February 10, 2004
Toddler Iron Chef
Last night Amalia had rabbit for the first time. My mother cooked it for us (we were in Sacramento for the day), and it was delicious (served with tomato sauce over polenta). When it arrived at the table I exclaimed "Rabbit! I love rabbit!" My mother gave me one of those horrified looks and a "shhhh." You see, Amalia is at that age where animals are all cute and cuddly.
However, I will not give in to Bambism, and I always try to show Amalia examples of animals eating other animals, with rational explanations that some animals eat other animals, that people eat animals, and that this is what God intended. So I had to make it clear that we were indeed eating rabbit.
I have to admit that I was a little worried that Amalia would react poorly, as seeing the rabbits at the farm is one of her favorite things. She didn't really react other than wanting to eat that yummy looking stuff in front of her. She wanted more, so I gave her a scoop of polenta and sauce, as a bed to put the meat on. Before I had a chance to put the meat on, she looked at me and said, "Babbo, I want more rabbit."
The long and short of it is that Amalia is a confirmed rabbit eater. When asked what we should have for lunch, she did not give me her usual answer (sausage), but said rather enthusiasticly, "rabbit!" So I guess that the next time that we play Toddler Iron Chef, she is going to have me stewing rabbit.
Of course, eating rabbit makes me crave paella with rabbit, seafood and chorizo, so the first thing I did when we got home was to take an inventory of the required ingredients. We may have to take a drive to Galvan's or the Spanish Table tomorrow.
Speaking of the Spanish Table, I bought a jar of cardoni over there a while back. When I made fondue the other night I thought that it would be fun to dip cardoni in it. I was a little nervous, as I had never had the jarred variety. They were quite good, although they are cooked to the point of falling apart, which made them a little tricky for fondue. At $2.99 for a good sized jar, I highly recommend them. Preparing cardoni is a labor intensive task with lots of peeling and paring and parboiling in acidulated water. I will still do it, mainly to encourage farmers to keep growing the stuff (and I do like the way that the fresh ones hold up), but with a jar of them on hand, it makes a cardoni gratin a snap. I will probably put them on salami sandwiches, too.
Posted by erik at February 10, 2004 11:52 PM | TrackBackYou can make a terrific rabbit ragł as follows:
Separate the hind legs, forelegs, and (this is slightly non-standard) cut the tenderloin muscles out of the back. Make a stock (brown the meat, simmer in water or chicken stock with onions, carrot, and celery) with everything except the hind legs and tenderloins; this avoids the annnoying (to me) problem of tiny, hard-to-detect rib bones and sinewy forelegs. While the stock is simmering, brown the hind legs and tenderloins (along with some pancetta if you like), deglaze the pan with red wine, add some tomato paste and stock--oh, look, here's some rabbit stock, how fortunate!--and simmer until the meat is falling apart. Take the meat out, remove and discard the (large, obvious) hind leg bones, chop the meat coarsely along with some rehydrated dried porcini and return to the sauce; serve over pappardelle (home made if possible.)
Posted by: john b at May 4, 2006 10:30 AMSo where's the rabbit 'n chorizo paella recipe?? Please?
Posted by: at July 6, 2005 9:52 AMHow can you be opposed to polenta? It is great stuff. I even eat it for breakfast sometimes. Of course I generally avoid pure maize polenta, rather a blend of buckwheat, maize and farro. Much more interesting that way.
Posted by: Erik Keilholtz at February 11, 2004 2:18 PMAhhh Rabbit is tasty stuff, lest the polenta get in the way. Il Poliallo makes a really good grilled rabbit, and they get their rabbits from where else, but our favorite surly butcher Little City. Next time you are over there you should try it, as they really know about grilled meats. I have some pears sitting around the house and they should be ready by today, and I have some blue cheese, so I am going to try your suggestion tonight with some saugsages.
Regards,
RAM