Thursday, January 27, 2011

Hasenpfeffer

Bryan not so gently reminded me last night that I haven't had a post in awhile.  As it turns out, a job, a house, and two small children make for a busy (un)blogger.  Who woulda guessed?

Things have been churning along in our world.  No CSA, obviously, but we've been digging into our frozen stores of produce (even against Bryan's inexplicable need to hoard frozen fruit), as well as the insane amount of canned foods (which beg for their own post).  We've been doing a lot of braised type dishes, it being winter and all, which brings us to our Hasenpfeffer.

We've been trying to find the perfect rabbit dish, and always falling a slight bit short.  The dishes haven't been bad, but they haven't been quite what we were seeking.  At least for me.  I've been struggling with the rabbit.  I don't mind the killing and eating of the animals; no moral issue for me there.  But every time we've had it, a little voice in my head says, "You are eating a bunny rabbit."  I think it's been less the cute, cuddly thing, as the New Meat thing.  And the New Meat is an animal I never really considered as food before.  It has just enough of a different taste that I cannot convince myself that it's chicken.  It's like chicken, but more peppery. 

And so we keep trying.

This latest recipe, though, was a big success.  I had accidentally bought a big bag of prunes at Trader Joe's (I meant to get dates, don't ask me how I made that mistake), and had this crazy idea prunes may go well with rabbit.  A quick search resulted in a recipe for Rabbit and Onion Stew (Kouneli Stifado).  And good it was.  The prunes, onions, and tomatoes are such a nice accompaniment to the rabbit.  The rabbit itself was cooked perfectly.  I mostly ate the loin, which was juicy, and still slightly pink in the middle.  The legs were braised perfectly, but as they do have a slightly more gamey flavor, generally are not my favorite piece of the animal. Some candy stripe beets and homemade Greek bread rounded out the meal.


This recipe is a keeper.  Maybe I'll get over my weird rabbit problem yet.  (Oliver has no issues with it!)