To be honest, I don't even know what we started with. It involved cheese, fish, olives, and other things. But I was too concerned with my game. Rabbit is notoriously difficult to cook, and I had only SEEN it been done before....and that one time, I was the one who cleaned the freshly shot animal right before we threw it on the grill. Needless to say, I was a little out of my comfort zone.
I had a HUGE D'Artagnan duck breast frozen away, so I pulled that out for one course. One full breat is the equivalent of two personal portions. I'm feeding three people...and not just any people...MY people....so not nearly enough. I decided the rabbit and duck would be an excellent comparison of game styles while just enough food. I threw the duck into a ziploc to marinate with half a bottle of red wine, a little port, a shit ton of thyme and rosemary sprigs, salt, pepper, and fennel sprouts. I threw the whole rabbit in a marinade of olive oil, fresh lemon wheels, parsley stocks, garlic, and white wine. All to seep overnight.
For the duck, I paired it with a winter vegetable mash. That means you sautee fennel, leeks, shallots, onions and boil potatoes and parsnips. Blend them to a puree with heavy cream, black truffle oil (fancy, I know!) with lots of salt and pepper. It's divine. For the meat, I removed the duck from the marinade (but did not clean it at all) and sear it at an extremely high temperature on the fatty side down. After just a few minutes, place it in the oven to finish cooking and cook to temperature. NEVER turn the duck on the meat side down. Just don't do it. All of my chef friends forbid it and have put the fear of "chef" into me. Now you know. To plate, I sliced the medium rare breast over a bed of the mash, and topped with a homemade rosemary/port/cranberry sauce. You could top it with a blackberry sauce, blueberry sauce, raspberry sauce, currant sauce. Anything of the variety would work. Was delicious. Moving on.
For the rabbit, I decided to grill it. Risky, I know, but I didn't want to stew it. Or roast it. I think I was just having a testosterone fueled moment. So how do you prevent lean meat from overcooking on the grill?! You wrap it in herb butter and pancetta and glaze it with honey. I did the whole rabbit, rather than sectioning it first. The large majority of that decision was laziness. But regardless, I threw a large piece of aluminum foil down on the grill and place the pancetta honey glazed animal down on it and let it smoke. I carved it just before plating and served the bunny joints over a salad of roasted wild mushrooms and pearl onions tossed in herbs and fresh lemon juice.
The rabbit was my favorite of the evening because it was delicious! So moist and delicate and so easy to overcook. I watched it like a stalker follows their long lost imaginary love but it was worth it. It was the dish that I definitely will claim the most pride in its turnout.
To finish, I plated pistachio and coconut macaroons with candied pears and hazelnut gelato. Was great! Light and nutty, not too sweet. Even the pears weren't overkill on the sweetness.
I am in the middle of my Thanksgiving planning extravaganza. The two dinners I absolutely demand dictatorship of are Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's the Irish in me really....I love a good bit of tradition. But I am an untraditional traditionalist...so I'm doing an Italian themed Thanksgiving. I spent the day on the very cold beach collecting shells for plating and table settings, which luckily the weather warmed up for. Also made all of my fresh pastas, gastriques, and other sauces in advance this evening. Can't wait for all the pieces to come into focus on Thursday!
Until next time...be thankful!!!!!
Bon appetit!
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