Braised Rabbit with Cracked Olives
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 whole rabbit or 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Flour for dredging
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 stalks celery, trimmed and diced
- 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and slivered
- 4 tablespoons tomato puree
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 2 cups rabbit or chicken stock or broth
- 1 cup Mediterranean green olives in brine (preferably picholine), smashed and pitted
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked from the stems and chopped
- One 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes, crushed, with their juice (I like Muir Glen)
- 2 bay leaves
Instructions:
Braises are dishes in which meat or poultry is cooked for a long time in liquid. They are the perfect opportunity for using wine because the wine gives the braise an added complexity, but the whole dish cooks for so long that all the alcohol cooks out. If you can’t find or don’t want to use rabbit, you can substitute a whole chicken instead.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F. Heat a large ovenproof skillet with a cover over medium-high heat. Add 11⁄2 tablespoons olive oil to the skillet.
- Season the rabbit or chicken pieces with salt and pepper and lightly dredge them in flour. Sear the seasoned meat in the skillet until golden on all sides. Remove from the skillet and set aside.
- Melt the butter in the skillet. Add the onions, celery, and carrots. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables are lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 2–3 more minutes. Add the tomato puree and stir. Cook 3 more minutes.
- Add the white wine and bring the whole mixture to a boil. Lower the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is reduced in volume by about half, about 15 minutes. Add the stock, browned meat, olives and their brine, rosemary, tomatoes, and bay leaves.
- Bring the entire mixture back up to a boil, then lower the heat to medium to simmer. Cover the pan and place in the oven for 2 hours, or until the meat is fork-tender.
- Remove from the oven and take the meat out of the sauce. Put it on a plate and set aside. Skim any fat off the sauce. Remove the bay leaves. Serve the meat on a platter over linguine with the sauce ladled on top.