Rabbit civet

A recipe from cooking-ez.com

For 4 people, you will need:

• 1 1 kg rabbit meat
• 2 2 cloves garlic
• 3 1 bayleaf
• 4 1 sprig rosemary
• 5 1 sprig thyme
• 6 1 litre 500 ml red wine
• 7 salt
• 8 pepper
• 9 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 10 150 g small pieces of bacon
• 11 350 g mushrooms
• 12 250 g onion
• 13 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 14 2 tablespoons flour
• Total weight: 3,455 grams

Times:

Preparation	Resting	Cooking	Start to finish
20 min.	12 hours	3 hours	15 hours 20 min.

Step by step recipe

1	Prepare the marinade Cut the rabbit into pieces (or have your butcher do this for you).
2	Put into a bowl: 2 cloves garlic crushed, 1 bayleaf cut into pieces, 1 sprig rosemary, 1 sprig thyme, salt and pepper.
3	Place the rabbit pieces on top.
4	Cover with the red wine. Cover with a plate and leave to marinate for 12 hours.
5	Preliminary cooking Heat 5 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan. When hot, brown the rabbit pieces all over, in batches if necessary. Please note: this is not to cook the rabbit, just to brown the outside, so cook for about 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Set aside the browned meat on a plate.
6	Use the same pan to fry 150 g small pieces of bacon briefly. Set aside.
7	Still in the same pan, take advantage of the fat from the lardons to cook 350 g mushrooms that you will have prepared beforehand. Reserve.
8	Prepare 250 g onion and chop finely.
9	Still using the same pan, heat 4 tablespoons olive oil and when hot, add the chopped onion, salt and pepper. Fry the onion for 2 or 3 minutes.
10	Return the bacon and mushrooms to the pan and mix well.
11	Sprinkle in 2 tablespoons flour...
12	...then mix well.
13	Begin the main cooking Add the rabbit pieces to the pan...
14	...then pour in the marinade, discarding the rosemary. There should be enough wine to just about cover the meat. If not, add a little more.
15	Bring to the boil on high heat...
16	...then leave to simmer on low heat: 1 hour with the lid on and about an hour and a half uncovered to allow the sauce to thicken slowly.
17	Discard the garlic, thyme and bayleaf, then check the seasoning. Serve by standing the pan in the centre of the table so that people can help themselves, or by plating up, like in the photo. To accompany your civet, I suggest pasta or pan-fried potatoes.

Remarks

Rabbit civet is one of those dishes, like boeuf (beef) bourguignon or carbonnade, which just gets better with each reheating. So make plenty and keep some for another day.
For even more flavour, you can add a chicken or beef stock cube at stage 14.

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