Mustard Rabbit with Prosciutto Asparagus Pasta

Finally a recipe for you - I apologize for the phone-quality photos, but there wouldn't be any at all if it weren't for my gracious French-German hosts who put me up in their apartment in Paris last month. This dish is easy, delicious, and can accommodate other spring veggies if you don't like asparagus. If you omit the prosciutto, add something salty like olives or anchovies. The rabbit part of this recipe is based on this brilliant Simply Recipes concoction.

You'll need:

1 rabbit, cut into 6 pieces (ask your butcher to do this for you) - reserve the head, ribs, and kidneys
kosher salt
4T butter
4 large shallots, sliced
1c white wine
1 1/2c water
3/4c grainy mustard
1t dried thyme
1/2c cream
4T chopped parsley
1 package fusilli
5 slices prosciutto
1 bunch asparagus

Put rabbit head and ribs in 1c water; bring to a boil, skim, then simmer gently until liquid is reduced to 1c (you can forget about this pot while you're cooking -- it'll be ready by the time you need it).

Salt rabbit pieces. Remove thin membrane from kidneys; salt the kidneys too. Let the rabbit pieces sit 30 min.

Cut asparagus into 1/2 inch pieces. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast in a 350 deg. oven for 20 minutes, until slightly browned.

Slice prosciutto into strips. Set aside with asparagus.

When the rabbit is done resting, heat the butter. Brown the rabbit pieces on all sides in batches. Remove rabbit.

Add shallot to the butter and brown well. Deglaze with wine.

Strain the rabbit stock and add it to the pan, along with the mustard and thyme. Bring to a boil, then add the dark meat and kidneys of the rabbit and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer 20 minutes, then add the white meat. Simmer 20 more minutes.

Remove rabbit from sauce. Turn heat to high and reduce sauce by half.

In the meantime, cook the pasta in copiously salted water.

When sauce is reduced, add the cream and parsley. Stir in the pasta, the rabbit pieces, and the prosciutto and asparagus. Serve.

Check out that gorgeous cookware!

Seared Lamb Chops, Root Veggie Puree, and Endive Salad

This is a quick and delicious dinner that can be done from start to finish in about 45 minutes. I bought lamb from the halal butcher up the street, and veggies from a nearby farmers market. The seared liver on the salad came from the rabbit made the day before.

You'll need:
lamb chops

carrots
turnips
parsnips
garlic
nutmeg

endive

asian pear

duck liver

dressing

Peel carrots, turnips, and parsnips and cut into roughly equal pieces. If the parsnips are large, remove the woody core. Place into a medium saucepan. Add peeled garlic cloves (as many as you like) and water (the water should come about halfway up the vegetables. Cover and cook until just tender. Drain. Mash. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

While the veggies are cooking, take apart the endive and place in a bowl. Add thinly sliced asian pear. Toss with dressing-- I used tarragon vinegar, lemon juice, and olive oil.

Wash, dry, and trim lamb chops. Salt and pepper generously. Heat olive oil in a large skillet. When hot, place lamb chops (do it in batches if necessary-- do not crowd the pan). Sear on each side about 2 minutes, depending on thickness, to medium rare. Set aside in warm oven. 

Salt and pepper liver. In the same pan as the lamb, sear liver briefly until just brown. Serve on top of endive-pear salad.

Braised Rabbit with Leeks and Fennel

We're in Paris! 

I was really looking forward to things like rabbit being commonplace and not too expensive, but tonight's dish was probably the same as it would have cost back in California, and my fellow shoppers looked on with undisguised horror as my butcher hacked the rabbit into pieces. I'll have to do some rabbit shopping around. The past few days we've done a lot of cooking in our new kitchen-- dorade with a wine pan sauce, steaks, minestrone soup (which you'll probably see posted soon). It's small but very well equipped. The only real drawback is the electric stove, which will take some getting used to. In this recipe, I really missed my gas stove when trying to gently render the fat on the bacon, then sear the rabbit on high heat but without burning. It worked-- I just have to get the hang of it. We've also had plenty of non-cooked meals, involving copious amounts of cheese, pates, stuffed petits pains, and, our first night, rotisserie chicken. Expect some tasty things in the future, probably involving lamb.

You'll need (serves 4):

1 rabbit, cut into 6 pieces (mine weighed about 4lbs, or almost 2kg)

1 thick slice of bacon, cut into lardons

2c chicken stock

2 onions, sliced

2 heads of fennel, cored & cut into eighths

3 leeks, sliced

Half a head of garlic, crushed

1t fennel seeds

1/2t dried thyme

1 bay leaf

½ bottle of white wine

A shot of Ricard

Preheat oven to 325F (160C).

Bring the chicken stock to the boil with any trimmings from the rabbit (head, ribs, kidneys, etc).

In an oven-proof saucepan, brown the lardons and set aside; in the bacon fat brown the rabbit and set aside.

Saute onion and leeks in the same saucepan. Add garlic and fennel seeds and stir until fragrant. Add the white wine and reduce by half.

Return rabbit and bacon to pan. Add thyme, bay leaf and fennel. Add pastis and bring to a simmer. Add strained stock to cover rabbit. Cover pot and cook in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until tender.

We served this with mushroom wheat pilaf and caramelized endives; for those of you who can get endives cheaply, they're absolutely delicious seared and then braised with a bit of water. And they count as a vegetable! Yay.