Braised Rabbit with Olives, Capers, and Potatoes

We were lucky enough to come into possession of 5 rabbits this week. Here is the first of several attempts to cook rabbit. This round went really well.

Ingredients

1 rabbit, cut into 8 pieces (10 if you have the belly)
6 Tbs of olive oil
1 lb of red skinned potatoes, cut into 1 in pieces
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, cut in the thin strips (I used red and orange)
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1 1/4 cup sliced Sicilian green olives
1/3 cup capers, drained
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/3 cup of water
salt and pepper

Butchering the rabbit

We've had rabbit before, but only in restaurants, and we've certainly never butchered our own little bunnies. So this was an adventure. Armed with some instructions in hand, I set off to butcher the little guy. I was intimidated for sure after seeing how many steps were involved, but it actually was not that difficult. If you can buy a whole rabbit, pre-butchered, it would save you some time, but there is something cool and primal about doing it yourself. Because the rabbits were small, I found a paring knife and kitchen shears worked best.

Removing the front legs:

Removing the belly, aka rabbit bacon!

Remove the silver skin

More belly:

Hind legs on the left, tenderloins on the right (cut into two sections):


So for the recipe....

Heat 4 Tbs of olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat. Dry, then salt and pepper the meat. Brown the pieces of rabbit, about 7 minutes per side, then remove from the oil.


Front legs (top left), ribs (top right), tenderloins (middle right), rabbit belly (bottom right), hind legs (bottom left):


Add the other 2 Tbs of oil and saute onions until soft. Then add everything else- the potatoes, bell pepper, tomato, olives, celery, capers, garlic, and thyme... cook 5 minutes. Mix in vinegar and 1/4 cup water. Then, add the rabbit back and reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every now and then.




Serve with bread:

Really delicious. The vinegar adds this sweet and sour element that works really well with the capers and onions.