Pan-Seared Rabbit Stew - Recipe

Easter is a wonderful time of year to try new recipes and share them with the family. For those looking for an alternative to the traditional Sunday roast, this pan-seared rabbit stew recipe is ideal.!

This recipe has the air of a specially prepared dish about it and is great for special occasions such as Easter. Yet it uses just a few simple ingredients and is easy to put together.

Many of us may be unfamiliar with cooking rabbit and have probably only tried it in restaurants, or on holiday. Yet it is actually easy to source in the UK and very easy to cook too. Rabbit meat is white tender, and very similar to chicken. As a result it is also easy to prepare and cook.

How to prepare a whole rabbit:

I ordered and used a whole rabbit meat from Athleat as part of my monthly meat subscription box. Preparing a whole rabbit may seem daunting at first, but rabbit bones are thinner than chicken’s and as a result are very easy to cut. I used a regular large knife which worked perfectly.

Cut the rabbit in 4 parts:
- back legs
- 2 pieces for the bust
- another piece front legs
- Then divide the leg pieces in two so that each piece was only one leg

This process should take just a couple of minutes to do.

Once you’ve prepared your rabbit, here’s a simple recipe for a rabbit stew that is bursting with flavour.

Preparation time: 1 hour
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Whole rabbit (prepared as instructions above)
4 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 large onion (chopped)
1/2 cup chicken stock
Sea salt
Fresh thyme
1 tbsp cooking oil

Instructions:

Prepare the rabbit as per instructions above and pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Heat a large pan with a heavy base (preferably cast iron) to medium-high heat and add the oil to the pan.
Add the rabbit pieces to the pan and sear them on all sides until it is all well browned. This should take about 5 minutes per side.
Reduce the heat to low-medium. Chop the onion and garlic cloves and add them to the pan with the rabbit and let them brown for a few minutes.
Make the stock and add it to the pan, and season the rabbit with salt and pepper.
Put the pan in the preheated oven and roast for 30minutes.
Rest for 5mins before serving with fresh thyme.