Rabbit Ragout with Pasta

Ingredients

• 800 g wild rabbit pieces (with bones)
• 500 ml red wine
• 1 onion
• 1 stalk Celery
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• Salt
• pepper (ground)
• 3 sprigs thyme
• 4 tomatoes
• 400 g pappardelle
• 1 rabbit loin (about 500 g)
• 1 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 Garlic clove
• 2 sprigs thyme
• Salt
• pepper (ground)
• vegetable oil (for the sheet)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Rinse the rabbit pieces and pat them dry. Place in a bowl and pour over the red wine. Peel, trim, and dice the onion, celery, and garlic. Add to the meat. Add the bay leaf, fennel seeds, and peppercorns in a spice sachet, cover, refrigerate overnight to marinate.

2. 2.

   Remove the meat from the wine and strain the liquid into a bowl. Set aside the vegetables with the spice sachet.

3. 3.

   Pat the meat dry, then sear it all around in hot oil in a braising pot. Remove from the pot. Sauté the drained vegetables in the pot, add tomato paste, deglaze with wine, and return the meat with spices. Season with salt, pepper, thyme, cover, and simmer for about 1½ hours.

4. 4.

   Meanwhile, blanch the tomatoes, cool, peel, quarter, seed, and dice them.

5. 5.

   Remove the cooked meat from the sauce, let it cool slightly, and separate from the bones. Cut into pieces. Remove the spice sachet and thyme from the sauce, puree finely, and add thyme if desired. Return the meat with tomatoes to the pot and simmer for another ~20 minutes until a ragout forms. Season with salt and pepper.

6. 6.

   Preheat the oven to 100 °C (200 °F) fan‑forced.

7. 7.

   While the ragout simmers, rinse and trim the rabbit loin. Heat oil in a hot pan and brown the rabbit all sides. Add the halved garlic clove and thyme sprigs, cook briefly. Season with salt and pepper, place on an oiled sheet pan, and roast at medium heat for 20–25 minutes until pink.

8. 8.

   Cook the pasta in salted water al dente. Remove the rabbit loin from the oven, let rest briefly, then slice between the bones into individual cutlets with a sharp knife.

9. 9.

   Toss the drained pasta with the ragout and serve on plates. Top with rabbit cutlets and optionally drizzle dry red wine.

10. 10.