My mom and I ventured to the Lebanon Farmer's Market this past weekend in search of what is left to find of winter's bounty in the Upper Valley. Although as far as produce was concerned we only managed to come away with a pound or so of yellow onions, we were excited by a new-to-us lineup of vendors. When we were nearly finished with our loop we came to a vendor with a sign for Dunrovin farm in Claremont, NH. What grabbed our attention at this particular stand, which looked similar to the rest with its array of coolers holding a variety of frozen meats, was its sign claiming to have whole rabbits. Immediately our European genes demanded that we stop, and thankfully the farmer still had rabbits to sell. We quickly snatched up one of 3.9 lbs, and left extremely proud of our snag.
Throughout the day as my parents and I discussed our preferences for cooking the animal, I also began to think about who in our circle of acquaintances would be wholly appreciative of sharing the meal with us. I quickly arrived at the names of two former co-workers of mine, and rang them with an invitation to dinner the next evening.
After much deliberation and the pulling out cook books and the searching of the internet, my parents and I finally settled on Rabbit with Mustard - a simple French peasant dish that had each of us in salivation mode. The next day I set to work, and I must say that the results were ideally suited for a meal of good food and good friends. The following recipe is one I took from a French recipe site: gourmandines.fr, and while I did do some tweaking I felt it best to stick to the simplistic nature of the original. I did choose however to cook the rabbit for about twice as long as the recipe called for simply because of my preference for the utmost tenderest meat possible. This is of course not necessary as rabbit meat is already fairly tender, but I would suggest it if you want a deeper flavor.
Lapin a la Moutarde
Ingredients
1 tblsp butter
2 tblsp olive oil
1 rabbit (3.9 lbs is slightly large, but it allowed us to feed 5 people with a tiny bit leftover)
4 tblsp Dijon mustard - I substituted 1 tblsp with grain mustard
salt and pepper
1 tblsp tarragon
3 shallots, roughly chopped
1 cup white wine
2 cups rabbit stock - I used the rabbits backbone to make this quantity of stock, but you could just as easily use chicken stock
2 tblsp heavy cream
1) First it is necessary to cut the rabbit into 8 pieces. You could have a butcher do this for you if you are lucky enough to have one handy, but otherwise the process is not too challenging. I began by cutting off the hind legs by slicing through the flesh and joint where they join with the middle portion of the rabbit. Next I removed the fore legs, by cutting right along the bottom the rib cage and then using a cleaver to remove the backbone from the center of the rib cage. Finally I chose to cut the sadde of the rabbit into three relatively equal pieces, so as to provide a tasting portion for those who would want it.
2) Next you may want to rinse each piece, as some fine little hairs might still present in some places. After drying the pieces proceed with seasoning each first and then applying an even coat of a mixture of 2 tblsp of Dijon mustard and the 1 tblsp of grain mustard to one side of each piece.
3) Heat a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat with the butter and oil. When the butter has melted and begins to foam add the rabbit pieces one by one with the mustard-side facing down. Sear the pieces for about five minutes and in the meantime sprinkle the upward-facing side with the tarragon. Turn each piece over and allow to cook on the other side for another five minutes or so. Evenly distribute the shallots over the top of the pieces.
4) Add the cup of wine and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook for 10 minutes to reduce the wine slightly and concentrate its flavor, and then add enough stock so as the rabbit is almost completely submerged.
5) At this stage I allowed the dish to simmer and cook for a good hour and a half, but 40 minutes should be all it needs to cook through and achieve a diserable tenderness. Whenever you feel that the rabbit has cooked long enough, remove the pieces from the pan temporarily to a clean surface. I did this so as to avoid too much of a mess when adding the remaining tblsp of mustard and the 2 tblsp of cream. Plus this allows you to reduce the sauce as much or as little as you like without jeopardizing the quality of the meat. Return the meat to the pan and rewarm in the sauce as necessary.
We served our Lapin a la Moutarde accompanied by fresh homemade paparadelle pasta, and crusty King Arthur Flour baguette; followed by a green salad, and a selection of local cheeses, and finally an Italian-inspired hazelnut cake with a strawberry salad. We drank a white wine following our Kir cocktails, but you could easily enjoy this dish with a mellow and refined red.
Bon Appetit my food friends!
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