lapin au vin rouge - rabbit in red wine sauce

I had never cooked rabbit nor even eaten one. Occasionally when I dine out with friends I would wonder how rabbit taste when my friend order one.


I was in my weekly grocery shopping trip this weekend and I decide to go by a local grocery store that I know that sells rabbit. I didn't go there for rabbit but I want to see what they have in duck. I was hoping to find fresh duck there but no luck. They have frozen whole duck and frozen duck legs that are quite expensive. Since I was there I asked them about the rabbit that I have inquired by phone before. They have what look to be fresh rabbit for $7.99 a pound. I picked up a small one weighted in just slightly over two pounds.

Since I didn't planned on making a rabbit dish I have to make haste to figure how to deal with it. I decided on this one amongst a number of Peter Hertzmann's recipes based on the ingredients I have on hand.
i told myself - don't worry, rabbit is just like a chicken

yes! just chop it up into pieces like you would a big chicken

dust with flour and season with salt and pepper (more precisely you flavor with pepper) and brown the pieces

 looks good so far

 the second batch - you never want to crowd the meat when you try to brown them

 saute the onions

add the rabbit pieces and pour in a dry red wine

i was concern the rabbit dish may need a condiment that has a hint of sweetness; i took a small orange and juiced it; i reduce the juice together with the zest to make a concentrated sauce

the recipe does not have the accompaniment so i took the liberty to make some carrot and asparagus

 i made some roux to thicken the wine sauce as called out in the recipe

 the roux is ready

 i reduced the sauce and then added the roux

 the reward of the work

The recipe states that a small rabbit is for serving of two. It would turned out I have enough for 4 meals.As it turned out the sauce is quite well balance. It is not in need of the citric sauce I prepared. The sauce from the reduced red wine and onions has enough sweetness. The recipe said cook the rabbit in the sauce for about 1 hour. As it turned out the thicker pieces can use another 20 minutes or more. The rabbit is delicious and not gamey at all. It cost quite a bit more than chicken but certainly it is a dish that I would like to prepare once a while.

a meal the next day