Rabbit Stifado Recipes

Steps:

• Rinse the rabbit pieces and place them in a mixing bowl together with the bay leaves and vinegar; mix well and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight; remove the rabbit from the marinade and pat dry with kitchen paper.
• Heat half of the olive oil in a large saucepan until hot, add the rabbit and fry the pieces until quite brown on all sides; add the tomato paste, bay leaves (left over from the marinade), sugar, garlic, spices, wine and the hot water.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Bring to the boil mixing well then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan; add the onions and sauté gently for 15 minutes stirring occasionally, until golden all over; after the rabbit has been cooking for 1 hour, add the onions and oil from the frying pan to the saucepan; combine, then re-cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes; fish out the cinnamon stick, allspice berries and rosemary sprig.
• Note: This can be served with pasta, noodles, rice or oven-roasted potatoes, but my personal favourite is homemade french-fries, which taste delicious dunked in the spicy sauce.

Steps:

• Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and brown beef-- in batches if necessary, adding more oil if needed.
• Transfer beef to crock pot with a slotted spoon.
• Reduce heat to medium and add onions to skillet, cooking until soft; add garlic, cinnamon and allspice and cook for 1 minute.
• Add vinegar, tomato sauce, sugar and bay leaf and stir well to combine.
• Pour mixture over meat.
• Cover and cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours or on High for 4 to 5 hours, until beef is tender.
• Add feta cheese, cover again, and cook on High for 10 minutes.
• Discard bay leaf and serve over hot buttered pasta or mashed potatoes.

Steps:

• Season rabbit with salt and pepper to taste. Coat the bottom of a large oven-proof saute pan or casserole dish with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Place over medium-high heat, and brown rabbit on all sides, 8 to 10 minutes. Brown in batches if necessary; do not crowd pan. Remove rabbit to a platter.
• Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to the pan. Add red onions and pinch of salt. Saute over medium heat until onions are slightly wilted and begin to brown, about 4 minutes. Add garlic, and stir. Add Cabernet Sauvignon and Mavrodaphne, and stir, scraping bottom of pan. Raise heat to medium-high, and boil until liquid is reduced to about 1/4 cup, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Add rabbit to pan with any juices from platter. Add chicken broth, allspice, sachet and black pepper to taste. Bring to boil, then remove from heat. Cover pan, and place in oven. Let rabbit simmer for 40 to 60 minutes; while it is cooking, prepare the pearl onions.
• In a skillet or saute pan over medium-high heat, melt 1 teaspoon butter, and add the pearl onions. Sprinkle with sugar, and saute, shaking pan or stirring, until onions are golden brown on all sides, 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside until ready to use.
• When rabbit is done (the meat will give easily when pierced with a fork), remove it to a serving platter and keep it warm. Place pan on stove over medium heat, and add the onions. Bring the pan liquid to a boil and whisk in remaining teaspoon of butter. Check for seasoning, and add salt, pepper or mavrodaphne, if desired. Ladle sauce over rabbit. Garnish, if desired, with diced fresh tomatoes and fried onion rings.

Steps:

• Cut up the rabbit into pieces (hind legs, front legs, etc.) as you would cut up a whole chicken, into approximately 9 pieces. Place into a large bowl.
• Add the garlic, parsley, bay leaf, piri-piri, salt, pepper and beer (or enough wine to cover the rabbit) to the rabbit. Mix around to combine everything.
• Cover and refrigerate to marinate for 1 day or at least overnight. The longer it marinates, the better it is! (I hate the gamey taste of wild rabbit - I use storebought rabbit).
• Cut up the onion and place into a pot with the olive oil. Saute the onion slightly.
• Add the rabbit a few pieces at a time to brown (careful not to crowd the pot - you want to brown them, not cook them at this point).
• Once all pieces are browned, add the rabbit marinade into the pot as well and enough water to cover the rabbit.
• Bring to a boil, reduce to medium-high heat, cover (leave lid slightly off) and let the rabbit cook for approximately 2 hours, or until tender. Check for salt, pepper, garlic (I add lots because we love it!), little more paprika for colour - all to your taste. Don't let the liquid boil right off - it should end up cooking down to a "gravy". You may need to periodically add some water, but careful you don't add too much too late in the cooking - you don't want it to be swimming in liquid towards the end.
• Once rabbit is cooked, add the rice right to the pot (with the rabbit still in or remove and keep warm), add some additional water/salt/pepper if needed, and cook the rice right in the broth.
• Serve the rabbit over the rice. Enjoy!

Steps:

• Season the beef with salt and pepper.
• Place butter in the bottom of a large crockpot.
• Add the meat and turn to coat with butter.
• Arrange the onions over the meat.
• Mix the tomato paste through the garlic, and pour over the meat and onions, but do not stir.
• Add the bay leaf through the raisins; do not stir.
• Simmer on low 8-10 hours.
• At serving time, remove the bay leaf, cinnamon stick and cloves and stir the stifado gently to blend.