Rabbit stew

We love hunting season as we love rabbit, deer and etc. This recipe I will cook Rabbit stew using beer not wine for the stew. You can see that I cook a lot with beers. I must confest that I never used beer before coming to Belgium but I think beer is the drink that I do not drink much or not at all. I prefer to drink wine, thus I use beer to cook instead to not feel bad to myself (it just silly reason xD). I better keep the wine to drink, also when I choose the wine that I dislike the taste, pshycology I think thqt I think it’s not good. You always use ingredient that is good enough for your food to taste good.

This recipe will have an additional root vegetables,. normally, we always see carrot only but this time I will use turnips and parsnip to play with it a bit.

Tips for this recipe:

Nothing this time is a simple good stew ! Bon appetit!

Rabbit stew

Difficulty:IntermediateTotal time:1 hour 50 minutesServings:4 servings Best Season:Winter

Ingredients

• 1 whole rabbit, cut into pieces
• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 parsnip, chopped
• 1 turnip, chopped
• 2-3 garlics
• 200 g smoked bacon
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 3 bottles of Belgian blonde beer (I use St. Hubert)
• 2 tbsp mustard
• 100 g Plum jam
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (for thickening, optional)
• 4- 5 Potatoes to served
• Fresh parsley for garnish

Instructions

1. Rabbit: Melt a chunk of butter in a large stew. Season the rabbit legs with salt and pepper. Add the rabbit pieces and brown them on all sides. Remove the rabbit from the pot and set it aside.
2. Prepared vegetables: Rinse the parsnips and carrots thoroughly. Cut the vegetables into large pieces without peeling them.
3. Stew: In the same pot, add the bacon, chopped onions, garlic, carrots, turnips and parsnips. Sprinkle the vegetables with the flour to thicken the sauce. Stir well for a few minutes till combined.
4. Return the browned rabbit pieces to the pot. Add the bay leaves, thyme, and rosemary. Pour in the beer until everything is covered. Add some water if the beer is not enough.
5. Finally, add the plum jam and mustard. Stir one last time and put the lid on the pot. Season the stew with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer over low heat for at least 45 minutes or until the rabbit is tender and the meat easily falls off the bone.
6. If you prefer a thicker stew, you can make a roux by melting a few tablespoons of butter in a separate pan, then stirring in the flour until it forms a paste. Gradually whisk the roux into the stew to thicken it. Simmer for an additional 10-15 minutes.
   
7. In the meantime, peel the potatoes and cook them until tender. 
8. Serve the rabbit stew hot with boil potatoes, garnished with fresh parsley.

Keywords:European food, lapin, rabbit, soup, stew