I have a couple of favourite butchers I love to go to. Unfortunately my visits to them are limited to our annual and quarterly visits to family. This is why I go prepared with a big esky and lots of icepacks to bring my loot safely home.
Wagga Wagga is Knights Meats, an veritable candy store of meats. We always stock up on their Corned Hogget, enough to last a year as we only get there annually.
Canberra has Eco Meats in one of my favourite food markets, located right near my nana’s place, in Belconnen. If there is an animal you would like to try then here’s your place… among their cornucopia of meats are camel, ostrich, possum, crocodile, plus nitrite free bacon. This is where I stock up on bacon and wild rabbit before heading back to Sydney.
I love rabbit and have been eating it since I was young, even being the ‘lucky one’ and getting the bullet in one of my mouthfuls when eating a freshly shot one we had for dinner when we were in Finland.
There is a big difference between a farmed white rabbit and a wild rabbit. The flavour of a wild rabbit is definitely alot more flavoursome and as they may be older than the farmed ones, they can be tougher, which is why braising is the preferred method for wild rabbit. Having a stronger flavour also means you can be a bit bolder with the other ingredients you choose to put into it. The farmed rabbit has a more delicate flavour so softer flavours are needed so as to not overpower the rabbit.
If you aren’t sure if you would like wild rabbit or have yet to try rabbit then purchase a farmed one and then move up to the wild rabbit.
Ingredients
1 rabbit – wild or farmed
1 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, finely sliced
2 rashers of smoked bacon, chopped
1 cup white wine
200g mushrooms, sliced – a mix of button and swiss brown works well
2 cups of chicken stock
1/2 cup passata
1/2 parmesan rind
1 tbs sweet paprika
1 bayleaf
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Method
Start by prepping your rabbit*. If you have access to wild rabbit you will need to clean out the inside and break it down into 8 pieces. If you get it fresh from the butcher, you could ask them to do this for you. The farmed ones should already be cleaned out so you just need to break it down. Here is a fantastic step by step by Hunter|Angler|Gardener|Cook.
*As the bones of rabbit love to splinter into little shards, take some care when preparing it. I also rinse the pieces under running water, paying particular attention to the legs to remove the little bone fragments.
When ready, brown your pieces in a little oil and then set aside.
Heat a little oil in your pan and gently cook the onions for 5 minutes. Add the bacon and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
Add the wine and let reduce almost completely.
Add the rest of the ingredients and get back to a simmer. Taste and alter seasoning appropriately.
Place the rabbit pieces back into the pan and stir to coat. Cover and cook gently for 2 hours or till the meat is fall off the bone tender.
Serve with potatoes and roasted veggies.
- 1 rabbit – wild or farmed
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, finely sliced
- 2 rashers of smoked bacon, chopped
- 1 cup white wine
- 200g mushrooms, sliced – a mix of button and swiss brown works well
- 2 cups of chicken stock
- ½ cup passata
- ½ parmesan rind
- 1 tbs sweet paprika
- 1 bayleaf
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- Start by prepping your rabbit*. If you have access to wild rabbit you will need to clean out the inside and break it down into 8 pieces. If you get it fresh from the butcher, you could ask them to do this for you. The farmed ones should already be cleaned out so you just need to break it down. Here is a fantastic step by step by Hunter|Angler|Gardener|Cook.
- *As the bones of rabbit love to splinter into little shards, take some care when preparing it. I also rinse the pieces under running water, paying particular attention to the legs to remove the little bone fragments.
- When ready, brown your pieces in a little oil and then set aside.
- Heat a little oil in your pan and gently cook the onions for 5 minutes. Add the bacon and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the wine and let reduce almost completely.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and get back to a simmer. Taste and alter seasoning appropriately.
- Place the rabbit pieces back into the pan and stir to coat. Cover and cook gently for 2 hours or till the meat is fall off the bone tender.
- Serve with potatoes and roasted veggies.
