Dalmatian rabbit

Ingredients

• 200 ml white vinegar
• 2.5 kg (about 2) rabbits or 1 x 2 kg rabbit, each cut into 4 pieces
• 5 garlic cloves, thickly sliced
• 8 slices pancetta
• 125 ml (½ cup) extra virgin olive oil
• 200 ml prošek (Croatian dessert wine) or white wine
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 sage sprig
• 1 rosemary sprig
• 1 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped, plus extra, to serve
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 500 ml (2 cups) chicken stock
• 55 g (¼ cup) caster sugar
• mashed potato, to serve

Marinating time 4 hours or overnight (if using one 2 kg rabbit)

Drink 2008 Vinarija Dingac Plavac Mali 'Postup’ Dalmatia, Croatia

Instructions

Combine vinegar and 500 ml water in a large bowl. Add rabbit, cover and refrigerate for 4 hours, to tenderise meat (if using 1 x 2 kg rabbit you will need to marinade it overnight.)

Drain, then rinse rabbit and pat dry with paper towel.

Preheat oven to 200°C. Using a small knife, make several incisions into rabbit and insert a slice of garlic into each one. Season with salt and pepper. Wrap a slice of pancetta around each piece of rabbit.

Place rabbit in a roasting pan, pour over 100ml oil and the prošek, and roast for 30 minutes or until starting to brown.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 1¼ tbsp oil in a pan over medium heat. Add carrot and onion, and cook, stirring, for 8 minutes or until golden. Add herbs, lemon juice, stock and sugar, and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally.

Pour the stock mixture over rabbit, reduce heat to 180°C and roast for a further hour or until rabbit is tender. Season, scatter with extra parsley and serve with mashed potato.

As seen in Feast Magazine, Issue 13, pg97.Photography by Derek Swalwell