Coniglio Arrostito Sotto le Foglie di Verza
The Abruzzesi have long feasted on wild rabbit and hare. The formula for their preparation traditionally employed some version of al coccio—the braising of the rabbit in a terra-cotta pot. They might first brown it in olive oil with garlic, then cook it quietly with rosemary in white wine, perhaps enriching the dish with a dose of tomato conserve and finishing it with a handful of stoned olives. The peasants typically cooked rabbit in this mode, as it was a carne secca—a dry flesh— and hence deemed inappropriate for roasting. But in the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the brigade of serfs who cooked in the castles and villas of the nobility in the province of Pescara soon learned from their masters that all it took was a blanket of some sort—a quilt of buttery crust, a rasher or two of fat prosciutto or pancetta, even a few leaves of cabbage would do—to keep the scant juices of the little beast from becoming vapors in the heat of a wood oven.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 4
Ingredients
The Rabbit
The Stuffing
Preparation
The Rabbit
Step 1
Rinse and pat dry the rabbit, rubbing its flesh and its cavity with the sea salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
The Stuffing
Step 2
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Step 3
With a mezzaluna or a very sharp knife, mince the 4 ounces of pancetta, garlic, rosemary, and parsley to a thick paste. In a sauté pan over a medium flame, warm 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, heat the aromatic paste in it, adding the fennel seeds and sautéing for a minute until lightly colored. Add the liver, rolling it about in the perfumed fat and pour over the Cognac, shaking the pan, permitting flames to ignite and disperse. Salt the liver lightly and add the prosciutto and the sausage, sautéing until the sausage has taken on a bit of color. Turn the mixture out into a large bowl.
Step 4
Rinse the still-hot sauté pan with 1/2 cup of the wine, stirring and scraping at the residue and permitting the wine to reduce for a few seconds. Pour the reduced wine over the mixture in the bowl. Add the bread crumbs, pecorino, the olives, and the egg, combining all to form a loose, light stuffing. Sauté a spoonful of the mixture, tasting it for salt and adjusting it with a sprinkling, if necessary.
Step 5
Place the stuffing inside the cavity of the prepared rabbit and sew or skewer the rabbit closed.
Step 6
In a large terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and, over a high flame, brown the rabbit on all sides. Lay the slices of pancetta over the rabbit and cover it with the leaves of Savoy cabbage. Transfer the casserole to the preheated oven and roast the rabbit, uncovered, for 40 minutes. Remove the leaves of the cabbage and discard them. Permit the rabbit and the pancetta to take on a good, golden color for 10 minutes. Test the rabbit by piercing the flesh of its legs, which should be tender. Roast it for only 5 minutes more if you must, as it is sure to be sufficiently cooked by then.
Step 7
Remove the rabbit from the casserole to a serving plate and rinse the casserole with the remaining wine, scraping and stirring at the residue and permitting the wine to reduce for 2 minutes. Pour the casserole juices over the rabbit and carry it to the table. Carve it and serve it with the stuffing and spoonfuls of the juices.
