Braised Rabbit with Parsnips, Carrots and Pearl Onions

The landlord is changing the stove!  I was afraid this blog would turn into a 2 year long whine that nobody would want to read and I certainly would not want to write.  Would not write!  And then what would I do with myself?  Back to genealogy, trying to find slave ancestors that have eluded me for the last 15 years, lurking hungrily around other blogs while eating frozen, microwavable meals from the commissary.  Whew!  Saved!

I miss the variety of the French supermarkets.  The average Frenchman does not eat foie gras everyday but does have affordable, supermarket access to many items we would consider specialties or gourmet; duck legs and breasts, succulent rabbit, entrecote, filet mignon, New Zealand leg of lamb, veal liver, boudin noir, kidneys, fresh fish, mussels, etc.  Browsing the supermarket meat sections in Stuttgart takes me back to those of New Orleans; pork, pork, pork, pork, chicken, pork, pork, pork, pork, beef, pork, pork, pork, lamb.  You get the idea   Thank god for Fresh Paradise  http://www.frischeparadies.de/frischeparadies-maerkte/stuttgart.html

I didn’t get these rabbit legs at Fresh Paradise but in the frozen section of Edeka.  A French import, it says L’as du trefle, ace of clubs, on the package. Love the rabbit.

Afraid to put my new tajine in the Tajine Terminator Oven, I used the $5 big black skillet.  It’s a nice skillet.  I’m glad someone decided to put it up for adoption  I covered it with a top from the apartment’s stock pot.  Whatever.  This is the way it looked in the oven.

I’ve had these pearl onions for a while and this was the perfect opportunity to use them.

I usually don’t find anything exciting at the Christmas fairs, other than tree ornaments, but the Stuttgart fair had several stalls selling molds, cookie and vegetable cutters.  They had every shape you could imagine.

Of course I was mainly interested in the food animal shapes but there were so many, I’ll have to go back.

The rabbit was delicious and fork tender.  I imagine you could do this with chicken legs, adjusting the cooking time down to 40 minutes in the oven covered and 20 minutes uncovered.

Braised Rabbit with Parsnips, Carrots and Pearl Onions

6 rabbit legs

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, coarsely chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 celery branches, sliced

2 parsnips, chaos cut

4 carrots, chaos cut

1/2 tsp peppercorns

2 bay leaves

3-4 fresh sprigs of thyme

1 large fresh sprig of oregano

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup German demi-sec white wine

1/2 lb fresh pearl onions

1 1/2 tbsp butter

Brown the rabbit in the olive oil in a stove top to oven pan, remove and set aside.  Add the onion, garlic and celery to the pan and saute for 2 minutes.  Add the parsnips, carrots, peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme, oregano and saute for 3 minutes.  Pour over the chicken broth, bring to a boil, then top with reserved rabbit.  Pour the wine on top of the rabbit, cover and braise in a 350 F oven for 1 hour.  Uncover and cook for an additional 20 minutes.

Blanch the pearl onions for about 1 minute in boiling water, remove, allow to cool and peel.  Brown the onions in the butter and add to the rabbit for the last 20 minutes of cooking.

Wine suggestion:  Chenas

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