Bwaised Wabbit

Some of you may want to turn your heads at this posting. Now I understand Elmer Fudd's persistence at hunting that wascally wabbit.

A couple of weeks ago, while browsing the Publix for a different dish for the Remler Menu, I noticed rabbit in the meat case, and I immediately thought that would be a fun and different entree to cook, especially, ironically, near Easter. But when I got said rabbit home, I realized that I had no idea how to cook it.

Looking online raised more questions than answers. Almost all recipes recommended braising the meat because rabbit is such a lean meat that one must cook it slow so it won't dry out. No problem. I don't mind braising, but that meant I had to cook the rabbit on a weekend. Week nights wouldn't give me enough time.

Then there was the matter of finding just the right recipe. Most of them called for almost a dozen ingredients, most of them fresh herbs, which I don't grow and which cost a pretty penny at the Publix. Finally, I found just the right recipe. But the website didn't offer a version that was easily printable, so I wrote it down and forgot to note the URL. So to some poor rabbit recipe author out there, I'm sorry. I'll credit you when I find your website again. Until then, just know that this recipe attracted me because it called for eleven ingredients, but most of them were vegetables, not fresh herbs. And now that I've cooked it, I know I picked the right one.

Tonight's dinner was one of many firsts for me. I'd never cooked rabbit (I'd eaten it, but not cooked it). What's more, I'd never cooked with fennel. In fact, I didn't even know what fennel was. I had to look it up online before I went to the Publix to buy it. It was the first time I cooked with Stephen's new cast iron chili pot, which worked perfectly for braising. And it was the first time I'd wrapped herbs in cheese cloth. This dinner was fun to make:

Ingredients:
1 rabbit
1 onion
1 small head of fennel
3-4 garlic cloves
1-2 parsnips
1-2 carrots
1 cup white wine
at least 2 cups of chicken stock (maybe more)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
peppercorn
parsley

Instructions:
Put about 2 tbsp oil in the pot (I used olive oil) and braise the meat. Remove it and add onion, garlic, parsnip and carrot. Saute the vegetables. Add fennel. Wrap herbs in cheese cloth. Put the rabbit back in the pot on top of the vegetables and add the wine plus enough chicken stock to cover the rabbit. Put the wrapped herbs in the pot. Cover and put in oven at 350 degrees for 90 minutes.

Now, there are some things I wasn't too sure about when I made this dish. First of all, having never cooked fennel, I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to use the bright green hairy, leafy top of it or just the stalky part on the bottom. I compromised. I put the stalky, celery-like part in with the vegetables, and I wrapped the leafy part in with the herbs. Also, I wasn't sure what constituted a sprig of thyme. Was it one piece of thyme that came out of the package, which usually consisted of several "limbs"? Or was it one little limb of the thyme plant? I opted for one whole piece and then one little limb. Finally, having never wrapped herbs in cheese cloth, I didn't know whether there was a proper method. So I wrapped them up securely and tied the cloth in a knot so no herbs could escape. Then, after all that, once the pot was in the oven, I realized I'd forgotten all about the peppercorn and parsley. No matter. Dinner turned out fine.

And my family thought so too! As it turned out, Davis had already eaten rabbit on a hunting trip back in December. So he wasn't skeptical as I feared he would be. Neither was Lawson, perhaps because Davis was so pro-rabbit. They gobbled it up with no prodding from me, thank goodness. In fact, both boys went back for seconds!

I think I was the only person, though, who enjoyed the vegetables. I thought they were delicious. Stephen ate only a little bit, and Davis and Lawson avoided them altogether. Which is fine. More for me tomorrow.

As we ate, I said, "Pick one: rabbit or tuna salad." Immediately, both boys exclaimed, "Rabbit! Rabbit! Rabbit!"

I get the picture.

Stephen said he thought it was good: "Definitely worth having again." Davis said he thought it was good too. Lawson said he liked it, but he liked it best in a biscuit.

The only downside to this dinner is its price. Half a rabbit costs about fifteen bucks. So don't make it once a week. The upside is that you can make this same recipe with chicken as well, which I might do on other occasions, especially if I get furloughed again.