Rabbit Ragout

Ingredients

• 1 kitchen-prepared small rabbit
• 2 onions
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Carrot
• 1 stalk Celery
• 2 sprigs fresh sage
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 tsp white peppercorns
• 1 tsp juniper berries
• 1 l red wine
• 50 g smoked ham
• 2 tbsp crème fraîche
• 2 tbsp pine nuts
• 2 tbsp raisins
• 2 tbsp butter
• 0.25 tsp ground cinnamon
• Salt
• ground pepper

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash the rabbit, pat dry and cut into 8 pieces. Peel and chop one onion and garlic, peel and roughly dice carrot and celery. Wash herbs. Pour wine over onion, garlic, vegetables, peppercorns and juniper berries. Place rabbit pieces in a tall bowl, pour over the mixture, cover and marinate for 24 hours in a cool place.

2. 2.

   On the next day remove from fridge, pat dry.

3. 3.

   Dice bacon finely, heat butter in a braising pot and render the bacon fat. Brown rabbit pieces in batches in the bacon fat, remove and season with salt. Peel, chop remaining onions and sauté with pine nuts and raisins in butter. Remove again. Add the wine mixture to the pot, place rabbit pieces back in, cover and simmer on low heat for about 1.5 hours.

4. 4.

   Remove the meat and strain the sauce through a sieve. Reduce the liquid, then add the meat and pine nut mixture. Let it thicken for another ~30 minutes.

5. 5.

   Finally stir in crème fraîche and season with salt, cinnamon and pepper to taste.