Last week I had a whole family for class, the children walking around on their own as we were waiting for our vegetables, they came back from the nearby butcher’s booth with this dramatic statement,
” Daddy, I didn’t know that they ate poodles!”
It isn’t just kids that are confused with the shape of a rabbit in a meat counter.
Rabbit is a very popular meat in both Italy and France, and quite fabulous!
It was easy to raise. In the medieval and Renaissance markets, the sale of le carne bianche, white meat, was left to the women. Chicken and rabbits, courtyard animals, required little strength to butcher and were raised and sold by the women.
It surprised me to see that on the Island of Ischia , the typical dish is Coniglio all’ Ischitana, rabbit.
I found out the history of rabbit on the island was from Phoenician times, when they left rabbits on the islands they visited to be sure they would have food when they returned. Still today, fishermen sell fish, but eat rabbit!
My favorite summer recipe for Rabbit is from Monferrato, in Piedmont.
Tonno di Coniglioa fabulous marinated rabbit easy to recreate at home, you can easily substitute chicken.
Here is the recipe:
Boil one whole rabbit in lightly salted water with:
one carrot, one celery stalk and one onion with 2 or 3 cloves stuck in it.
When the rabbit is tender and falling from the bones, about one hour, turn off the heat and let cool in the broth.
Remove the rabbit from the broth and gently tear the meat off the bones, in the largest pieces possible.
Place in a bowl. There will also be some smaller shredded pieces of rabbit.
Season with chopped sage and garlic, I used 1 clove of garlic and 6 large sage leaves.
Salt if you like.Layer in a glass jar and place some bay leaves in amongst the rabbit.
I used about 4 small young tender leaves.
Cover with extra virgin olive oil and let marinade in the refridgerator for 2 or 3 days before serving.
Remove the rabbit pieces from the oil and serve with a light salad of lovely greens.
excuse my ignorance, but should this be marinated in the refrigerator, I assume? I shall try it this coming week and let you know how we like it! (we’re here in Italy now with easy access to rabbit)
Italians often marinade things without refrigeration.
Mine is just in the cupboard.
If you di refrigerate it, let it come to room temp before eating.
I am eating mine tomorrow with some marinated artchoke hearts I made.
Tradtionally they use whole garlic cloves and whole sage leaves, I chopped mine.
Where are you in Italy?
I am temporarly without dictionary: what’s a poodle?!
Barboncino!!!
AHHHHHHH
Aaaah! It’s all clearer now! ^____^ Can you remeber the first lines in that movie, “Little Big Man”? In Italian it sounded something like “Il cane bollito non è male; un po’ stoppaccioso ma buono”.
That looks suspiciously like a poodle to me, Judy.
And a French poodle at that!
There are a few things French that I (and a few Italians I’m sure) would LOVE to preserve like that…
But I won’t mention any names!
David
Why “Tuna”?
We’re having our wedding anniversary celebration at the Landing Restaurant in Auckland, and Tuna Rabbit is on the menu. Just curious!
Paul and Tina Toschi
Paul and Tina!
Congrats and how lucky…
it is called tuna as it is preserved in oil, like tuna is!
In Chianti, my friend Dario does Tonno del Chianti which is pork, also boiled first then preserved in oil.
Lovely and light!
I was looking at a rabbit in my freezer this morning and thinking it looked like my cat… I am going to try this!