Nick's Aunt Judy is a talented and experienced home cook and an amazing recipe resource. A few years ago I asked her to share some recipes for cooking rabbit, as I had had some at a restaurant and loved it. Promptly, a nice fat envelope arrived in the mail full of fun recipes utilizing my new favorite meat. Less promptly on my part, did I actually use any of them.
A perfect opportunity arose, however, when I stopped by my favorite butcher shop, Clancey's, on my way home from work last week and saw they had fresh rabbit behind the counter. One came home with me and I dug out those recipes. I decided on making 'Rabbit with Rosemary and Pommery Mustard,' which, if I'm reading Judy's documentation correctly, appears to be from the April 1983 issue of Contemporary Cuisine.
This particular recipe required me to debone the rabbit, which was quite enjoyable, educational, and somewhat similar to deboning a turkey. The rabbit meat gets sauteed in butter with onion, shallot, and garlic until nicely browned. Next I deglazed the pan with white wine (Judy has added a note here to make sure one uses 'good wine'), added some herbs, and simmered everything for about 20 minutes to cook the rabbit through. Once the rabbit is cooked, I removed it and continued to simmer the sauce to reduce it. I took some liberties with the recipe at this point, adding slightly less cream and opting to spend less time on the reduction process. I added mustard (although not pommery, just some that we had in the fridge) and chopped fresh rosemary, along with salt and pepper to taste. We served the rabbit and sauce over some rigatoni pasta. It was delicious and so fun to finally cook rabbit at home. I think I have quite a bit more to learn, but it should be an enjoyable process.
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