Rabbit ragout with parsnip purée

Ingredients

• 700 g rabbit meat (prepped, ready to cook)
• 16 pearl onions
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 2 EL olive oil (for frying)
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 300 ml rabbit stock
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 stems thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 peppercorns
• 3 Juniper berries
• Salt
• ground black pepper
• 300 g waxy potatoes
• 300 g Parsnips
• 150 ml lukewarm milk
• 1 EL Butter
• freshly grated nutmeg
• 200 g cooked chestnuts (vacuum packed)
• arrowroot starch

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash the meat, pat dry and cut into bite‑size pieces. Peel the onions. Peel and finely chop the garlic.

2. 2.

   Heat a pot with hot oil and brown the meat all over. Remove and set aside. Sauté the onions with the garlic in the same fat, return the meat, deglaze with wine, then add the stock. Add herbs and spices (in a spice bag), lightly salt and pepper, and simmer gently for 40‑50 minutes.

3. 3.

   Meanwhile peel, wash and cut potatoes and parsnips into large pieces; boil in salted water for 20‑25 minutes. Drain, let steam off, then mash with a potato masher. Blend milk and butter to make a silky purée; season with salt and nutmeg.

4. 4.

   Ten minutes before the ragout finishes, add the chestnuts and warm through.

5. 5.

   Remove herbs and spice bag, taste the ragout, and if needed thicken the sauce with a slurry of arrowroot starch mixed in cold water.

6. 6.

   Serve: place the purée on a preheated plate, top with a spoonful of ragout, arrange onions and chestnuts around it, drizzle with sauce, and serve immediately.