Nilani's roast rabbit in a fantastic gourmet sauce

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 1 rabbit, cut up ready for cooking
• salt and pepper
• lots of mustard for rubbing in
• 200g bacon
• 2 large onions
• 1 bunch of soup vegetables (carrot, celery, leek, parsley)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 8 peppercorns
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 carnation(s)
• 2 juniper berries
• some marjoram
• 500 ml meat broth
• 250 ml red wine
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• n. B. water
• some thyme
• some rosemary
• Oil for frying
• possibly chocolate, dark, min. 70% cocoa

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest period approx. 1 day; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes; Total time approx. 1 day 3 hours 15 minutes

to show off and deceive

The day before, season the rabbit pieces with salt and pepper and rub them with plenty of mustard. Then wrap them tightly in a freezer bag and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the refrigerator at least an hour before cooking so the meat has time to come to room temperature. Cut the bacon into strips, finely chop the onions and garlic, and cut the vegetables into small pieces. For the rabbit: Brown half of the bacon in a roasting pan with a little oil. Sear the rabbit pieces in the bacon on all sides. Add half of the onions and fry them, then add half of the vegetables, except for the parsley. Let them brown a little, then add half of the tomato paste and fry briefly. Deglaze with a little stock and let the pan drippings boil off. Roast until dry, then deglaze again. I repeat this at least three times. Now top up with the remaining stock. Add half of the bay leaves, the peppercorns, cloves, juniper berries, and marjoram. Cover and braise in the oven at 160°C (convection oven) for 2 hours. After about 1 hour, turn the rabbit pieces over in the sauce once. For the sauce: Brown the remaining bacon in an uncoated stainless steel pot. Then add the rest of the onions and let them brown. Brown the rest of the vegetables, except for the parsley, also vigorously. Briefly fry the remaining tomato paste and add the garlic. Deglaze with a splash of red wine and the soy sauce. Stir vigorously to loosen the juices, then let it dry without stirring, then deglaze with more wine, and so on. Repeat these steps until the wine is all gone. It will take a while, but it gets tastier each time, believe me! Now top up with water until the vegetables are well covered. Season with the remaining bay leaves, salt, pepper, thyme, and rosemary. Be careful with the salt; it will already be salty from the soy sauce and bacon. Add the parsley. Now simmer on low heat until the rabbit is cooked in the oven. Then strain the sauce. Remove the rabbit from the roasting pan and keep warm. Purée the contents of the roasting pan and add to the strained sauce. You now have a delicious gourmet sauce. Thickening is not necessary thanks to the puréed vegetables. If you like, you can add cream; we think it’s perfect as it is. As a final touch, I sometimes add a small piece of dark chocolate with at least 70% cocoa content to the sauce; this gives it a wonderful shine. Now serve and reap lots of praise. In my photo, by the way, I made the recipe with a rolled roast rabbit. The rabbit itself is very easy to prepare, but it only becomes truly delicious with the right gourmet sauce. You can really impress guests with that. And while the rabbit is in the oven, you have plenty of time to prepare it. A good sauce takes time. And I think a good sauce only becomes really tasty with red wine, but the rabbit tastes better and more tender when it ends up in the oven without red wine.