a bunny for your hunny!

There is a tantalizing recipe in Diana Henry's cookbook Plenty that has captivated my imagination for over a year now.  It features rabbit in mustard and tarragon cream sauce stewed to perfection in a cast iron pot.  Though my early experiences with rabbit were of betrayal and horror (being tricked into eating it by parents after making it clear I would not eat my zodiac animal), I became enamored with this heartwarming, exotic dish.  Would it taste like chicken?  Like duck?  I waited until the weather had cooled enough to warrant such effort, and finally made it on a snowy December evening.

I went to Cleveland's West Side Market to purchase the rabbit.  At a meat stand in the far right corner of the market, I asked how many rabbits would be 3.5 lbs.  The girl at the counter snippely told me each rabbit was about 2 lbs and that I'd have to buy whole rabbits.  As I waited for her to chop two rabbits into pieces, shoppers behind me kept gasping at the sign for rabbits and exclaimning "I could NEVER eat rabbit, just out of principle."  I wanted to turn around and yell at them, yes, I am a monster, but decided instead to leave them to their unadventurous lives.
 

Browning the rabbits smelled like a mixture of chicken and birthday cake.  It was a strange aroma that was comforting but still a little different.  After the sauce thickened, the rabbit ended up being as delicious as I had imagined.  Try it some time!  And as for leftovers, I ended up de-boning the pieces and making a faux rillette style dish to accompany charcuterie.  Enjoy!

Diana Henry's Rabbit with mustard and tarragon:

Step 1: Preparing and browning the rabbit:

Season 3 - 4 lbs rabbit parts (about 2 rabbits) with salt and pepper and brown in 2 tbsp unsalted butter.  Remove.

Step 2: Preparing the sauce:

In the same pain, cook 1 finely chopped onion until soft, add 2 cups stock (I used beef), simmer, and return the rabbit.  Simmer for 20 minutes covered and 20 minutes uncovered.

Step 3: Finishing the sauce:

Remove the rabbit, leaving the stock and onions in the pan.  Add .5 cup heavy cream (which is apparently the same thing as whipping cream!) and reduce the liquid by half.  Then add 4 tsp Dijon mustard, good squeeze of lemon juice, and leaves from 4 tarragon sprigs.  After this has reduced a bit, return the rabbit to the sauce and add in leaves from 4 more sprigs of tarragon.  Serve hot!

Leftover Step: Making Faux Rillettes:

Remove meat from rabbit.  Sauté in non-stick pan for a minute to brown, then deglaze pan with a touch of red wine and add a quarter cup of stock and quarter cup of milk.  Add salt, additional tarragon if you still have it, and boil down to desired consistency.  Delicious on rice crackers!

- Jane