Roasted Rabbit with Ligurian Chickpea Cake and Chanterelles
- Yield: 2 servings
- Total: 50 min
- Prep: 20 min
- Cook: 30 min
Ingredients
4 tablespoons minced shallots
1teaspoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon
8 ounce shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, plus another 1/2 tablespoon, plus to taste
1 ounce white wine, plus 1/2 cup
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more, to taste
Pinch cayenne pepper
1 whole rabbit, deboned
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
6 slices uncooked bacon
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus 3 tablespoons
3 tablespoons creme fraiche
4 ounces chicken stock
1 cup salad greens, such as arugula and watercress
1/2 cup blanched fava beans or English peas
1/2-pint cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 small bulb fennel, shaved thinly
1 lemon, juiced
1/4 pound fresh wild mushrooms, such as chanterelles
Chickpea Crepes, recipe follows
Chickpea Crepes:
1/2 cup chickpea flour
1/2 cup water
Olive oil, for sauteing
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Sweat shallots and garlic in 2 tablespoons unsalted butter until soft, about 3 minutes. Add shiitakes, 1/2-tablespoon thyme, and saute over medium heat 3 minutes. Deglaze with 1 ounce of white wine and cook until dry. Season with kosher salt and cayenne, to taste, and set aside to cool.
- To prepare rabbit, remove hind legs. Keep the belly flap attached to the loin. Rub the loin with mustard and remaining thyme. Roll the belly flap around the loin. Stuff the rabbit leg/thigh with the shiitake mixture and secure by wrapping each leg with 3 strips of bacon.
- Season rabbit leg/thigh and loin with kosher salt and pepper. In a large saute pan, heat 1-tablespoon olive oil, sear rabbit leg on both sides careful not to burn the bacon. Sear for 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from pan and rest in a warm spot. Deglaze the roasting pan with white wine, add creme fraiche and chicken stock, and let the sauce reduce by 1/2. Season with salt and fresh thyme. While the sauce is reducing, cook the loin until medium, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the flap and julienne. Add the julienne belly meat to the salad greens, peas, tomatoes, fennel, and dress with lemon juice and extra-virgin olive oil.
- Saute wild mushrooms if available in whole butter while you are cooking the loin, hold warm while assembling plate.
- To plate, put warm folded crepe on plate, fill with dressed salad, fold the crepe over the salad, rest the rabbit leg against the crepe. Slice the loin into 3 pieces, and fan out. Sauce the plate with the pan juices and garnish with sauteed wild mushrooms.
Chickpea Crepes:
- In a small bowl, whisk the chickpea flour into the water
- Heat a crepe or small saute pan. Add olive oil until almost smoking. Ladle 4 ounces of chickpea batter into the crepe pan and swirl around, making the batter coat the entire bottom of the pan. Cook until edges start to brown. Flip 1/2 the crepe over the other half, making a 1/2 moon shape and remove from pan. Keep crepes under a cloth until time to plate dish.