My rabbits are now proper butchering age. So it’s all rabbit, all the time. The other day I went over to my friend Jim’s house (he’s a goat advisor) and brought a picnic lunch. It was so good. Here’s the recipe, adapted from The River Cottage Meat Cookbook:
1. kill and clean one rabbit
2. liberally salt, pepper and oil the bunny.
3. pick fennel stalk from local fennel growing area.
4. wrap the rabbit in the fennel stalks
5. then wrap in bacon
6. place rabbit in a deep baking pan
7. pour a splash of wine and 1 cup chix/duck/veg stock over rabbit
8. bake at 350 for about an hour
9. cut into pieces like chicken
The rabbit meat soaks in all the fennel flavor, the bacon mellows that, and there’s a pool of yummy drippings to pour over the meat. We ate it with cucumber tomato salad and a crusty baguette.
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The Urban Orchardist 
That sounds GREAT! Anything with bacon is great actually. I made a stuffed rabbit once, I’ll find the recipe for you. Thickening the sauce with the rabbit liver is really good too.
Last night, I had a dream that I was getting goats. *sigh* I wish.
riana;
yeah, fennel and bacon is a dream combo. i threw the liver on top when i baked it, like you did that one time. the gravy is amazing.
Just found your blog via “An Obsession with Food.” I’m looking forward to reading more. Great stuff!
Hi Novella,
Do you think this recipe would work with chicken, no having any rabbits around. But I do have lots of fennel. Did you you know that in Wash. state fennel is on the list of invasive plants.
hi nana (aka my mother);
fennel’s a weed here too. it’s best to make the best of it. i think it would be good with chicken! you should gather some fennel pollen, it’s a good, neglected seasoning. just pick the flowers when they’re yellow, store in a paper bag, and the pollen will gather on the bottom of the bag after a few weeks.
ellen: welcome!
Hey there! Just stumbled across your blog, like Ellen, over at OWF. Nice! I’m amazed at how many people are embracing the idea of reclaiming urban spaces for small scale agriculture these days (it would appear you know my co-conspiritors in chickenry, Patrick and Holly). An encouraging development, no?
I’ve been wondering about cooking rabbit lately. I’m pretty sure we’ve got a rabbit purveyor or two up these parts, if I can track one down perhaps I’ll give this a try.
Cheers!
Hmmm… I’ve never mixed bacon with my bunny before. I usually use Willie Birds turkey bacon, which does not have the same character. The Niman Ranch stuff is pretty good, but it’s harder and harder to find it with nitrates, which is unfortunate because the nitrate-less stuff tastes horrid. I can see not eating the nitrate variety if you have heart issues or eat it every day, but if you’re eating it once a month. *grumble*
How long do you age your bunnies for after slaughter before cooking? I find that three days to a week at fridge temperatures does the trick, but freezing and thawing also seems to tenderize it and keep the meat from seizing.
My basic bunny recipe is: brown bunny parts in cast-iron with a little bit of olive oil, then simmer with a little bit of broth until it starts to fall off the bone. Cool, strip and use. Herbs and spices vary, but my favorite might be the bunny mole (Trader Joe’s sells a very good mole sauce).
i haven’t dabbled with hanging the rabbits. i might kill two today, so i’ll hang one and clean the other. usually i kill the rabbit and then salt it, leave in the fridge for 24 hours, then rinse and cook. i think the genius of bacon plus rabbit is that bunny tends to dry out because they don’t have much fat. i’ve also heard that smearing them with duck or goose fat is good.