Cider Braised Rabbit

In preparation for our annual Lord of the Rings marathon, I wanted to test out a few recipes for a "brace of coneys" as Samwise Gamgee calls them. I combined a couple different recipes I found online and came up with this gem, which I will be making in January!

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CIDER BRAISED RABBIT

6-8 servings

1 Rabbit, skinned, cleaned, bone in, and cut into 8 pieces 2 cups Flour Salt & Peper 2 tablespoon Thyme

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

100 grams Bacon, diced 1 Onion, diced 2-4 Shallots, peeled and whole 3 cloves Garlic, crushed 4 Carrots, cut on the bias 400 ml Chicken stock

330 ml Cider Bouquet Garni: Thyme & bay leaf

Pre heat oven to 280 F (140 C).

In a gallon / 3 liter bag, add the flour, salt and pepper, dried thyme. Give it a good mix.

Dredge the rabbit in flour, thyme, salt & pepper, and set aside.

In a heavy bottom pan / dutch oven add enough EVOO to coat the bottom. Add in the bacon and brown it. Once browned, take out of the dutch oven and place on a paper towel.

In the same pan, add more EVOO as needed, and brown the rabbit - do not crowd the pan - in multiple batched. Once browned, set aside.

In the same pan, add more EVOO as needed, and cook onions and shallots until translucent and slightly brown.

Add carrots and give them some color.

Add garlic and cook for about a minute until fragrant but not burnt.

Add cider and deglaze the bottom of the pan.

Add the stock and bring to a boil and then drop down to a simmer.

Add back in the bacon and rabbit, and make sure that rabbit is all most fully covered (but not completely covered). Add the bouquet garni.

Remove from the stove and place in the oven for ~1.5 to 2 hours. Cook until the meat is falling off the bone.

Serve with something starchy like risotto (mushroom risotto shown above) or mashed potatoes.