Welcome to Calabria! It was a weird stage: a beautiful beginning and treacherous lead-up to the end. There were some near-apocalyptic images as the riders made their murky and stormy ride up through Monte Scuro where it absolutely lived up to its nickname: "the dark mountain".
But, much like the red peppers peeking through my dark braise of rabbit in wine, the red emblem of Team Ineos Grenadiers on Fillipo Ganna’s jersey cut through the fog and peloton as he was today's stage winner. Speaking of weird, have you ever made a dish so beautiful...almost too beautiful to eat? Well,“too good to eat” took on a new and literal meaning for me today. Yes, one of my most liked images so far, a picture perfect roast and braise was of a dish I could not consume. It was extremely disappointing. But, as you can see, I didn’t do anything wrong...so, what happened?
Well, it all started the night before as I was preparing the rabbit in a marinade. I unpackaged the rabbit and could immediately tell something was not right. Don’t get me wrong. I have smelled some interesting smells in my life, especially for gamey meats, but this one had that port-o-potty at the end of a 3-day music festival in the middle of July funk. No bueno. However, I was in a jam. I “needed” to make a dish for this stage. I spent a good amount on the rabbit and I didn’t really have an alternative. So, the show had to go on.
I did some research as to why this smelled so badly, and all I can come up with is that either the marking scent sack, that’s located near the rabbit’s shoulder, was either nicked in the processor’s butchery procedure or, because it was tightly folded in upon itself, pressure gave way to a burst. Anyway, now you know a secret I’ve been holding onto for a few days and I feel better for telling you. Yes, this blog will be dedicated to food, but I’m going to be a straight shooter with you as well. I don’t want to be a phony and want you all to know you can rely on me as a solid source of information and to tell you my failures along with my successes. No one is perfect.
I’m also not going to bad mouth the supplier here. They’ve always had really good stuff and I think this was just an unfortunate situation. If I have a similar issue again, that might change, but I’m not here to put people out of business, especially when the current food/restaurant business is perilous enough already. But, to help you avoid the same fate as I did, I would strongly suggest ordering leg quarters, as opposed to the whole rabbit. I have provided a link below in the recipe as to how you can obtain them. I will re-make this dish sometime. Because, I mean, just look at it!
Rabbit and Red Pepper Stew
Adapted from The Italian Regional Cookbook, Valentina Harris
Rabbit, butchered or quarters
Bottle of Pinot Noir
2 bay leaves
Parsley
Oregano
3 celery stalks
Basil
Peppercorns
4 red peppers
Extra-virgin olive oil
Onion
Garlic
The night before you make the meal, place the rabbit parts in a large bowl along with ¾ of the bottle of wine. Add in the bay leaves, a handful of parsley leaves (chopped), the leaves from 2 or 3 oregano stems, a heavy pinch of basil leaves (chiffonade), 10 crushed peppercorns and tablespoon of kosher salt. Chop the celery in half and stir the contents with a stalk, then place the stocks on top. Add more wine, if needed. Otherwise, pour some out for Thumper (in your mouth of course, let’s not get crazy). Cover and refrigerate overnight or up to 2-3 days.
When ready to cook, remove the rabbit from the marinade and reserve. Dry the rabbit pieces and season them aggressively with kosher salt and black pepper. Preheat a dutch oven over medium with 2 tbsp evoo. Brown the rabbit about 5-6 minutes per side, then set aside. Meanwhile, seed and large dice the red peppers and dice the onion. When the rabbit is browned, heat a tablespoon of evoo in the dutch oven and saute the peppers and onions for about 10 minutes. Add the rabbit back to the pot along with the reserved marinade. Leave the celery on top of everything in the pot. Bring to a boil. Cover and lower the heat to maintain a simmer. Cook for an hour. After about 45 minutes remove the celery and set aside to cool. After the rabbit has cooked an hour and looks tender, remove from the pot. Return the pot to a boil and reduce the sauce. Meanwhile, slice the celery into a 2-inch dice.
Copyright 2020, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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