Rabbit wrapped in Bacon

                               Rabbit wrapped in Bacon

Rabbit is one of our families favorite dish. We love wild meat (like deer or Boar too, but its very
hard to get that here in the states. Even though in Germany no one is hunting but the gov. Hunter,
we have Deer farms and we can buy the meat in a regular grocery store. Even Aldi ;-) )
I find my Rabbit at hispanic stores. Rabbit meat is very lean and flavorful. 

For this dish, and for most wild meat dishes, you should have Juniper Berries in the house. Amazon
is selling them. So be prepared if you want to cook this.

What you need:

- Rabbit, washed and dried

- 4 Juniper berries, crushed ( I use the Coffee Bean crusher)

- 1 TSP Marjoram

- 1 TSP salt

- 1 TSP Pepper

- 1/2 TSP Nutmeg

- 1 TBSP Oil

- enough slices of Bacon to cover the Rabbit

- 1 cup (250 ml) red wine

- 2 TBSP fresh Lemon juice

- 125 ml heavy whipping cream

- 2 TBSP Mustard

Thats how you do it:

First wash the Rabbit and tab it dry with a paper towel. In a small bowl, mix the Oil and the herbs
to a paste. Season the Rabbit with it from both sides. 

In the mean time use a bit oven resistant stainless steel pan and fry the slices of bacon gently in it. You want the bacon fat to stay in the pan and the bacon slightly browned. 

Then Remove the Bacon.

Fry the Rabbit in the Bacon fat from both sides slightly brown.

Remove the Rabbit and put in the red wine with the lemon juice to release the flavors from the bottom of the pan. You can use a whisker with that. Wrap the bacon around the Rabbit and return it back in the pan with the wine.

Now cover it with Aluminium Foil and put it in the 400 degrees Fahrenheit preheated oven for 30 min..

In the meantime you can measure your 125 ml heavy whipping cream and add the 2 TBSP mustard and mix it well. 

In the meantime I also start side dishes. I love blue cabbage with those kind of dishes and today I had potato dumblings with it. You can buy those sometimes at the store and just add water to the 
instant powder. Also Tater Tots go good with this dish.

After the 30 min, remove the pan from the oven and add the heavy whip/mustard mix to the sauce and stir well. Return the pan this time UNCOVERED for an additional 30 min in the oven.

After the last 30 min, turn the oven off, strain the sauce through a strainer and return the Rabbit in the turned off oven to let it rest for 10 min.. 

Now check your sauce. Do you like it like this? Does it need more salt? Is it to strong, then just add
some more Heavy whip to it. You want it thicker, mix water with Cornstarch and add as much as
you want/need to get the creamy consistence you prefer. 

Now just serve the Rabbit with the sauce and the sides of your choice and enjoy. 1 Rabbit is usually
just about enough to fill me, my husband and my 8 year old. If your family is bitter, you might want another Rabbit ;-) 

Guten Appetit