Pulled rabbit is one of those dishes I cook quiet often not only because it’s really delicious by itself but also because it could easily be combined with many different ingredients and make a proper meal. You can use pulled rabbit meat in sandwiches, soups, pasta, risotto… The variations are endless! I strongly recommend you to make a big batch of it, since the meat will only get tastier in a couple of days and you will always have something to cook a quick but enjoyable dinner or lunch with.
Today I used pulled rabbit meat in rich brown chicken and mushroom stock with some sliced button mushrooms simmered for a couple of minutes and wilted local spinach.
I happened to have a chicken carcass in my fridge, so I used it for my stock. Well, I guess any ingredient cooked in brown stock seems to be delicious, right? Especially when you further enrich its flavor with a good handful of dried porcini. So, first I had my pulled rabbit meat ready, then I prepared the stock and, finally, threw everything together, adding a handful of button mushrooms and a bunch of spinach, which turned into a warming winter lunch dish.
Having the two main ingredients ready, all you need to do is to bring the stock to the simmer, add sliced mushrooms (I used six of them) and a few spoonsful of rabbit meat and cook for 2 minutes. Add a big handful of spinach (washed and stalk removed) and let it wilt there for about 30 seconds.
Voila! Enjoy!
Pulled Rabbit
To fill approximately 600 ml container
Ingredients
- 4 rabbit hind legs
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 medium onions, peeled and cut in halves
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery stalks
- 2 bay leaves
- A good handful of fresh marjoram or thyme
- A small handful of coriander seeds
- ½ (125 ml) cup dry white wine
- 4 cups (1L) chicken or vegetable stock, homemade preferably
Instructions
- Wash rabbit legs and pat them dry thoroughly. Heat oil in a large heavy based pan over a medium to high heat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook the rabbit legs well until golden brown on both sides. Remove from the pan.
- Add onions, carrots, celery, bay leaf, marjoram and coriander seeds to the pan. Let the vegetables brown nicely and spices release their flavor.
- Deglaze the pan with wine and let it reduce by half. Return the rabbit into the pan and pour the stock over it.
- Bring to the boil then turn the heat down to low, cover the pan and allow to simmer for 3 hours. Turn the heat off and leave to cool in the liquid, if you are not in a hurry.
- Now you should have a super tender fall-of-the-bones meat. All you need to do is to pull it carefully from the bones, making sure there are no small bones left in it.
- Strain and boil the cooking liquid to reduce a little to make it more concentrated and richly flavoured, then pour it over the rabbit meat.
- Strain the cooking liquid and boil it to reduce a little bit and concentrate the flavours and pour it over the rabbit meat. Pour just enough to coat and keep it moist.
Brown Chicken and Mushroom Stock
To fill approximately 600 ml container.
Ingredients
- 1 chicken carcass
- 4 shallots
- 2 carrots
- 2 celery sticks
- 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- Olive oil
- 20 gr dried porcini
- Salt
- Pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 220 C.
- Cut the chicken carcass into a few pieces. Remove the outer layer of shallot skins, do not peel it. Cut shallots in half. Peel carrots. Cut the carrots and celery into chunks.
- Put everything apart from porcini on a shallow baking tray and drizzle with some olive oil.
- Roast until well browned, for approximately one hour.
- Transfer the roasted chicken and vegetables to the stock pot, add porcini and pour the water over (approximately 2 L).
- Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for a couple of hours or longer to get a rich and flavorful stock. Reduce it to approximately 600 ml.
- Strain the stock and discard the chicken and vegetables.
- Try the stock and season it well with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Notes
This is a simple version of a traditional brown stock (no bone collecting).