I thought about calling this rustic dish Coniglio alla Contadina, which would loosely be translated to Farmer’s Style Rabbit. Especially, because I used my own homemade sausage and home cured bacon, when I made it, as I imagine would be done on a farm in the Italian countryside.Rabbit is a lot more common on the menu in Italy than it is in America, because many people here don’t want to eat the cute little “Easter Bunny”. However, attitudes here are changing, more people are appreciating it and it is appearing on more menus. Of course, if you don’t want to do rabbit or can’t find it, this recipe works very well with chicken also.
What are your feelings on rabbit? Do you eat it? Would you eat it? Please share in the comments.
Roasted Rabbit with Sausage and Potatoes Recipe
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 pound yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
- 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, smashed
- 8 ounces pancetta, diced
- 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 1 3-4 pound rabbit cut into serving pieces
- 1 pound italian sausage
- salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 400° F. In large bowl, toss together the potatoes, rosemary, thyme, garlic, pancetta and two tablespoons of the olive oil. Season with salt & pepper. Transfer into a roasting pan, pour in the white wine and place in the oven. Cook the potatoes by themselves for 40 minutes.
- While the potatoes are cooking, season the rabbit with salt & pepper, and heat the remaining two tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the rabbit, brown on all sides and transfer to a plate. When done browning the rabbit, do the same with the sausage, then cut the sausage into one inch pieces.
- After the potatoes have been cooking for 40 minutes, add the browned rabbit and sausage to the pan and cook for 20 more minutes, until potatoes are tender. Transfer to warm serving plates and serve.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour
7 Responses
I grew up eating Rabbit and love it. It is difficult to find in stores though.
I never knowingly ate rabbit. But my nonna was from the old country and might have fed it to me in one of her delicious dishes when I was young.
The meat of rabbits is very delicious. Thanks for sharing the recipe
Love Rabbit. Hard to fine but when I do find it love to cook with it.
Our family raise our own rabbits. We all like the meat very much.
My father is from Italy and my mother is from Malta. Rabbit was an essential protein in our diet when I was growing up. We had rabbits that we raised ourselves and my sister and I loved eating them. Rabbit can be tough if it is not cooked properly, so I think it is important to know how to cook rabbit properly.
I just love to be able to go some place that hs Rabbit on the menue…My dad was from Milan and mother too ,we had rabbit when ever my dad and i would go huntting to get rabbit…Like I said Ilove Rabbit even being 89 years old Living here in Arizona we don’t get it here Hope you get this…Buy the way I am 100% Italian