Saturday 19 March 2011

Recipe: Lapin Braise a la biere (braised rabbit cooked in beer)

Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 1 1/2 - 2 hours
Serves: 4-6
1x 1kg White Rabbit (if possible with liver and kidneys still attached)
170g Bacon
1/4 cup plain flour
6x Shallots or small pickling onions
2x Garlic Cloves
20g butter to cook with (substituted with duck fat)
2 carrots
2 tablespoons rouge vermouth
375mL Coopers Original Pale Ale
1 cup of stock (This one I am using duck stock as I do not have chicken stock)
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
parsely
200g muchrooms quartered
125mL cooking cream
Salt and pepper to taste
1. In this recipe I have had to use a frozen rabbit. So as I am waiting for the rabbit to defrost I work on the prep work. 
2. Forequarter rabbit. Coat in seasoned flour, shake off excess. Cook in a large frypan in duck fat. 
Usually you would cook this in butter but I recently cooked a duck and had the duck fat to spare. Cook rabbit in batches. You want it to seal and brown but not stew. 

Remove from pan. When cooking the liver and kidneys please remove pan from direct heat. There should be enough heat in the pan to cook the kidneys and liver. You don’t want these to overcooked
3. Add bacon to frypan and brown. Add to saucepan. 
4. While bacon is cooking. 

Cook shallots and garlic in a large saucepan. Cook for 5 mins. Add carrots. Cook for 5 minutes.
5. Deglaze frypan with vermouth. 

I use vermouth to deglaze instead of brandy because I think the spices of the Peter Van Gent vermouth really add a cinnamon flavour to the dish.
6. Add rabbit, ale, stock, herbs to the saucepan.

In this recipe I am using Coopers Pale Ale, which is brewed in bottle so you have to remember to turn the bottle upside down and turn 360 degrees to mix the sediment into the beer before use. I am also using some stock that I have made from the roast duck I made a few weeks ago. Add herbs to pan.
7. Bring saucepan to boil. reduce heat. move to a different burner on the stovetop. Simmer, uncovered on low-medium heat for 1 and a half hours. (moving it to a different burner means that the heat need to get to that low heat rather than the temperature having to drop to low and risk burning). 

Add salt and pepper to taste. I find that the broth doesn’t need too much salt, mainly due to the bacon.
8. Melt butter in a small frypan, add mushrooms. Cook until JUUUUUST tender. Add to the saucepan with cream. Simmer for 15 minutes.
9. Add some extra fresh parsley to the dish. Taste, season if necessary. Seasoning is important as the tast e of the dish will change slightly due to the addition of the cream.  
10. Serve. Usually I would serve this with mash potatoes, but today at the market there was some rye sourdough bread that was just too good to pass up so I’m serving this with a few slices of the rye sourdough, lightly toasted, which is perfect to sop up the sauce.

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