We get some emails and questions from our clients and visitors on what to do with rabbit. It’s a little pricier than say, chicken, and people will often shy away from cooking it either thinking they don’t know how, or that they won’t like it. There’s also the “cute” factor. Some of us have hang-ups with cute, fuzzy, hopping little bunnies making their way onto the dinner plate. I’ll let you know right now that I’m not one of those people, and for those looking for an absolutely delicious meal, read on with me through this picture tutorial for a great preparation of rabbit. Here’s the final dish:

Now let’s see how we got there.

Start with a whole rabbit, it’s likely your supermarket won’t carry these, so visit your local butchershop:

If you’re lucky, the rabbit will come with liver and kidney inside. Don’t throw these away. Rabbit livers as well as kidneys are in my opinion the finest in the animal kingdom, a true delicacy. We’ll be incorporating them into our final dish.

Now, we need to cut the rabbit into parts. Start by removing the hind legs. Make a cut at the base of the thigh, then twist to expose the bone:

Use a sharp knive to cut inbetween the exposed joint. Since this is a more refined dish, the entire leg is too large. We need to separate the leg from the thigh. We do this again by cutting down the middle and twisting to expose the joint we need to cut through:

Use the blade of your knife to clean up the bone a bit, and what you should have at this point should look something like this:

Next, onto the rabbit loins. Flip the rabbit over and count about 4 ribs up from the top section, then use a large knive to cut the body:

Next, flip the middle section over, and cut along either side of the spine to remove each loin section, which should look like this:

Trim the excess flap, fat, and silver skin until you have just the rabbit loins intact. Save the extra trimmings and bones for stock. Your cutting board should look like this at this point:

Put the rabbit bones and trimmings in a bag and set in fridge/freezer for stock later. Put the thighs, legs and loins on a plate and and set aside. Wash cutting board with hot soapy water and it’s on to the vegetables:

Chop 1 large leek, 1 fennel bulb, a couple large carrots , garlic and shallots into a dice.

Next, grab 2 slices of bacon and slice them into 1/4″ thin strips like so:

Heat up a large, heavy bottomed pot with a thin layer of vegetable oil, and 1 tsp of butter. Season the rabbit thighs and legs with salt and lightly dust with flour. Add them (not the loins or kidneys) to the pot and brown well:

Once browned on both sides, remove rabbit pieces from pot, and add in the bacon:

Once browned, remove bacon from pot and drain on paper towel. Drain half the fat from the pot. Now add in all the vegetables, and 1/2 cup of dry white wine.

Cook for 5-7 minutes, then add in 2 cups of chicken stock, season and add the rabbit pieces back in. Cover with lid and turn down to a simmer. It needs to simmer for 45 minutes or so.

While rabbit is cooking, make the parsley oil. Add in 2 cups fresh flatleaf parsley, a pinch of salt and 3/4 cup vegetable oil to a blender or food processor:

Blend for 5-6 minutes:

Strain through a fine sieve and set aside:

After 45 minutes, remove lid and your pot should look something like this:

Boil a small pot of salted water. Add in the gnochetti and cook for 4-5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Heavy a large heavy bottomed saute pan with vegetable oil and butter. Saute the rabbit loins for 2-3 minutes per side, they should still be nice and pink in the middle. Then sauté the rabbit kidneys and liver for 2 minutes per side. (Keep the kidneys as a chefs snack)

Set loin aside to rest, and remove the thighs and legs from the pot. Add in 1/4 cup heavy cream to finish the sauce and reduce for 5 minutes.

To plate:

It works best if you allow the gnocchetti to cool slightly and become sticky first. Using a ring mold, spoon some of the gnochetti into the center of a plate. Compress.

Next, ladle some of the fricassee mixture over top evenly:

Slice the loins into medallions, and arrange the rabbit parts on top of the fricassee mixture. Then place a couple slices of the rabbit liver on top of it all.

And finally, drizzle with the parsley oil and rendered bacon to finish!

If this dish hasn’t made you want to try rabbit, I don’t know what will! To get the full recipe, sign up for our newsletter on our homepage, or join our facebook group here! Enjoy!

Well it seems as though we’re in a sharing mood lately over here at the ol’ Drew Cooks food blog! And at the end of the day, isn’t that what cooking’s all about anyways? Try this one out for some high end finger food to wow your guests. Thank us later

This is one of our favorite dessert recipes. It’s unique, delicious and a lighter dessert choice! Try it out, you won’t be disappointed:

We use Tater-Ware biodegradable and compostable food service utensils for all our corporate catering lunches in the Vancouver area.

What is Tater-Ware? It’s a great line of products made from, you guessed it, potato starch. These incredible utensils are tan in colour and feel very similar to a high quality plastic, however they have been proven to even out-perform plastic in boiling and microwave tests, are dishwasher safe and of course, will completely biodegrade or compost when disposed of.

I encourage anyone planning a large event where disposable food service items would be required to consider using these fantastic products:

http://www.bdfs.net/products/TaterWare/

While they are not the most cost-effective option out there, they are the highest quality and most sustainable product available that we could offer to our clients, so for our business, it was an easy choice.

