Rabbit is another one of those foods that many people seem to feel squeamish about. Perhaps because the live animal is so cute and furry, the thought of eating them strikes people, particularly North Americans, as strange or even disgusting. That’s too bad, because rabbit is actually one of the most delicious of meats, much like chicken but a bit firmer fleshed and more flavorful than most chicken you will find these days.
Rabbit can be used to make just about any chicken dish (and vice versa) but there are any number of recipes specifically for rabbit (and its wild cousin the hare) in Italian cookery. We have already featured coniglio alla cacciatora, or hunter’s rabbit, the original Tuscan dish that morphed into ‘Chicken Cacciatore’ when it crossed the Atlantic, and here is Ligurian Braised Rabbit, an equally tasty dish from the region of Italy that encompasses the ‘Italian Riviera’.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6 people
- 1 medium-sized rabbit
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
- A medium to light bodied red wine
- A bay leaf
- A sprig of fresh rosemary
- A sprig of fresh marjoram or thyme
- A handful of black olives, perferably of the Gaeta or niçoise variety
- A handful of pinoli nuts
Directions
Make a soffritto of the onion and garlic, gently sautéed in olive oil.
Add your rabbit, cut it up into serving pieces. Allow the rabbit pieces to brown lightly in the soffritto and absorb the flavors of the onion and garlic. Season well with salt and pepper.
Then pour in a good splash of wine, and turn the pieces around so they are all covered well. Add a bay leaf, a sprig of fresh rosemary and a sprig of fresh marjoram (or thyme) and cover the dish, turning down and regulating the heat so that the dish simmers gently. Allow the rabbit to braise in the wine for 45 minutes to an hour, turning from time to time and adding some water or broth as needed to keep things moist but not soupy, making sure that there is enough liquid at the end to make a nice sauce.
About halfway through, add a handful of black olives and another handful of pinoli nuts.
Serve your Ligurian Braised Rabbit immediately, napping the rabbit pieces with the exquisite sauce. I find that this dish goes particularly well with steamed or mashed potatoes.
Notes
You may surprised at the rather long simmering process. The rabbit will often be ‘done’ in as little as 20-30 minutes, but if you cook it longer, you will find that the meat will be much tastier, having fully absorbed the flavorings, and more tender. The typical olives are small, blacks ones called olive taggiasche in Italian, grown along the Ligurian Riviera and used to make the fine, light Ligurian olive oil. They are very similar to the niçoise olives, which can used as a substitute, as can any similar black olive like the Gaeta variety. The wine would traditionally be a medium to light bodied red, preferably the local red Rossesse, but many recipes call for white wine. If your rabbit comes with liver and kidneys, as they often do, you can cut them up and add them about halfway through the cooking process, along with the olives and pinoli nuts. Some recipes add celery to the soffritto.
And if you cannot bring yourself to eat rabbit, a cut-up whole chicken can be prepared in just the same way as Ligurian Braised Rabbit, and it is almost as delicious.
The dish is also called coniglio alla sanremese, after San Remo, of course, site of the famous music festival, on the coast very close to the French border. Started in 1951, it is still an annual ritual that is almost mandatory TV viewing in Italy. Perhaps the closest thing in the US would be the Superbowl, except it appeals equally to both women and men. The festival launched the careers of several famous Italian singers, including Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini and Eros Ramazzoti, but it is meant as a composition for composers, not singers, and features original songs. The festival has attracted the participation of some well known non-Italian singers, including Stevie Wonder, José Feliciano, Roberto Carlos, Dionne Warwick, Petula Clark and Connie Francis.
Coniglio alla ligure (Ligurian-Style Rabbit)
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized rabbit
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1-2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- Salt and pepper
- A medium to light bodied red wine
- A bay leaf
- A sprig of fresh rosemary
- A sprig of fresh marjoram or thyme
- A handful of black olives perferably of the Gaeta or niçoise variety
- A handful of pinoli nuts
Instructions
- Make a soffritto of the onion and garlic, gently sautéed in olive oil.
- Add your rabbit, cut it up into serving pieces. Allow the rabbit pieces to brown lightly in the soffritto and absorb the flavors of the onion and garlic. Season well with salt and pepper.
- Then pour in a good splash of red wine, and turn the pieces around so they are all covered well. Add a bay leaf, a sprig of fresh rosemary and a sprig of fresh marjoram (or thyme) and cover the dish, turning down and regulating the heat so that the dish simmers gently. Allow the rabbit to braise in the wine for 45 minutes to an hour, turning from time to time and adding some water or broth as needed to keep things moist but not soupy, making sure that there is enough liquid at the end to make a nice sauce.
- About halfway through, add a handful of black olives and another handful of pinoli nuts.
