Easter Dinner Part 1 - Easter Bunny

Was planning to stew the lamb's head for Easter dinner, but Julie from Groff's Content Farm had some fresh rabbit. Got 2 -- one for us and one for Lane, but that had to go into the freezer as he's off doing family things for the weekend. So the lamb's head will have to wait until next week; for tonight I roasted the rabbit.

I wanted to do it whole, and the most interesting recipe I found that didn't involve several days' preparation was for Zajac Pieczony (Roast Hare). I followed the recipe almost to the letter from my Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery (2nd Edition, 1966) but reproduce it here because the book is out of print.

Vinegar Marinate for Meat
(Proportions are for 3 pounds of meat - this was almost exactly the weight of my rabbit)
3 c water
1 lg onion, sliced
9 allspice berries (I used 10 cloves instead)
9 peppercorns (I used about twice that)
6T unfiltered apple cider vinegar
4-5 bay leaves

Combine water with onion and allspice and peppercorns. Cook about 1/2 hour or until onion is soft. Add vinegar and allow to cool. Pour over meat and marinate, refrigerated, for however long the recipe calls for (usually measured in days).

For the rabbit, from here I deviated more than followed a the recipe. I did follow the instructions to bring the marinade back to the boil and pour while hot over the rabbit, and let it stand 1 - 2 days in the refrigerator. As shown in the photo below, I used a large zippy bag so I could flop the rabbit over every now and again to be sure it was marinating evenly.


When I was ready to cook it, the following came into play:

salt and granulated garlic to rub
cut carrots and potatoes
onoins from the marinating sauce
red wine for basting

I cooked the rabbit on a roasting rack in a 325F oven for 2 hours, basting with red wine every 20 minutes or so. I used the "trick" of roasting the vegetables underneath it. This was a mistake (see cooking notes below). Picture shows it just out of the oven. Once out of the oven, I removed the rabbit and the veggies. I carved and plated the rabbit and covered it with sauce made from deglazing the pan. First post pic shows the finished result.

Cooking Notes: The veggies were totally hard. The rabbit was too lean to drip enough fat to cook them, and the oven wasn't at a high enough temperature to roast them even in 2 hours. I had to put them in some water and boil them for 20 minutes to finish them off, and by that time we were finished eating and stuffed. Oh, well, live and learn. The sauce did have a slightly carroty note, though, so at least there was some benefit to doing it that way.

Eating Notes: The recipe warns that substituting domestic rabbit for the hare will result in a blander flavor. I'm sure this is true, as the rabbit, while tender and very moist, was not at all gamy, and both Phil and I were just a tad disappointed because of that. If I can get my hands on a wild hare I will try this recipe again, though.