I’m always surprised how many people have never heard of brining, much less tried it. This incredibly easy technique is the key to most amazingly juicy turkey you’ve ever eaten. It’s not difficult, and it uses ingredients everyone has at home. All you need is a little time and a vessel large enough to hold the turkey and the brine. So what is it?

A brine is simply a solution of water, salt,  sugar and often some other basic flavouring ingredients. These ingredients are mixed and the turkey is submerged in the brine, and allowed to soak refrigerated overnight, or up to 24 hours. The result is the juiciest bird you’ve ever eaten with a virtually fool-proof technique. Ready to try?

Recipe:

2 gallons water
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
3-4 bay leaves
a dozen or so black peppercorns
1 lemon, halved
1 bunch fresh thyme sprigs

Step 1: Ensure your turkey is fully thawed. A frozen bird will not absorb the solution and the brining will be all for not.

Step 2: Mix all ingredients in a large stockpot, big enough to hold the turkey and the brine solution. If you don’t have a pot large enough, use a cooler.

Step 3: Submerge the turkey in the solution, what you have at this point should look something like this:

Step 4: If using a cooler, add in a large quantity of ice to keep the solution very cold, and place in a cold place like a garage or a safe place outside. If using a stock pot, place in the refrigerator.

Step 5: Allow to soak overnight, or up to 24 hours. For a large turkey, the brine needs a minimum of 6 hours to have an effect, though longer is desired.

Step 6: Remove from the brine, pat dry and roast as usual!

That’s it, and this technique works on ALL poultry, so don’t hesitate to try it and put the usual BBQ’d chicken over the top. Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and happy brining!

…for the Drew Cooks! van making it’s way around the Lower Mainland!

Let us know what you think of the design by leaving a comment on our blog.

Crispy skin is one of the true delights of cooking fish like salmon, trout or bass. The combination of perfectly cooked fish and skin so crisp you could strike a match on it is in my opinion one of the best textural experiences in the culinary world.

Too often I find people removing the skin, largely due to bad experiences eating fish improperly prepared resulting in soggy, rubbery skin. No thanks! But once you get these few steps down and nail your first fillet, you’ll never go back to sans-skin, trust me.

Salmon is a great fish to start with on this. It’s firm enough that it holds up well in the pan during flipping, and has lots of natural oils which help it to crisp up more easily.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 325F. Start with a smaller piece of fillet (5 oz or so, skin on of course). Ensure all the scales of the fish are removed by running the blade of a knife against the direction of the scales across the skin. Rinse under cold water.

Step 2: The most important factor in crisping skin is removing as much excess water as possible from the skin. Excess moisture will cause steam and prevent the skin from browning properly. Dry the fish thoroughly with a paper towel. Next, use the blade of a knife and draw it over the skin. This is called the “Squeegee” technique and is designed to draw out excess moisture from the skin. Dry again with paper towel.

Step 3: Using a good size sauté pan, heat over med-hi heat. Coat the bottom of the pan a thin layer of vegetable oil or a similar good high heat oil. It is very important to ensure the oil gets hot enough before placing the fish in the pan. It should be hot enough to sizzle right away, but not hot enough that the oil is smoking, this will cook the skin too quickly causing it to burn before it crisps.

Step 4: Season the fillet with salt and pepper and place skin side down in the hot pan. Cook for approximately 5-6 minutes, until the fish is nearly cooked through, and the skin is golden. Flip the fish and place immediately in the oven to continue cooking for an additional 3 minutes.

Remove from the oven and serve…..skin on!

Our latest article has been published in Home Makeover Magazine containing 2 product reviews, summer grilling tips, and a fantastic summer party recipe.

Check it all out here!

Over the last few months we’ve been working on putting together a sister website for our main page. We love making videos and wanted to have a place where we could feature them on their own and expand on what we’ve been doing, and do it better! Without further adieu, we are proud to launch:

http://www.drewcooks.tv

We are still in the process of getting it chock-full of high quality videos, recipes, product reviews and more, but there are still some great videos and recipes up right now for your viewing pleasure, including a brand new HD recipe for a Braised Duck Leg Fettuccine!

We’re still going to be posting great informative content here at the Drew Cooks! Food blog, but from now on all videos will be posted on Drew Cooks TV.

For the latest updates, pictures and more, you can also join our facebook page or follow us on twitter.

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I wanted to take a moment to share some information about a program throughout the Greater Vancouver Area that some may not be familiar with: The Food Runners Program.

When most people think about a food bank, they think of donating non-perishable canned goods, however the Vancouver Food Bank has the Food Runners program set up to take donations of all sorts, perishable produce, meats, anything you can imagine. In fact, they will send refrigerated trucks to your house, kitchen, or restaurant to pick up donations anywhere in the Greater Vancouver area!

I encourage anyone having a large gathering or BBQ this summer to consider donating surplus food to this great program.

For more information or to schedule a pickup, contact Will, manager of the Food Runners Program at 604-834-7457.