Rabbit Ragu with Pappardelle

It is becoming a bit of an Easter tradition to (rather ironically) eat rabbit on Easter. Ok, so this year was our first in this tradition, but that's only because last year our efforts went unrewarded.

Last year, thinking we were so bloody clever and original, we went down to Moore Wilson's on Easter Saturday to pick up a bunny for Easter Sunday dinner. You already know that I'm going where this story is going - they were all sold out. 

So this year I got in early and picked up my bunny three (yes, THREE!) weeks early. And you would not believe how many bunnies they had in stock! We walked away, in part elated that we had secured the illusive Easter rabbit, and in part reminded that we are not, in fact, the most cleaver and original people in Wellington - far from it!

Knowing that I was cooking bunny for Easter, Lucy (the Other Matt's Missus) sent me an article written by Nigel Slater which compared cooking rabbit with red wine and tomato to taking a sledge hammer to a walnut. Rabbit has a delicate flavour, a little darker in flavour than chicken. Heavy flavours have a tendency to overpower the meat. 

Unfortunately, I had already picked my recipe - Jamie Oliver's 12 Hour Rabbit Bolognese (partially because he claims you can serve up to 14 people with just one rabbit using this recipe). I took Nigel's comments in my stride, and trusted my man Jamie (yes, thank you, we are on a first name basis). And he never disappoints.

While this has a tomato and red wine base, the flavour is remarkably light; Jamie manages to balance the flavours amazingly well. I adjusted the recipe slightly to add a dash of chilli, cinnamon, and a little lemon. The result is a melt-in-your-mouth meat stew, which pairs perfectly with pappardelle.

And when Jamie says this will serve 14 people, he's not wrong. This went greedily around the 6 of us dining that night, with leftovers for days afterward. 

While this is the simplest recipe you can imagine (seriously - you thow in whole, unpeeled onions!), it has to sit in a very low oven for 12 hours. So, at 5am on Easter Sunday, while mothers were up hiding easter eggs for their children, I got up to put together this stew. But you could easily set this off overnight if you're comfortable leaving the oven on low, and re-heat it the next day. Alternatively, a crockpot would do the job beautifully.

I served mine with homemade pappardelle. If you're about to point out that the pasta in the pictures isn't pappardelle, you're right. That was something I boiled up one morning before work, to get a photo with the last of the ragu before it disappeared. Before work! See my dedication to you people! SEE!?

Rabbit Ragu (Serves up to 14 people with pasta)

Adapted from Jamie Oliver's 12 Hour Rabbit Bolognaise

3 rashers of smoky streaky bacon

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs rosemary

1t chilli flakes

1 cinnamon stick

1 whole rabbit, skinned

1 bulb garlic (left whole, with just the loose skin peeled away)

2 carrots, washed, with the nobbly bit at the top trimmed

2 sticks of celery, washed and chopped into 3cm chunks

2 red onions, whole, skin on

20g dried porcini mushrooms (or a couple of big flat field mushrooms, washed)

2 400g cans of tomatoes (whole is fine)

2T tomato puree

1c red wine

A new pair of rubber gloves (like you would use for doing the dishes)

Zest of 1 lemon

A large bunch of parsley, roughly chopped

Pasta and parmesan to serve.

Turn the oven on to 110 C.

Start by frying the bacon in a pot big enough to contain everything (you will probably need a stock pot with a lid for this) in a glug of oil until it is just starting to brown. Add the bayleaves, rosemary, and cinnamon stick. Pop the rabbit, whole, on the top. Top with the garlic bulb, carrots, celery, red onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, tomato puree, and wine. Add enough water to cover everything. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Bring it all to the boil, then pop on a lid, and place it in the oven. Leave this to stew for 12 hours.

When 12 hours is up, bring it out of the oven, take off the lid, and let it cool for half an hour or so. 

Now is the messy part - you'll need your gloves for this one. Get a big bowl and put it next to your pot. Handful by handful, work through the stew, smooshing everything in your hands, and carefully removing any bunny bones or vegetable skins as you go. When you come to the bulb of garlic, just squeeze it from the bottom to smoosh out the slow cooked garlic inside. 

Be careful here, because rabbits have quite small bones. Make sure you're quite thorough about this, and don't leave any behind.

Once you've worked through everything, put it back into the pot, and bring back to the boil. Once it is hot, throw in the lemon zest and parsley.

Serve with pappardelle or other pasta, with lots of parmesan to top.