Rabbit Stew

One of the local markets carries rabbit and every so often I have to indulge my self and get one.  The last time I made rabbit I made the Roasted rabbit in mustard sauce recipe here.  Today I'm making rabbit stew.  It's hot here in West Virginia but I had a craving and it's been so good for lunch at work.

 This a more of a southern style than the German hasenpfeffer.  If you want that sweet and sour flavor your will need to add a couple of steps at the beginning.

First you need to cut up the rabbit, it's easy to do.  There are some great how-to's on line.  If you want to make hasenpfeffer I would recommend Bon-Appetit's version found here.   Don't forget to fry up the offal for a cooks treat!

Now to start I sliced two pieces of bacon into lardons and got it into the pot with just a touch of olive oil.  FYI bacon browns better if you start it in a cold pan.

Once the bacon is browned take it out of the pan and set aside.  Leave the beautiful rendered bacon fat in to pan.  Salt and pepper the rabbit and brown the heck out of it.  

Do this in batches so you don't end up steaming the rabbit.  Second batch going in.

Once the rabbit is amazingly browned set it aside and get on with the veggies.

I cut up a whole sweet onion, four cloves of garlic and a 1/2 pound of cremini mushroom.  In my excitement I forgot to take a picture of the garlic and mushrooms, my bad!

Saute those bad boys all together, adding more oil if you need to at this point.  When they are nicely browned deglaze with cognac, wine or stock - it's your choice.  I used cognac.  Next sprinkle some flour, a large tablespoon and create a rue with the oil and juices in the pan.  Let the flour get a little color on it so that raw flour flavor is gone.  Up next is stock, I used homemade chicken stock, beef broth and chicken broth.  You will need 4-5 cups.

Let the sauce thicken a bit and then add the rabbit and bacon back in to the sauce.  Cover and let this simmer for 1 1/2 hours.  Meanwhile cut up the other veggies to go in later.  I used carrots, celery, and a rutabaga.  And one large potato.

After an hour and a half add the carrots, celery and rutabaga.  Let those simmer for 15 minutes and then add the potatoes.  Let all of that simmer for 15 minutes.  If the gravy is not as thick as you would like, mix some room temperature and flour together and add to the sauce.  It's easier to do this if the rabbit has been removed.  Add the rabbit back in and heat it back up.

Or you could use a cornstarch slurry as well.

And finally serve it up with noodles, rice or just all on it's own.

Although I'm enjoying this in the heat of the summer it is fabulous in the fall as the leaves change and temperatures start to drop.

EAT WELL MY FRIENDS!!

 

FRENCH ONION SOUP

 

French onion soup is one of my all time favorites.

Okay so the first thing is onions...it is called French Onion soup for a reason, haha.

I use two large white sweet onions cut into thin half moons.  I then place them in my Le Creuset enameled pot with some butter and olive oil and a bay leaf or two, some thyme from the garden.  I caramelize the onions, it takes quite a while to caramelize 45-60 minutes for me usually.

They finish with a beautiful golden color.

While the onions are cooking down I took a couple of pieces of stale bread, cut it in chunks, tossed with some olive oil and thew it in a hot, 425-450 oven and let it toast.

Now for the liquids to add to the onions.

I use 1 cup of red wine, 2T of cognac, 2 cups of homemade chicken stock and 2 cups of beef broth.  I like the combination of the rich chicken stock and beef broth. Add the liquids to the pot and simmer for about 15-30 minutes.

Now for the good stuff, place the onion soup in ramekins and top with the croutons.

 

Place some provolone or Gruyere cheese on top and put under the broiler until bubbly and browned.

 

 

I made this in March, and now I'm craving some French Onion soup again. Hmmm, I have everything except the red wine.  I think it's time for more.  Eat Well Friends! 

 

ROASTED RABBIT IN MUSTARD SAUCE

I found this recipe in my Saveur Cookbook and since my local grocery store carries rabbit I thought I would give it a try.

First up is to clean the rabbit and get rid of the offal, or find a recipe to use all that good stuff.

Pan seared rabbit kidneys and liver are a yummy little cooks treat, butter and some thyme and you are good to go!

Next is to cut up the rabbit into serving size pieces, love when the cleaver gets to come out to play. hehe!!

Now for the marinade, first is salt and pepper.  Then I added one small container of creme fraiche, which I have never cooked with before either, with 1/2 cup of Dijon mustard, 4 garlic cloves, 1 T thyme and sage and 2 bay leaves. 

I placed all of this in a shallow roasting pan and covered with plastic wrap and tucked him in the refrigerator for the night.

