Rabbit Loin With Bitter Greens Recipes

Steps:

• Sprinkle rabbit saddles with salt and pepper. If possible, do this the night before cooking and refrigerate.
• In a small bowl, combine mustard and vinegar. Whisk in 1/4 cup olive oil and season with salt and pepper. May be covered and refrigerated up to 24 hours.
• Place dried fruit in a small saucepan with a pinch of salt and pepper, and add enough wine or Armagnac to just cover. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Drain when cool, remove any pits and cut larger fruits into chunks.
• Place a large, heavy sauté pan with a lid over high heat with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil until oil shimmers. Add rabbit saddles and sear well on all sides. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook until interior is slightly pink, 145 degrees on an instant-read thermometer (about 20 minutes). Allow to rest several minutes, then use a sharp knife to remove loins and tenderloins from bone. Slice meat thinly on the bias while still warm.
• In a wide, shallow serving bowl, combine frisée or other greens, almonds and fruit. Add mustard dressing to taste, warmed slightly or at room temperature, season with salt and pepper, and toss well. Add rabbit and toss again.

Steps:

• 1. Sprinkle rabbit saddles with salt and pepper. If possible, do this the night before cooking and refrigerate. 2. In a small bowl, combine mustard and vinegar. Whisk in 1/4 C. olive oil and season with salt and pepper. May be covered and refrigerated up to 24 hours. 3. Place dried fruit in a small saucepan with a pinch of salt and pepper, and add enough wine or Armagnac to just cover. Bring to a boil and immediately remove from heat. Drain when cool, remove any pits and cut larger fruits into chunks. 4. Place a large, heavy sauté pan with a lid over high heat with remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil until oil shimmers. Add rabbit saddles and sear well on all sides. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook until interior is slightly pink, 145° on an instant-read thermometer (about 20 minutes). Allow to rest several minutes, then use a sharp knife to remove loins and tenderloins from bone. Slice meat thinly on the bias while still warm. 5. In a wide, shallow serving bowl, combine frisée or other greens, almonds and fruit. Add mustard dressing to taste, warmed slightly or at room temperature, season with salt and pepper, and toss well. Add rabbit and toss again.

Steps:

• Cook rabbit in broth:
• Remove fat, kidneys, and liver from rabbit if necessary. Put rabbit, shallots, carrots, parsley, thyme, leek, garlic, peppercorns, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 6 cups water in a 4-quart heavy pot and bring to a boil, skimming froth. Reduce heat and gently simmer rabbit, partially covered, until tender, 1 hour.
• Clarify broth:
• Cool rabbit in broth, uncovered, 30 minutes, then remove, reserving rabbit pieces and broth separately. Pour broth through a fine sieve into a bowl, discarding solids. Whisk egg whites in another bowl until foamy and add egg shells. Whisk in warm broth in a stream and return mixture to cleaned pot.
• Heat over moderate heat, stirring and scraping bottom constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent egg white from sticking, until stock comes to a simmer (this will take about 10 minutes). Reduce heat and gently simmer broth, without stirring, until all impurities rise to surface and form a crust, and broth underneath is clear, about 10 minutes.
• While broth is simmering, coarsely shred rabbit meat, being careful to remove all small bones.
• Pour broth through a sieve lined with a double thickness of dampened paper towels into a bowl and let all broth drain through. Discard solids. (If liquid doesn't drain completely, tap edge of sieve repeatedly with a metal spoon to help drain.) Broth should be completely clear; if not, repeat procedure with clean dampened paper towels.
• If clarified broth measures more than 2 1/2 cups, boil to reduce. If it measures less, add water. Bring broth just to a simmer. Sprinkle gelatin over remaining 1/4 cup cold water and soften 1 minute, then whisk into hot broth until dissolved. Stir in Madeira and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste.
• Assemble terrines:
• Lightly oil terrines and line with a sheet of plastic wrap large enough to drape over edges. Place terrines on a tray. Cut 4 (18-inch) pieces of kitchen string and place 2 crosswise under each terrine about 2 inches from each end (they will be used to secure rolling pins or bottles to terrines).
• Grind fennel seeds with a mortar and pestle or in an electric coffee/spice grinder and toss with rabbit, olives, pistachios, chives, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Divide mixture between terrines, then stir broth well and pour slowly into terrines, filling to 1/4 inch from top. Reserve any remaining broth, covered and chilled. Place a foil-wrapped cardboard strip on top of each terrine, then rest a rolling pin or bottle on top of cardboard and tie to terrine, creating just enough pressure to press cardboard about 1/2 inch into terrine (some broth will spill over onto tray).
• Chill terrines on tray 3 hours, then remove string, weights, and cardboard. Heat any reserved jelled broth (including spillover on tray) just until it becomes liquid and add to terrines. Cover with overhanging plastic wrap and chill at least 6 hours more.
• To unmold terrines, unwrap plastic wrap and invert molds onto a long narrow platter, pulling slightly on plastic to release terrines from molds, then removing it. Gently cut terrines with a serrated knife into 1/3-inch-thick slices and serve on toasts.
• Toast spices in a dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant and a shade or two darker.
• ** To toast, arrange bread slices on a baking sheet and spread with 2 tablespoons butter. Toast in middle of oven until golden, about 10 minutes.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
• Season rabbits on all sides and inside the cavity with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.
• Trim the watercress and dandelion greens, removing the woodiest stems. Cut the Treviso into halves the long way, then cut each half into thirds, and trim away any especially tough white stalky interior core.
• Lay sliced guanciale on a sheet pan large enough to hold the rabbits. (You can use 2 separate pans if necessary.) Scatter the dandelion greens, watercress and Treviso on top of the guanciale, and then place the rabbit on top, back side facing up. Drizzle the rabbit and greens with the wine and extra-virgin olive oil.
• Roast rabbits for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, check rabbits, and rotate the pans to ensure that they are cooking and browning evenly. Return to the oven to continue roasting until rabbit legs are just cooked through, about 15 more minutes.
• Let rabbit rest for 10 minutes, then cut into 8 pieces each; two hindquarters, two forequarters and four loin pieces. Transfer the guanciale and greens to a serving platter. Place the rabbit pieces on top and drizzle with the pan-drippings left on the sheet tray and a healthy drizzle of olive oil.