It wasn’t in anticipation of Easter that rabbit made its debut in my home this weekend.

My mom, visiting from the coast, had located a small farm in rural Coos County that raises and butchers rabbits by special order. I confess to loving this poultry alternative, but I get the chance to enjoy rabbit only when it makes a rare appearance on restaurant menus. The meat is notoriously difficult to find in grocery stores. You might say we jumped at the chance to prepare it at home.

Although these cuts purported to come from a young rabbit, braising seemed the best way to render its meat tender and succulent. We started by browning a little pancetta in some olive oil and adding diced onion and garlic and then the rabbit. In addition to salt and pepper, smoked paprika really brought out the rabbit’s distinctive flavor.

We deglazed the pan with a couple cups of red wine, added some fresh bay leaves and sage sprigs and roasted the whole thing in a 350-degree oven for about 30 minutes. Quartered Yukon Gold potatoes, chunks of red onion and carrots and whole garlic gloves then went into the pan. Another 20 or so minutes later, we removed the meat and vegetables, thickened the pan sauce with a little potato starch, garnished the plates with some fresh, minced parsley and savored every bite.

I would welcome readers’ suggestions on where to find rabbit in the Rogue Valley. Respond to this blog, or e-mail slemon@mailtribune.com. Have a favorite rabbit recipe? Send that along, too.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 26th, 2007 at 12:44 pm and is filed under The Whole Dish. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.