How to Hunt and Cook North Fork Rabbit

Over the weekend in Mattituck, I saw a group of rabbit hunters on my neighbor's property. It was such a bright fall day, and they looked so colorful with their orange jackets, I asked if I could take photos of them and their bloodhound, Dallas. One of the hunters, third guy from the left in the photo, is a builder from Flanders, and is constructing Whisper Vineyard, soon to open in St. James.

From my car, I called Anthony Sannino, also a builder — he built the extension on my Bistro — and owner of Bella Vita Vineyard and Bed and Breakfast. I knew Anthony liked to hunt rabbit, and had a great recipe for rabbit alla cacciatore (that means "hunter's style" in Italian). When Anthony arrived at the Bistro, Arie and his friend Armandio had just finished a meal at the Bistro and had come into the kitchen to say goodbye. They had just gone rabbit hunting, and had their hunting dogs and some rabbits in their car. I went to the parking lot with them, and took photos of Armandio with three dead rabbits, his 12-gauge shotgun and his leather ammunition belt, and one of his beagle puppies. Armandio offered me a rabbit to take home, but I declined — I didn't want a dead rabbit still covered in fur.

Anthony's Rabbit Cacciatore (hunter style)

Says Anthony: "This is a recipe that I enjoyed as far back as I can remember, it has been passed down from my grandparents on my mom's side. I would be awoken on a Sunday morning by the chopping sound as my mom would begin to make pieces from the rabbit that we got the day before. I am now continuing the tradition. My four children have all had it and I hope the recipe sticks with at least one of them. Since I was a child I have always raised my own rabbits for this recipe. My children are now raising the rabbits and have learned the only names they should give the rabbits are Lunch and Dinner.

• 1 rabbit cut into pieces
• 2 medium sized onions, sliced
• 6 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1.5 cups white wine
• Olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Crushed red pepper
• Handful of fresh basil
• 1 can or jar crushed tomatoes

Cooking the Rabbit

For one rabbit, saute onions and garlic in a 1/2 -inch of olive oil in a medium sized pot until golden. Remove onions and garlic using a straining spoon, and save to be added later.

Add rabbit pieces to the hot oil, not overlapping pieces. Braise each piece for three minutes on each side, remove pieces to continue with additional pieces. When all have been braised, add all the pieces back to the pot with the white wine and salt to taste, allow to simmer for two minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, bring to boil and lower heat to medium. Add the onions and garlic back to the pot with the basil and crushed red pepper to taste. Allow to cook on medium to low heat for one hour. Be sure to have some fresh Italian bread for dipping the sauce while eating the rabbit.

Tree's Rabbit with White Wine, Mushrooms, Cream and Local Tarragon

Rabbit can be made in many ways in a very similar fashion to chicken — rabbit cacciatore is just like chicken cacciatore, fried rabbit is like fried chicken, and rabbit chasseur (meaning "hunter's style" in French) is like chicken chasseur. Since chicken goes well with white wine, cream, and tarragon, that's how I would make my rabbit.

Cut up the rabbit into pieces. Wash some mushrooms — I like the baby bella — and use them whole, or cut in half.

Cut up some onions and start cooking in a pot with butter, or oil, or a combination of the two. I like to cook onions on a relatively low heat for a pretty long time, uncovered, for maybe a half hour, until they are brown and carmelized and about half the original volume. Without carmelization, I find white onions pretty boring.

Meanwhile, dredge the rabbit pieces in about ½-cup of flour with salt and pepper or shake the pieces in a plastic baggie. 

Take the onions out of the pan, then cook the mushrooms. Take the mushrooms out of the pan, and cook the rabbit pieces until browned. Put the onions and mushrooms back in.  Add chicken broth.

For that local North Fork touch, add about a half-cup of local white wine and some local fresh tarragon from your garden or local farmstand. If you can't find local tarragon, you can use rosemary or oregano or marjoram.

Mint might be a very novel herb to use as well, in lieu of tarragon. I've made savory meat dishes with mint where one would ordinarily expect rosemary or oregano, and they came out great. Even lavender could work. I once made chicken with lavender from a French recipe with a lawyer friend of mine from San Francisco who loves to cook. She still talks about it.

Let the rabbit cook with the white wine, chicken broth, mushrooms and herbs until just about done. Add about ½-cup of heavy cream or light cream near the end.

While this recipe would go well with French bread, egg noodles, or rice, if you want more of that "local" angle, serve with local potatoes. My lawyer colleague at my office, who is from Paris, told me that Americans don't cook their potatoes right. This is the way he cooks them: He boils them whole, till soft, then he slices them with the skin still on, then he fries them in butter. Sometimes he throws some chopped chives on them. I have never made them that way, but it sounds good so I want to try that next time.