bones and into the clean pan. Scrunch the vegetables and offal in your hands as you go and break them into smaller pieces.
• Pour any juices left behind into the new pan, then go back in and have another rummage to make sure you haven't missed anything. Season to perfection with salt and pepper.
• Finely grate in the lemon zest and pick in a few thyme tips to brighten up the sauce. Divvy the sauce up between sandwich bags and either freeze them, or keep in the fridge.
• To make rabbit bolognese, simply reheat a small ladle of sauce per person in a pan over a medium heat and cook around 75g of pasta per person. Cook the pasta in boiling salted water according to the packet instructions, then drain, reserving a mugful of starchy cooking water.
• Toss the pasta with the sauce, loosening with a little cooking water, if needed, then grate in a good handful of cheese. Taste and season to perfection, then serve immediately with an extra grating of cheese, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some fresh thyme tips.

TUSCAN RABBIT RAGù

Steps:

• Place a large, heavy-bottomed, nonreactive pot over medium-low heat. Add olive oil and when it shimmers, add onion, carrot, celery and pancetta. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft and caramelized (about 25 minutes).
• Raise heat to medium-high. Add rabbit. Brown lightly on all sides. Add wine and stir, scraping bottom of pan. Add cheese rind if using, tomato paste, bay leaves and stock or water. Stir well, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, stir, and reduce heat to low.
• Simmer, lid slightly ajar, until meat is tender and nearly falling off the bone, about 2 hours.
• Remove rabbit from sauce. When cool enough to handle, shred rabbit. Return meat to pot. Add thyme and rosemary, and season with salt and pepper. Reheat gently before serving. Ragù may be spooned over warm polenta or tossed with pasta, butter, more fresh herbs and grated Parmesan or pecorino Toscano.

RABBIT RAGù

Steps:

• Heat oil and butter in a 12-inch heavy skillet (2 inches deep) over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then add pancetta and cook, stirring occasionally, 2 minutes. Add sage and rosemary and cook, stirring, 30 seconds. Add rabbit and cook, stirring occasionally, until rabbit is no longer pink on outside, 2 to 3 minutes. Add onion, carrot, and celery and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add wine and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 1 cup, 10 to 15 minutes. Add tomatoes, sea salt, and pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thickened, 5 to 10 minutes.