The dish itself has nothing to do with rabbit, name is derived from a similar version of preparing wild rabbit. As all wild animals tend to have very stiff meat, the most effective (and delicious!) way to make the meat tender is to soak it overnight in a wine vinegar and red wine brine, commonly watered down. As the chicken itself is very tender there is no need for pre soaking the meat, instead the red wine and vinegar will be added generously in the upcoming process.
So, if you’re looking for a recipe to impress your family for a sunday lunch, or cooking up a big pot for your friends this recipe is spot on. It’s extremely delicious, can be paired with any starchy side dish, extremely hard to screw up and will most likely leave your guests in wonder as “how is it only made from chicken meat”.
Now on to the recipe.
Chicken a la rabbit stew
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Serves: 6 people
- Times
- Description
- Image
- Ingredients
- Method
- Notes
- Nutrition
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 1 hour 45 minutes
- Total time: 2 hours
- Serves: 6 people
The dish itself has nothing to do with rabbit, name is derived from a similar version of preparing wild rabbit. As all wild animals tend to have very stiff meat, the most effective (and delicious!) way to make the meat tender is to soak it overnight in a wine vinegar and red wine brine, commonly watered down. As the chicken itself is very tender there is no need for pre soaking the meat, instead the red wine and vinegar will be added generously in the upcoming process.
So, if you’re looking for a recipe to impress your family for a sunday lunch, or cooking up a big pot for your friends this recipe is spot on. It’s extremely delicious, can be paired with any starchy side dish, extremely hard to screw up and will most likely leave your guests in wonder as “how is it only made from chicken meat”.
Now on to the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg chicken thighs, boneless
- 800 gr onions
- 100 gr celery root
- 300 gr carrot
- 5-6 cloves garlic
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 stick rosemary
- 1 sprig parsley
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 0.5 liter dry red wine
- 1.5 dcl red wine vinegar
- 0.4 liter prosecco, wine liquor
- 1 liter chicken stock, approx
- 6-7 cloves
- 1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/6 teaspoon cinnamon
- 60 gr prunes
- 50 gr flour, for dipping
Method
- 1)
De bone the chicken and use the bones to make the chicken stock.
- 2)
Heat up a wide shallow pot over medium-high heat.
- 3)
Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
- 4)
Dip the chicken meat in flour (any flour will do), this is to help make the chicken caramelize better and will also leave a more concentrated mass on the surface of the pot for later deglazing.
- 5)
Now pour enough olive oil in the pre heated pot, just enough to cover the base and sear the meat an all sides.
- 6)
Once the surface is brown and crispy, take the meat out of the pot and set aside (preferably wrapped in aluminium foil so that the chicken bathes in the juices coming out of the meat making it even more flavourful.).
- 7)
Now add your mirepoix to the pot and stir well, scratching the surface of the pot frequently so that your mirepoix infuses with all of the juices leftover from searing the chicken.
- 8)
Season your mirepoix with crushed cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon, add the bay leaves, rosemary, prunes, garlic and the tomato paste.
- 9)
Once your base is well sauteed, the onions starting to become just slightly caramelized, rich golden brown in color it’s time to place your chicken back in the pot (don’t forget about that wonderful juice, that’s pure flavour!).
- 10)
On Medium-high heat pour in your wine, prosecco and vinegar, the volume of the liquid should just about nearly cover the meat.
- 11)
Bring the pot to a boil and reduce by about ⅓ of the volume keeping a gentle simmer.
- 12)
Once the alcohol has evaporated and the volume is reduced by ⅓ pour in your stock.
- 13)
Again, bring the pot to a boil on medium high heat and reduce the heat to low keeping a gentle simmer.
- 14)
Add your finely chopped parsley, salt and pepper to taste and in case you need to add some more cloves/nutmeg now is the time.
- 15)
(Optional step) but I very much prefer it. Gather all the cooked chicken skin from the pot and transfer to a blender along with about a cup of sauce and some prune. Blend thoroughly on high speed for a couple of seconds until it resembles a fine puree. Now add the mixture back to the pot. This way you won’t discard the rather hard to chew skin, but will bring more depth and richness to your sauce.
- 16)
Simmer for another hour or so, until the sauce has become beautifully dense with a rich brown color and the meat so tender that your fork goes right through it without applying pressure.
Notes
In my opinion the dish goes best with freshly cooked handmade Tagliatelle pasta, all though any starchy side dish will do just as fine, and if you’re not a fan of any, you can eat it plain.