Roast Rabbit with Rosemary and Potatoes

Name: Roast Rabbit with Rosemary and Potatoes Recipe
Prep time: 4 h
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 5 h
Cuisine: French cuisine
Ingredients: Rabbit 1.2-1.5 kg; Rosemary 3 sprigs; Caraway 4-5 sprigs; Savory 2-3 pinches; Potatoes 1; Olive oil 3-4 tbsp; Garlic 1 head; Dry white wine 1 cup (200 ml)

☆ Rate it

5 h

How do you cook rabbit in the oven?

Rabbit for the oven is marinated for 3–4 hours in a cup of dry white wine with rosemary and caraway leaves and 2–3 pinches of savory, then dried and laid in a dish with garlic and thin potato slices. With 0.5 cup of marinade added, the dish is covered with foil and baked at 220°C for 30–40 minutes once the liquid boils. The foil then comes off, the heat goes up to 240°C for 20 minutes, the pieces are turned and baked for a final 20 minutes.

Rabbits are not just valuable fur. Everyone is sure of that; the idea has been hammered into our countrymen’s heads like a nail. The rabbit is a close relative of the hare. Rabbits can be wild or domestic.

In Australia rabbits are something like a plague. They say that the “green” continent has more rabbits than the rest of the world put together. In three years, the triumphant march of wild rabbits across the continent destroyed crops and vegetation.

For us rabbit is, first of all, a lean, easily digestible meat bought in supermarkets. And, of course, hats: good, warm winter hats. I once saw a man in a rabbit fur hat even in California, in San Francisco, and that was at 25°C, apparently a local fashion. I was so surprised that I didn’t even manage to take a photo.

We have always cooked rabbit the Greek way, stewed in a sour cream sauce, or made it as stifado. Rabbit in sour cream is delicious. But rabbit baked with rosemary and potatoes exceeded all expectations.

This time, for the New Year table, we decided to dust off a French cookbook and make something interesting: rabbit baked with rosemary.

8 ingredientsTo the recipe

More with rabbit

Ingredients

4 servings

Rabbit 1.2-1.5 kg
Rosemary 3 sprigs
Caraway 4-5 sprigs
Savory 2-3 pinches
Potatoes 1
Olive oil 3-4 tbsp
Garlic 1 head
Dry white wine 1 cup
(200 ml)

Step-by-step recipe

Turn on cook modeKeeps your screen from turning off while the recipe is open

Rosemary (Rosmarinus) is a green shrub with a pleasant, sharp smell reminiscent of a fir tree and a tart, slightly bitter taste. In cooking the rosemary leaves are used for many dishes with meat, fish and vegetables, especially potatoes, and for marinades. Baked rabbit is made with fresh green rosemary sprigs.
If the rabbit is frozen, thaw it. Cut the rabbit into large portion-sized pieces. A rabbit of 1.5 kg is cut into 7-8 pieces. Be sure to remove the kidneys, lungs and all the fat from the body cavity.
Pat the rabbit pieces dry with a paper towel and salt them lightly.
Pick the leaves off the rosemary and caraway and sprinkle them over the meat. Also sprinkle with 2-3 pinches of dried savory or a mix of Provençal herbs. Pour a glass of dry white wine over the rabbit and leave to marinate for 3-4 hours. If you are cooking hare, it is better to soak the meat first in acidulated water for a day to get rid of the smell typical of wild hare.
When the rabbit has marinated, pour the marinade into a cup and keep it for cooking later, and pat the meat dry with a paper towel and add a little pepper.
Put the rabbit pieces in an ovenproof dish greased with olive oil. Add crushed garlic cloves and a sprig of rosemary, whole with the green leaves.
Cut the peeled potatoes into small thin slices, then salt and pepper them. Add crushed garlic cloves. Be sure to coat them with oil and add them to the rabbit.
Pour a little of the remaining wine marinade over the rabbit, 0.5 cup at most.
An important point: cover the dish with aluminium foil. Put the dish into an oven preheated to 220°C. Bake for 30-40 mins from the moment the liquid in the dish starts to boil.
After that time, remove the foil, raise the oven temperature to 240°C and bake for another 20 mins until the rabbit is browned. Then turn the pieces over with a fork and bake for 20 mins more. If the liquid boils away, you can add a little marinade. But really just a little!
Put the finished rabbit on a serving dish. Arrange the rabbit pieces mixed with the potatoes and garnish with a green sprig of rosemary.
Serve the rabbit baked with rosemary hot.