A small and simple dish with honest and readily available flavors, using a MIREPOIX base and the simplicity of BEER, but pushing it until it becomes not only its foundation of flavor but the actual structure of the dish, with no interfering extras.

A “MIREPOIX”, just like an Italian BATTUTO and SOFFRITTO and a variation of Spanish SOFRITO or Portuguese REFOGADO is the base of many prepared foods, whether sauces, soups, stocks and the base of many preparations and other countries have their versions by subtracting or adding other vegetables and spices.

A French MIREPOIX (named after the Duke of MIREPOIX) is usually 2 parts diced onions, 1 part carrots, 1 part celery and some garlic and bay leaves, simmered and caramelized in fats, whether butter or olive oil and even lard or bacon fat (which I avoided here not to overpower the rabbit flavor). The rest of the dish follows that principle with the only addition of grainy mustard, without adding extra thyme nor parsley which is nice too.

The recipe could be easily adapted to chicken too but I chose rabbit which happened to be available but also because instead of having a 2,5 kg leg of LAMB that serves 6-8 people for this year’s Orthodox Easter weekend, it was wiser to down-size it all and make a dish for 2 confined people that could be served 2 different ways for 2 different meals, as a stew or with 1 extra step becoming a roast, but everything is still slowly braised together to guarantee a delicate, tender, fall-off-the-bone meat dish, with as much vegetables as meat and a broth that could become a gravy.

p.s.: you can make a small amount of rabbit stock before beginning the dish and even more stock after finishing up the dish with the remains … just a thought !

Enjoy your weekend and take care of yourselves … :)

mirepoix & beer braised rabbit roast and/or stew

18.04.2020

4 servings of 450 grams each

ingredients

meat :

1,25 kg rabbit (weight without head, nor liver, nor kidneys)
30 grams (2 tbsp) butter
30 grams (2 tbsp) olive oil
50 grams (½ cup) carrots, finely diced
50 grams (½ cup) celery, finely diced
100 grams (1 cup) onion, finely diced
10 grams (1 tbsp) garlic, crushed
2 grams (2-3 whole) bay leaves
30 grams (2 tbsp) old-fashioned grainy mustard
30 ml (2 tbsp) apple cider vinegar
300 ml (1 ¼ cups) beer
300 ml (1 ¼ cups) rabbit stock (or chicken stock)
15 grams (½ tbsp + ½ tbsp tsp) sea salt
2 grams (¼ tsp + ¼ tsp) ground mixed peppercorns
optional : 1 gram (¼ tsp) pink peppercorns (at the end, when serving)

vegetables :

250 grams (8 small) potatoes, whole and peeled
200 grams (8 small) onions, whole and peeled
200 grams (2-3 sticks) carrots, peeled and cut into 8 large pieces
200 grams (2-3 sticks) celery, thick parts and cut into 8 large pieces
25 grams (4 cloves) garlic, thinly sliced or diced

gravy (only for the roast) :

240 ml (1 cup) braising broth, after 1 hour of braising and straining
15 grams (1 tbsp) butter
7,5 grams (1 tbsp) flour

instructions

sprinkle the cut rabbit pieces with ½ tbsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper and set aside
peel and cut the vegetables into large pieces, sprinkle with 1 tbsp salt and ¼ tsp pepper and set aside and finely chop or dice the remaining vegetables (½ cup each of carrot, celery, onion and 1 tbsp garlic) into small pieces and set aside
melt 1 tbsp butter and 1 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole until hot and brown all the pieces of meat for 2-3 minutes on each side until browned and set aside
add another 1 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of olive oil and brown the large pieces of vegetables for several minutes until browned then remove and set aside
lower the heat to medium and simmer the finely chopped or diced carrots and celery and onions in the remaining oil and butter until softened (add more olive oil if necessary), add the garlic and bay leaves and vinegar, scrape the bottom of the top to recuperate the cooked juices and simmer for a few minutes
preheat the oven to 150°C
spread the grainy mustard on the browned rabbit pieces and place inside the casserole, add the beer and rabbit stock until almost covering the pieces but not higher than the pieces, add the browned vegetables on top (that should ideally be above the level of liquid), bring to a boil, then remove from heat, place a lid on top and transfer to the oven and gently bake for 60 minutes (if making the roast) or 90 minutes (if making the stew)
*note : if you do not have home-made rabbit stock (the real kind that gelatinizes when cold) made with the remains of a previous rabbit preparation, you may use home-made chicken stock or you can make ahead a small amount of rabbit stock with the just the head and ¼ cup each of large pieces of carrots, celery and onions, 1 clove of garlic, some bay leaves, ½ tbsp salt, ½ tbsp vinegar and 2 cups water and bring to a boil, then reduce to medium-low heat with a cover and let simmer for at least 90 minutes, the strain the mixture and discard the solids and use that remaining 1 ½ cups for the recipe … and you can make double the amount of stock, for next time with the remaining bones (about 250 grams) after this meal !
if making the braised rabbit stew, then remove the casserole from the oven after 90 minutes, carefully remove the vegetables (about 900 grams) and set aside, remove the rabbit pieces (about 900 grams) and set aside (you can place the dishes with the meat and vegetables in the warm oven so that they don’t get cold and strain the broth, discard all solids and boil the broth (about 2 cups) for 15 minutes to reduce it and thicken it up, then serve the vegetables and rabbit in a deep dish with some hot broth, sprinkled with a few pink peppercorns
if making the braised rabbit roast, then remove the casserole from the oven after 60 minutes, proceed (as with the stew) and remove the vegetables and meat and place in a large baking dish, place it in the warm oven, strain the broth, discard all solids and make a gravy by melting some butter until bubbly, add the flour and whisk then add at least 1 cup of broth and keep whisking at medium-high heat until it thickens slightly for 5 minutes to thicken it up, then brush the rabbit pieces with the gravy and broil the whole dish with the meat and vegetables at 230°C for 5-7 minutes on the middle rack, until golden and browned and serve.

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mirepoix & beer braised rabbit roast and/or stew

4 servings of 450 grams each

ingredients

instructions

mirepoix & beer braised rabbit roast and/or stew

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