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A simple recipe of roasted rabbit flavored with white wine, garlic and herbs. Tender white meat baked in an incredibly delicious little sauce.
Learn how to cook rabbit in
the oven in the simplest way possible, an entry-level rabbit recipe, so to speak, when it comes to cooking rabbit. Or try these amazing rabbit stews or the Italian rabbit stew.
What does the rabbit taste like?
THE question when it comes to eating rabbit meat. Despite the popular belief that Europeans eat more rabbit than chicken, it remains something special even in Europe. There are regions where this type of meat is more common, but about 90% of people I know have never tried it.
And everyone asks: what does it taste like? Well, to eliminate the main concern from the beginning: it doesn’t taste like matching! You are welcome. That’s what people seem to worry about the most when it comes to eating rabbit.
It tastes a lot like chicken; if you served me rabbit meat cooked on a cake, for example, I doubt I’d ever guess it wasn’t chicken…
How to prepare a rabbit for cutting?
You can buy it fresh or frozen, whole or cut into pieces. However, buying it fresh is not always easy, I find it from time to time, but rather as a special offer at Easter or other holidays. Buying only paws is good, but it costs about twice as much as buying a whole rabbit. So, a whole frozen animal is what I buy most of the time.
How to thaw it?
Place it in
- a large, fairly deep baking dish and let it thaw in the refrigerator. A deep dish prevents the released water from spoiling your refrigerator.
- Most of the whole pieces around here weigh around 1.5kg/3.3, and need 30-48 hours to thaw in the fridge, so be sure to plan ahead.
How to cut it
into pieces?
For this recipe, you will have to cut the animal into several pieces. It’s very easy; All you need is a large cutting board and a sharp knife.
I roast six parts in the oven: the hind legs, the front legs and the back strap cut into two pieces. What remained were the flaps of the belly and the corpse. The belly flaps are too thin to roast in the oven along with the rest; They will dry out too much. You can fry them in the pan or add them to the rabbit broth, which you will do with the carcass.
I feel that if he is ready to cut and make roast rabbit in this way, then he is also willing to make broth with the corpse (and leftover bones after eating). Otherwise, there would be too much waste; I didn’t dare to throw away the corpse; It really makes a wonderful broth (which doesn’t taste matching, but like chicken broth).
Steps:
- Place the animal on a large cutting board lying on your back and open it. (1,2)
- First, cut the flaps from the belly. (1)
- Cut off the front legs. Go under the armpit and cut the entire shoulder. There is no bone connection there, so it will come off very easily. (2)
- Cut off the hind legs. Grab both legs with your hands and open that part. Find where the coccyx is and cut there. (1)
- Divide the back strap or spine in the middle. Find where the vertebra is and cut it right there. Press with the knife or use a blade. (2)
- Cut off the spine and ribs; they don’t have much meat, so you will use them to make broth. Find the last rib with your fingers and cut it along it. Repeat on the other side. The whole cut will look like a V. Grab the case with one hand and the back strap with the other. Break so you can see the joint between the bones and cut right there.
How to roast rabbit in the oven?
- Place the parts you have cut into a roasting can. (1)
- In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, white wine, grated garlic, chopped rosemary, salt and pepper
- and turn the meat several times in the marinade to cover it all over. (2)
. Pour over the meat
- Cover with plastic wrap/cling film and marinate for at least one hour. Usually marinated for 3-4 hours.
- Remove the meat from the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking.
- Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius / 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Add 3-4 whole garlic cloves and a couple of sprigs of rosemary to the roasting pan. Pour about 1/2 cup of water.
- Roast the rabbit in the hot oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, turning the pieces of meat over approximately every 10 minutes. If you want the meat to take on more color, turn on the grill for the last 5 minutes of the cooking time.
- Tip: The front legs and back strap parts are smaller than the hind legs. I usually remove them after 30 minutes, but I always check if the internal temperature is correct.
- Check the internal temperature with a meat thermometer, it should be 71 degrees Celsius / 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Checking with a thermometer is the best way to make sure the rabbit is safe to eat but not overcooked. If you cook it too much, it will dry out. (Amazon Affiliate Link)
How to serve roast rabbit
?
- Serve immediately drizzled with cooking juices; They are amazing!
- love serving the baked rabbit with polenta, which I also sprinkle generously with the juices from the pan. Try a simple creamy polenta or spinach polenta. The roasted potatoes are great too.
- Suitable vegetable garnishes would be green peas with butter, buttered vegetables, roasted carrots or a simple salad.
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Tip: Do not discard bones after eating. Use them to make broth along with the leftover casing and spine.
Leftovers?
They keep well in the fridge for about 2 days. Reheat in the oven, adding some water to the roasting tray.
Use shredded/chopped pieces of meat to make something like a “chicken” salad or use them to make enchiladas, for example. You can use the leftover roast rabbit almost any way you would use the chicken leftovers.
More roasted meat in the oven
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