- Serve immediately, napping the rabbit pieces with the exquisite sauce. I find that this dish goes particularly well with steamed or mashed potatoes.
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21 Comments on “Coniglio alla ligure (Ligurian Braised Rabbit)”
I so wanted rabbit for this dinner but my usual meat market recently closed for good. My grocer usually also has it but was out of rabbit today. So I bought turkey legs! Not quite the same, obviously, but was super delicious just the same. Improvise! Much tastier than chicken would have been anyway. Great recipe even with my major change. Do folks eat turkey in Italy?
Sounds excellent to me, Jim! And yes, folks do eat turkey in Italy, though rarely the whole bird. It is a common substitute for veal in dishes like scaloppine (using sliced breast) and there is even a turkey version of ossobuco using the legs, which is delicious. I was actually planning to blog on it soon.
FROM TUSCANY
I made this with white wine, as we had no light red wine, yesterday and it was excellent. We had the other half of the rabbit this evening fried with egg and fresh bread crumbs also delicious.
I also used your recipe for Panna Cotta with some out of date sheet gelatin and by using an extra sheet it was perfect.
I enjoy your project very much and will make a contribution.
Keep well
Best regards
GordoN Grender
Fantastic, Gordon. So glad you’re getting good use out of the website. That’s the best reward a blogger could ask for! Thanks also for your generosity. All the best and happy cooking, Frnk
ingredients says ‘white wine’, directions says ‘red wine’. Can you clarify?
Well, this is actually one dish for which you’ll find recipes calling for both, but the most authoritative sources call for red wine, preferably a local red varietal called Rossesse. Sorry for the confusion! I’ve clarified in the text.
A couple of years ago a friend had been shooting and asked if I would like some rabbits. I gladly accepted but was rather surprised when he gave me 20 of the beast. He had shot 76 in an hour to clear them from a farmers land. Well by the time I had skinned all 20 my arms were dropping off but I had no trouble in sharing them with friends once the main jobs were done. I brined them over night then they were ready for the freezer not that they lasted very long as they were soon eaten.
20 rabbits, incredible! But I can imagine they went quickly. A delicious creature.
I haven’t had rabbit – in decades. And certainly not prepared this way. I was always told it was tricky and that rabbit overcooks easily – and I hate to do the little guys an injustice. But this just beckons. Long ago, My “Uncle Emilio” kept rabbits and we would go over and visit and hold them. Silly me – I thought they were pets…
Dear Frank,
For some simes I follow your site.Let me tell you ,I am a dutch girl. Girl is not the right word because I am sixty. With a lot of pleasure I read your articles. Last day I made the carbonnade a la flamande. I invited my boys and they found it delicious.My english is not very good, but I want to say something about your recipe. I did all the way you describted it,for me it was a recipe I know allready, but in a forgotten way.
What you say in your site that people add gingerbread, I can say to you that that is a way to thicken your sauce,it is not idiot or rare,it is a way how we learn to cook this recipe.
In Holland we don't know gingerbread ,but we know ontbijtkoek.What is the difference, I don't know for sure.
Maybe it is the same. But don't laugh ,it is an original way to thicken your sauce,and in the combination with the beer it is wonderfull. You have to give it a try.You also told in your recipe to add half as much onions than the beef. So I started to puzzle what you meant, I looked on the internet and searching I found a song from Patsy Cline,called : Half as much. A nice song to hear. So I thank you for the recipe and also for the song ,it was a nice way to bring everything together
Thanks, folks! Nice to see we have a few rabbit-ovores as readers, lol! Not to mention Eros fans… 🙂
Oh Frank, you always charm us with your dishes and stories. Wish I could experience both the rabbit & the concert in person! Best from Santa Barbara.
Not a big fan of rabbit, but can certainly see the passion in this dish, and how delicious it must be…Well done, thanks for sharing such a prize.
Rico-Tried and Tested Recipes
I love your coniglio alla ligure! I usualy cook rabit like your first part of the recipe, but I let it in oven for about 60min, in a clay pot, with lid on. Is absolutely delicious!
and some music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r461Aa5ZDCM
Beautiful recipe, as usual. Bravo Frank!
like many game birds, braising is such a good choice…. haven't had rabbit is a while, this is one heck of a way to enjoy the little feller…
This is one of my favourite dishes…and you explain it here wonderfully….Ah, the Italian Riviera !!! Paradise on Earth (with some Chianti, claro!)
I love rabbit, but haven't cooked it in quite a while. Thanks for the reminder.
I have a pet and it's a rabbit. This new to me really but my mouth is watering right now lol=)
My husband used to dress rabbits for his grandma for .50 cents a pop. I'll cook this for him he will get a kick out of it. B
A perfect main course with Eros Ramazzotti music in the background….now I'm craving both the dish and his songs!