Rabbit salad
( Insalata di coniglio )

Rabbit salad recipe

Preparation and cooking

• - Remove the entrails of your rabbit.
  I also discard its head but this step is very subjective.
• - Wash your rabbit under cold running water.
• - Boil it in salt water together with sun-dried tomatoes, parsley, bay leaf, sage, marjoram and whole onion.
• - Continue cooking, adding other boiling water only if necessary, until its meat is tender.
  It will take 60 to 90 minutes depending on the age of the rabbit you've bought.
• - Let your rabbit cool in its cooking water.
• - Meanwhile drain mixed vegetables from their preserving juice and rinse them under cold running water.
  Then let vegetables drain for a long time in the strainer. This step is important because they have to lose all their water.
• - Wash chives, remove any excess of water with kitchen paper and chop finely. Put in a large bowl.
• - Drain olives and slice. Add to the bowl.
• - Blot bell peppers strips with kitchen paper and dice. Add to the bowl.
• - Drain corn and put in the bowl.
• - When the rabbit is cold, bone it and dice its meat directly in the bowl.
• - Now you have to add well-drained mixed vegetables, mayonnaise and olive oil.
  Stir with delicacy.
  Season to taste with salt only if necessary.

Just before serving

• - Prepare your rabbit salad some hours ahead to let all its ingredients miw well.
• - Chill until serving if it's very hot but remember to bring back to room temperature.
  It will take at least 30 minutes.
• - Stir again just before serving and garnish with chives and some pieces of sun-dried tomatoes if liked.

Note

Tips

• - Don't throw away the broth in which you've cooked your rabbit. It's ideal to make a risotto or simplier to boil pasta or rice to make a tasty pasta or rice salad the day after or the same day.
• - When I prepare this tasty rabbit salad I use my favorite canned vegetables but I'm sure outside Italy it is impossible to find the same ingredient. So my husband and I surfed Internet and found a similar product that is mixed vegetables with potatoes (Del Monte company). Obviously you can use your favorite brand on condition that the assorted vegetables are similar.
  In any case I remember you this rabbit salad is tastier if you have the time to use fresh vegetables.
• - A suggestion for people who don’t like or can't eat mayonnaise: dress this rabbit salad with a sauce made with yogurt, mustard and tomato paste. Mix the three ingredients according to your own taste.

Menu planning

• - This rabbit salad is an ideal cold dish either for your daily menu or for a special occasion such as alfresco dinner or a meal, byffet-style.
  Daily menu: accompany it with raw seasonal vegetables and complete with fresh fruit.
  Special occasion: in this case the doses are enough for more than 6 people.
• - It's a so delicate dish that you can combine it with a lot of different courses.

Useful links for this recipe

• - It's difficult to plan a cold dinner, you could have guests that don't like to eat all courses cold. Read our page dedicated to summer for more details. Here you'll find some cold dinner ideas.

Healthy eating

• - Rabbit meat has a high nutritional value. It's a good source of protein, is low in fat (an average of 4g per 100g edible portion if you remove all the visible fat) and cholesterol (Italian data show 52mg per 100g edible portion). Obviously, these data refer to 100g (3 1/2 ounces), the recommended meat portion (edible part without bone).
  Rabbit has a higher amount of phosphorus, potassium and magnesium but less calcium, sodium and iron compared to the other meat.
  Besides rabbit is a very good source of niacin, vitamin B12 and selenium.
• - This rabbit salad can be an alternative choice for your daily menu on condition that it is not done too often and is accompanied by a soup or raw vegetables and, at the end, fresh fruit.
  These choices ensure we can be within the recommended calories for dinner (500 - 600 calories for a person with an energy requirement of 2000 calories to be distributed into 5 micro-meals).
  It would be better to consume protein in the evening with the dinner according to many nutritionists.
  If you are very hungry and think these portions are too small increase the vegetables neither the meat nor the olive oil nor the mayonnaise.
  To plan the lunch correctly: choose a pasta or rice recipe to be dressed with vegetable sauce. Complete with a seasonal green salad and fresh fruit.
• - This rabbit salad is a perfect choice if you're planning a celebration menu because it can be combined easily with many other dishes and it is very digestible.
• - Fiber per serving: 3.7g. The daily value is 30g. A best reason to choose foods rich in fiber (vegetables and fruit) for the other meals of the day.

Loretta

What's the right wine for " Rabbit salad "?

My husband and I usually pair a good-quality white wine such as Regalali bianco (white wine from Sicily) or Pinot Grigio of Lison Pramaggiore DOC (made in Veneto near Venezia) with this cold salad. We like particularly organic Pinot Grigio made by Le Carline Company. We discovered this company during our summer holidays in 2010 in Caorle. No sooner had we tasted these wines we fell in love with them, with their great personality, intense bouquet ... hmm. Not to be missed!