Rabbit: Coniglio alla bergamasca

Coniglio alla bergamasca means rabbit cooked in the style of Bergamo.

Bergamo is a town located in the Lombardy province of Italy, one hour from Milan.
It is my mother's hometown and polenta and rabbit is very traditional dish there. I grew up eating it and fighting with my sister over the head and the liver! Rabbit brain, anybody?

Rabbit is very delicate meat and we generally favor rabbit over chicken. My husband, to tell the truth, doesn't like chicken at all, for him it's meat with no personality...maybe if I buy a poulet de Bresse he would change his mind, but I cannot bring myself to spend 20 euros a kilo for a chicken. That means more or less 50 dollars for a chicken! But we really like chicken stock, good thing is that I can purchase carcasses and wings from my butcher.

This recipe is  very, very easy and my children simply love it!

You need

• 1 rabbit, cut into pieces*. In the States,  I remember,  rabbits came with no head except maybe at Greek butchers or Asian markets. If it comes with the head, ask your butcher to split it lenghtwise so you can access the brain. 
• 5-6 cloves
• 2-3 rosemary sprigs
• white wine
• some hot water or chicken stock
• clarified butter 
• olive oil
• salt

Usually when you cook meat you are asked to warm up your skillet and sear the meat in hot fat. For this recipe I go againist common wisdom and follow my mom and she follows her mother recipe.
You need to clean perfectly the meat from fat. My grandmother used to say that while chicken fat tastes good, it's not the case for rabbit fat. Add some olive oil to your pan, then the rabbit pieces perfectly dried, some clarified butter, cloves, rosemary, salt. Saute' on medium-high heat until all the pieces are golden brown. Add almost a glass of warm white wine and reduce it. Then you lower the heat and add a little bit of stock or warm water when necessary to keep the meat from drying out, I put the lid on with a wooden spoon between the lid and the pan. Cooking time about 50 minutes to 1 hour. Check the leg if it's tender.
Ah, the liver and the kidneys go in the pan just at the end of cooking so they stay pink and juicy.
Make sure to add a bit of liquid when needed. My mom usually stops here. I strained the liquid, didn't really had time to defat but I wanted an emulsion of sort, so I whisked in some extra virgin olive oil (you can use butter if you use it) and added rosemary at the end because I didn't have in the house when I started cooking!  

*A big rabbit is normally too much for our family and the loin could come out a little dry. So, often I debone the ribs and loin, cut into cubes and save in the freezer for a ragout or for sauteing quickly.

Roasted lamb shoulder

Dinner was easy to put together. This is a staple of the house: roasted lamb shoulder. I do prefer shoulder over a leg of lamb it's fattier and tastier. I also made a side of roasted peppers with a balsamic vinagrette and some saute broccoli with garlic. It was very filling.

Ready for a recipe??? It's so simple that I would not even call it a recipe...

Roasted lamb shoulder

1 lamb shoulder
2 garlic cloves
1-2 rosemary sprigs
coarse sea salt (I use Guerande sea salt)
fat of your choice*
1 cup more or less of stock or water
1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Take your meat out of the fridge one hour before cooking and pat it dry.
 Preheat your oven at 220 C (430 F).
I ask my butcher to cut the tip of the foreshank for me, or you can cut yourself the tendons form the tip and expose the bone.
With a sharp boning knife I make some deep pockets in the meat and I insert slivers of garlic and little bit of rosemary. If I have some anchovies around I add also some small pieces here and there.

I massage the meat with fat, sprinkle with salt and bake at high temperature for 20-30 minutes. Then add some stock and lower the temperature to 170 C (350 F). I normally have some lamb stock available in the freezer, this time I used some beef stock. I cook for 1 and 20 minutes longer. I take out the meat and let it rest for 20 minutes before cutting.
Meanwhile, I deglaze the pan with some warm water and with a small whisk I incorporate a teaspoon or little more of mustard. Normally I would use some white wine in the recipe but I left it out here.

*Oil. I know Paleo police would not agree with me but here and in a lot of my cooking I use extravirgin olive oil. This is what a lot of Italians (the most) do and a lot of French from the Provence/Cote d'Azur area and I don't think we are doing too badly compared to the Americans. I use all kind of "healthy" fat: tallow, duck and goose fat, lard, foie gras fat and drippings. But in the summer I do use more extravirgin olive oil.