Rabbit Cacciatore

The first time I had rabbit, I was 19, visiting a friend’s grandparent’s ranch in Cuernavaca, Mexico. They raised rabbits, among other things, and I was asked to go outside and pick out a few from the hundreds in their pens. Not knowing why I was asked to perform this task, I picked out the cutest ones I could find. An hour later I was mortified when I went in the kitchen and saw those rabbits, skinned and sticking out of a huge steaming pot on the stove. The menu for lunch that day was rabbit stew, and we were having a feast with my friend’s extended family. White linens, silver, fine china, 20 people assembled at an impressively long dining table. Out of politeness, and my complete lack of fluency in the language (if I had been more fluent I might have found a way out of this situation) I took a bite. It was absolutely delicious. From that point on, I loved rabbit.

People often compare the taste of rabbit to chicken. I think it has the texture of chicken, particularly of chicken thighs or legs, but it really doesn’t taste like chicken. It has its own wonderful taste. Years ago it was much more common to cook rabbit, and more easy to find it at a butcher shop. But these days, in the era of chicken and supermarkets, you likely need to go to a specialty market to find some. This rabbit recipe is an easy to make cacciatore, or a “hunter style” stew, which is typically made with either chicken or rabbit.

Rabbit Cacciatore Recipe

Whole rabbit is much more difficult to part out than a whole chicken. If you can, have your butcher cut it for you.

Ingredients

• One 2 1/4 lb rabbit, cut into 6 to 8 pieces
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 3 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves (or 1 Tbsp dried)
• 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (Wondra flour works great)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup chopped mushrooms
• 3 cups of chopped, very ripe tomatoes (or canned plum tomatoes)
• 2 red bell peppers, seeded, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 bay leaf
• 16 salt-cured olives, black or green, pitted

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