Wascally Wabbit

If you haven't been to Stew Leonard's in Norwalk, Connecticut, I highly recommend you go. Imagine the Disney ride "It's a Small World", but you're shopping in the ride and everything looks and tastes delicious. Okay, I know that's hard to imagine, but you can see now why you have to go in person!

After I picked up a variety of their (delightful!) chicken wings to eat in the car, I spotted something that looked like a hairless cat next to the pork section. I had no idea what it was until I looked at the label and realized it was a rabbit! Normally, I'd be ashamed of my lack of knowledge, but I have an excuse. I grew up in the boonies of North Carolina where we'd be lucky if we saw a duck being sold at our local Win Dixie, let alone a rabbit (no, I did not hunt!)

Cut to me sitting down with my grandmother that night learning about cooking rabbit. She said she cooks it two ways: the French way and the Italian way. Because of my time constraints, she suggested the Italian method because it doesn't require as much time to marinade the meat.

I left early (time was of the essence!) for home and started a marinade of white wine, thyme, carrots, salt, and pepper. I sectioned the rabbit and let it soak up those flavors for two hours. Meanwhile I made a tomato sauce consisting of tomato puree, carrots, thyme, salt, pepper, rosemary, and basil. This is when I coated the rabbit in flour then seared it in light olive oil. Once it was almost cooked, I put the sections in the pot of tomato sauce and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

The rabbit was served over rice with steamed green beans. It tasted complex; tangy, gamey, and full of flavor!