The next evening, the wait almost killed me, I brought him out and let the rabbit come to room temp, about an hour.  Then into a 400 degree oven for 55-60 minutes.  It was yummy!

Eat Well Friends!

 

HAMBURGER MACARONI

 We had some dear friends move back into the neighborhood and as a welcome back I made hamburger macaroni for them.  It was an easy meal for them to reheat and it was a huge hit with all five kids (yes I said FIVE! kids!).  I love it because it is a wiz to put together and it tastes yummy!

I start by boiling the noodles just shy of al dente as they will bake in the oven with the sauce for a bit.  I then dice one onion, one green pepper and a couple of cloves of garlic.  I saute them over medium to medium high heat in a little olive oil.

After they have softened up I add the ground beef and kick up the heat to be able to brown the ground beef, for this big batch I used 2 pounds of beef.

I did take advantage of a large 28 oz of tomatoes with herbs already included.

You may have to add a second can if the mixture isn't moist enough, which I did.  

Next add in the macaroni and stir together.

 

Once mixed I put it all in a large disposable lasagne pan. And topped with a lot of grated cheddar cheese.

Bake it at 350 for about 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly.  Coming up tomorrow will be French onion soup and rabbit.  Eat Well Friends!

 

PARMESAN CRUSTED FLOUNDER WITH RICE

 

I was able to find a nice flounder filet and decided to crust it in Parmesan and potato flakes.  Now for a side dish I always have trouble because the hubs does not like a lot of veggies!  ARGH!!  I opted for rice and pieces of mushroom big enough that he could pick them out.  First up is the rice...

I got the rice started in my rice cooker and moved on to the enhancements.  First I sauteed some shallots until soft and slightly caramelized.

Next went in the mushrooms...and then it was a matter of mixing the three together, super easy.

The flounder was just as easy as the rice.  I started with my dredging station.

  

I dredged from right to left, first is flour, salt and pepper, next is eggs and some Dijon mustard and lastly is the Parmesan and potato flakes.  I must have been in a bit of a funk that night as I have no pictures of the flounder being pan seared.  Any hoo, take you flounder filet and cut it into portions, dredge in the flour, the egg and then the mixed together potato mix.  Pan sear for 4-5 minutes on each side and dinner is served.

I did add a butter and herb sauce on top after I seared the fish.  A little garlic, lemon zest, basil and parsley.  Again I was in a funk and didn't get a good picture of the sauce.

See, told ya so!  haha  Eat Well Friends!

I HAVE RETURNED

 

It is time to catch up on some of the cooking and a bit of baking since I was last here.  I have been having a blast going through my new cookbook.  We've also made an improvement to the kitchen, a new sink and faucet, who in their infinite wisdom decided that black was a good color for kitchen appliances?  Here is the new baby...

I've also signed up for a Culinary box from Quarterly and my first box was from Andrew Zimmern.  It's been fun experimenting with the different foods.

 I've gotten the garden in and will post pics of that on the garden page later.  Now for all the food I have made since I was here last...I will be putting a couple a day up so as not to bombard you with everything, plus I need to remember what the actual recipe was that I used! LOL  Enjoy the updates. Eat well friends.

WILD BOAR ROAST

 Okay, this was not as good as I had hoped for but that is my fault for not going with my gut on this one.  The flavor was great but it was tough.  I put it in the oven at 400 degrees and I thought that was too hot - it was!  I would have been better off low and slow on this one.  On a positive note, the leftover meat went back in the dutch oven and simmered for another two hours...tender and ready for stew on another night.

Okay here is where we start, first up is putting garlic cloves in the roast.  I take a paring knife and put a slit in the roast and stuff a lovely garlic clove in the pocket.  Repeat until you have 12 pieces of garlic studding your roast.

You can see some of garlic cloves sticking out of the roast.  Salt and pepper the roast and put in a dutch oven with olive oil that has been heated to smoking hot.

I did take the liberty to chop the carrots and celery earlier in the afternoon.  I now chopped the onions into large 1" chunks and peeled and sliced the apple.  After browning the roast I take it out and throw all the veg and apples in and turn down the heat a bit so it doesn't burn.  

While the veg sweats, I added two sprigs of rosemary to the roast.

I also got out all of the red wine and stock that I needed.

Yes there was a glass of wine for the cook.  I used two cups of Zinfandel and 3/4 cup of both beef stock and chicken stock.

When the veg was cooked down, I added the liquid and then the roast went back in.

It now went into the oven, again it should have been low and slow, 275 for about 2 1/2 to 3 hours not the 400 degree oven for 1 hour.

I added smashed potatoes with butter and parsley on the side.  I don't always succeed but at least I was able to salvage the leftovers and will have a good meal another night.  Eat Well Friends.