Wascally White Wine Wabbit!

Coniglio & Carottini in Vino Bianco con Aneto e Glassa di Miele

Rabbit & Baby Carrots in White Wine with Dill & Honey Glaze

Don't be mad- I ate the Easter Bunny! Well, I ate a small but delicious part of one this evening- I even stole his lunch and turned it into a side-dish! I hope you all don't mind... it was done for a good cause- basically because it was delicious and also because I was hungry!

Together with these sweet, little baby carrots, fresh dill, shallots, honey and some white wine and then complimented by a great, locally grown "Portulac" cress, this made an exquisite and light dish which would be a real delight and day of the year and not just at Easter!

The ingredients for me, myself and I were 2 shallots, 2 sprigs of dill, 8 baby carrots and a good handful of that delicious Portulac- so pretty when it is in bloom  like it was today! As for wine, I used a Sicilian white, a Corvo, but you can use any that you prefer or even a rosé. 

I just wanted for this dish to remain nice and light in flavor but also in color and not to become a tomato or red wine dish. Don't get me wrong, I love both- and especially the combination of both... but for this evening, I had something a little different in mind...

I started off by sautéing the rabbit leg in a little olive oil until it became lightly brown and then added a little finely chopped garlic. I let it sizzle away gently for 2-3 minutes and in the meantime, scrubbed the carrots clean and then halved both them and the shallots, ready to go into the frying pan with the rabbit...

Before adding the other ingredients, I deglazed the pan with a glass of white wine to bring up all of the good flavors from the base of the pan. And then in they went! I seasoned everything generously with salt, pepper and the lovely sprigs of dill, simply plucked apart and scattered all over... as usual- simple as can be!

I put the lid on the frying pan and let it steam away for the next 5-10 minutes... basically until the frying pan had dried out. I then flipped the rabbit, added enough water to the frying pan to just-about cover the carrots and let it bubble away for a further 20 minutes or so...

In the meantime, I rinsed and shook the Portulac dry- pretty as a picture with the dainty little blossoms in the center and especially wonderful as it was local produce from Frankfurt, Oberrad :-) 

I don't know what the chances are of you being able to find this in your corner of the world- and yes, it is just a side serving here- but it IS also pretty terrific! The flavor is mild and nutty on the one hand, but also slightly peppery tasting on the other- and very, very refreshing and juicy!

After having cooked for around 40 minutes on the stove top, I added a pat of butter to the pan, gently flipped everything over to make sure it was nicely coated and then popped it into the oven, under the broiler, for 4-5 minutes until it began to turn nicely brown.

5 minutes later, I fetched it out again, added a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of honey over anything and popped it back in for a further 4-5 minutes... and after THAT- well all I can say is that the result was just about as delicious looking as you could ever hope for!

Now that the rabbit and carrots were ready, all I needed was a few leaves of Portulac, dressed with a light dressing made from olive oil and lime, with a little salt, sugar and pepper- nothing fancy, just good fresh flavors.

If you prefer to have a sauce to go with your rabbit, the thing to do would be to add a sprinkle of flour to the now "empty" frying pan, stir it in well and then deglaze the frying pan yet again with a 50-50 mix of water and white wine- just enough to cover the base of the pan. In just a few minutes you will have a light sauce with all of the flavors of all the ingredients as well as the white wine.

I loved this combination of sweet carrots, tender meat and refreshing salad- so perfect for our elusive Springtime which is just starting to get into gear! Oh, and of course for Easter! Or in fact an fact at any time at all!

Just make sure to give it a go- and as always- to enjoy! :-)