Fricassée of rabbit with bacon + summer vegetables

This is not my greatest photo or presentation of a plate.  The time and place and taste were more important anyway, and I don’t think we ate before 10 o’clock that night, after much aperitif-ing, giggling, and the like.  So can we please move on?

It may be one of the best meals I’ve ever made, though, but it’s also true I probably say this too much.  Perhaps it means I have a very low base from which I started to cook?  (Indeed, several years ago I could not boil water.  Really.)  Either way, the little bunny who died so that I might make that and then this and then a risotto with its broth, and after all of this several other meals-to-be has not died in vain, to the extent that feeding mouths higher up the food chain with elective protein is not vain, at least.

It may or may not have been the best thing to emerge from my kitchen, but this terrible photo documents the first time I made a meal to match a wine.  Has anyone else done this before?  I must say, I think it’s kind of hard.  Presumably one should know about the wine before the meal is made and the bottle opened, and presumably one should also know how to match wine to food.  As to the latter, I like to think of matching bigness of the flavors in the food to bigness of the wine (steak + a full-bodied wine, for example) and contrasting other components (ergo, fatty foods + more acidic wines) therein, though this could be all wrong, or at least overly simplistic.  As to the former, egads.  But I had drunk this particular wine once before (It is spectacular), so I may be cheating here.  That said, those of you who visit me probably do not do so to witness me pontificating about things I don’t know so much.  So this stuff aside.

My friend M and I rather adored this dish, a success I think was built on the pleasing contrasts of the fatty bacon and the (acidic) white wine for braising.  Along with his spectacular wine for drinking.  The best method for preparing rabbit legs at home is undoubtedly the braise, also called a fricassée since you are using white meat.  (I don’t know why this is.)  As with most recipes for rabbit, you can use whole chicken legs here instead.  (Braise chicken for 1 hour only.)  The recipe looks long, but the method is more or less the same: brown the meat, cook it in liquid for a long time, then strain the liquid and serve it all together.  And if you get caught up in chatter while you’re busy doing nothing, I won’t tell anyone.

Fricassée of rabbit with bacon + summer vegetables

For the rabbit:  2 rabbit legs  |  kosher salt + freshly ground pepper  |  4 strips very thick-cut bacon (or slab), cut into little rectangles  |  3 tbsp butter  |  components of a mirepoix – 1 small onion (spring onion, leek, regular, any kind), 1 carrot, 1 stalk celery, all chopped roughly  |  components of a bouquet garni  — 1 bay leaf, 2 sprigs thyme, couple stems parsley  |  2 cups white wine  |  water  |  herbs for garnish, like thyme, parsley, or summer savory, optional

For the vegetables:  whatever kinds of vegetables you like, such as:  4 new potatoes, cut into quarters  |  2 baby leeks, split lengthwise  |  small handful wax beans, trimmed  |  big handful frozen peas

Season the rabbit liberally with salt + pepper and allow to come to room temperature, about 1 hour.

Heat an ovenproof pot with straight sides and in which both legs will comfortably lie flat over medium heat.  Brown the bacon to your liking, stirring from time to time.  Then remove to paper towels to drain, leaving the fat in the pan.  Add 1 tbsp of the butter to the pan and turn the heat to high.  Brown the rabbit legs on both sides, about 5 minutes on the first side and 3 on the second.  Don’t move the rabbit while it is browning.  It will be fine.

Then remove the rabbit to a plate, and discard all but a small amount of fat in the pan.  Turn the oven to 325 F/160 C.  Add another tablespoon of butter and turn the heat to medium.  Add the onion, carrot, and celery, season with salt + pepper, and stir with a wooden spoon, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan.  After 7ish minutes, when the vegetables are wilted, add the wine, and scrape up all the remaining brown bits with your wooden spoon.  Bring to a boil.  Add the rabbit legs and enough water so that the rabbit sits just proud of the liquid.  Season the liquid with a bit more salt and pepper.  Bring back to a simmer, cover tightly with a lid or double layer of aluminum foil, and place in the oven to braise.  It will be done in about 2 hours.

While you’re waiting, cook the vegetables to your liking.  I like steaming.  And have a drink.

The rabbit is done when the meat falls easily away from the bone as you press it with your finger.  Remove the cooking vessel from the oven and the legs to a plate.  Run the braising liquid through a strainer, pressing on the vegetables with the back side of a ladle.  Keep these very cooked vegetables for another use (a base for a risotto, for example), but discard the bay leaf, thyme, and parsley springs.

Put the liquid back in the pan and bring to a hard boil.  Let it boil down until reduced by at least half, then keep going to your liking, tasting along the way.  To put the whole thing together, reduce the liquid to a simmer, swirl in the last tablespoon of butter, add back the rabbit legs, bacon, and vegetables.  When everything is heated through, serve, garnishing with some herbs, if you like.

Serves 2