Ragubbit or Rabbigu?

Making my first rabbit ragu - it's in the oven as I start this post. For some reason the unusual and uncommon meats seem to make us squirmish. Fear of the unknown? Trying to challenge that attitude by proving that rabbit can be awesome. Time will tell.

After reviewing my cooking library and taking some inspiration online, I decided to freestyle it.

Found these recipes helpful: http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/cuisine/meat/recipe/pappardelle-with-rabbit-ragu-20111019-1m68w.html (because it didn't suggest using the kidney - baby steps!)

and

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rabbit-Ragu-233984 (because it included bacon!)

Contemplating making my own pasta, but not sure I have enough eggs... or energy! Would be a good opportunity to give the food processor (that I pined over last christmas and have barely used), a run. Hmm. But the ready-made stuff is so easy.

The rough-and-tumble recipe:
Preheat oven 170 degrees celcius.
Chop: 1 rabbit into 6 pieces - [husband, cleaver or both are very handy at this point].
Chop: 2 brown onions, 4 garlic cloves, 3 sticks of celery, 1 large mushroom*, 150g bacon; 3 carrots.
*[not sure this is too traditional, but we love mushies, so why not!]

Heat olive oil in a heavy pan (which has a lid and is suitable for the oven). Brown the rabbit pieces in the oil. You may need to do this in two batches depending on the size of your pan. You don't want to overcrowd the meat during browning process. Once browned on all sides, remove meat from the pan.

Add a little more olive oil, throw in onions, garlic, celery, carrots, mushroom and bacon. Fry for a few minutes, stirring. Add some fresh sage and rosemary leaves, and a bay leaf. Add a cup of white wine to deglaze the pan and scrape all the sticky bits off the bottom so they get into the stew and don't burn. Cook for a few more minutes, the veges should be softening. Add 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 cup tomato passata, and 2 cups chicken stock. Return the rabbit to the pan. Add a little more stock or white wine (depending on taste) so that there are no sneaky bits of meat sticking out of the liquid.

Pop in the oven and cook for 2 hours. Remove meat from the pan, pull meat away from bones and discard bones. Return meat to the pan. Put on stovetop and cook until the liquid is reduced.

Serve with pappardelle pasta (interesting fact: 'pappardelle' comes from the Italian word 'pappare' which means 'to gobble up' or 'tuck into' - http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/pappare)

Looking forward to it! Time for a glass of wine methinks!

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The finished product