Rabbit Stew

Coniglio Cacciatore

A rabbit is easily ordered from a butcher and you can ask for it to be cut into pieces. If you haven’t cooked with rabbit before it’s a really lean, healthy, white meat that lends itself to absorbing other flavours really well. This is a really easy dish to throw in a big pot and serve with roasted vegetables. If using rabbit makes you feel uncomfortable that’s ok, I understand, use a chicken instead.

Recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 whole rabbit, cut into pieces

1 onion finely chopped

1 garlic cloved, minced

3 tablespoons of dried porcini mushrooms, soaked in boiled water

750g bottle of passata

2 cups of red wine

500mL of chicken or vegetable stock

1 sprig of rosemary

2 bay leaves

1 cup of pitted black kalamata olives

Method

1. In a large stock pot/dutch oven, heat the oil and brown the pieces of rabbit, remove and set aside

2. In the same pot, sautee the onion in more olive oil on moderate heat until opaque then add garlic, being careful not to burn

3. Roughly chop the drained porcini mushrooms once they have been re-hydrated and add to pot

4. Pour in the passata, along with the red wine and the stock

5. Finally, add the rosemary and the whole bay leaves and olives

6. Add the rabbit back into the pot

7. Give it a good stir and let simmer for 3 hours

   Ecco! Your rabbit is ready to serve – buon appetito