Tastes like chicken..

Ah, another warm spring afternoon and I decided to take a little stroll down to my local supermarket. You know how it is, gotta find something tasty to whip up for me and my wife for dinner. So I take a look around, see what catches my eye, and voila, we got ourselves a meal. Ain’t nothin’ like some good food to make the day a little brighter.

Can you believe it? They got rabbit sitting there in the frozen section, right next to the soup bones and chitlins. And what’s even weirder, next to all that, they got Miracle Whip there too. It’s a strange sight. Very strange indeed.

As soon as I saw the rabbit, I remembered my Greek mother making a braised ‘chicken’ one night. This memory flashed into my mind.  I was about 12. She had served this braised chicken with some veggies. She had a sinister grin on her face.  Everything was fine and tasted like chicken.  

Then I bit into some bones that sure did not come from chicken. “THIS IS NOT CHICKEN”.   It was like a leg and thigh that came from a mutant chicken with bones like a turkey wing.

Oh my goodness, the horror! You won’t believe what I found in our basement fridge one day. A plucked sparrow, just staring at me with its bulging eyes. I mean, come on, who puts a dead bird in the fridge?! My mom tried to make something of it. She steamed it up and all. After just one bite, she had to spit it out. Can’t say I blame her, I wouldn’t wanna be eating no bird that flew into a window either.  

At that moment, I wouldn’t even have been surprised. I mean, I had no clue what that thing was, other than the fact that it kinda tasted like chicken.

She then let me know it was rabbit. My dad interjected that he used to eat it all the time. He ate it back in the early 1940s. He had raised them for the local market. That strange chicken cousin was mighty good.

So I got the frozen rabbit and decided to recreate the meal I had at age 12. I called mom and let her know and she got all excited and told me to make “rabbit fricassee”.  I listened to her recipe and stored it in my memory. Then, I went about to make a nice savory braised rabbit with some veggies.

Most versions of stifado is tomato based. My mom’s was not. It was closer to a fricassee. she braised it with whatever they had around back in the Greek Peloponnesian countryside.

Let me tell ya. If you’re one of the folks who’s skeptical about eating a cute little bunny, you got to try this dish. Just serve it up with some buttered egg noodles. Add a nice green salad. I swear, it’ll change your mind in a heartbeat. Heck, maybe Wile E Coyote was onto something with his obsession with that little rabbit. Give it a shot, you won’t regret it.

A butcher can order you a rabbit if they do not carry it in the store. See, it looks like chicken..

• 1 rabbit (about 2 1/2 pound), dressed, cut into serving size pieces
• salt and fresh ground black pepper as needed
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 celery ribs chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 2 cups chicken
• 1 Tbsp rosemary
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley

Preheat your oven to 350.

In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high flame. Season rabbit pieces with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot, brown the rabbit in batches. Make sure it’s nice and browned on all sides. This should take about 6-7 minutes.  Don’t cram it all in for one browning or you steam your meat. And don’t move it around when browning each side. Just leave it be.  

Remove and put the rabbit on a plate. Add the onions, celery, and garlic. Sauté for about 5 minutes until they are translucent. Add the wine, and stir to scrape any browned bits from the bottom. Bring the wine to  boil for a minute or two; then add the tomato, chicken broth, rosemary, thyme, and oregano.

Add the rabbit back in, and stir to combine.  Cover tightly. Place the rabbit into the preheated oven for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Cook until the rabbit is fork tender. Add salt to taste. Allow to rest for 20 minutes or so before serving. Sprinkle with parsley before serving

I served it with some buttered egg noodles and of course some bread to soak up the goodness.

And yes, you can do this with a chicken.

I tried to get artsy with the pictures.