At the Rabbit King

A cold late January rain was passing down when we pulled into the parking lot of Casa del Conill (house of the rabbit in Catalan) just over an hour’s drive from Barcelona. Our mind was on rabbit. We were anticipating rabbit. We were thinking of rich and warming red wine from the Priorat which we would like to introduce to the rabbit. We were thinking of how many ways rabbit can be prepared, which is why we were at the restaurant which is known locally as Conill Rei or Rabbit King because of the kitchen’s many ways with rabbit.

Although we were only a few miles from the ramblas in Barcelona, surely one of the most esoteric if not downright weird cityscapes anywhere in the world, at the Casa Conill we were deep in the Catalan countryside. This was where the mystic Catalan spirit and the very practical Catalan ego hang out together. (See almost anything by Gaudi.) The nearest town of any size is Vilafranca del Penedes, the most important winegrowing center in Catalonia. Think of Napa without the tees, cute little B&Bs, and pricy shops. Just miles and miles of vineyards and working bodegas. And a sprinkling of restaurants that will keep you eating until way past midnight.

The back story: anywhere you go in Spain, you will find people eating rabbit. The very name of the country is all tangled up in rabbits. Carthaginians, who were in Spain before the Romans, were so impressed by the local rabbit population that they called the country Ispania, or land of the rabbits, from their word for rabbit, span. When the Romans arrived beginning in the third century AD they kept the name, calling the peninsula Hispania, although they booted out the Carthaginians.

We can let Virginia Woolf, not noted as a Spanish scholar but rather good at language, have the last word. In her book Flush, a biography of the poet Elizabeth Barret Browning’s cocker spaniel, Woolf wrote: “Many million years ago the country which is now called Spain seethed uneasily in the ferment of creation. Ages passed; vegetation appeared; where there is vegetation the law of Nature has decreed that there shall be rabbits; where there are rabbits, Providence has ordained there shall be dogs.” And if the dogs chase rabbits, they would be called, of course, spaniels. And the oh so common domestic cocker spaniel is of Spanish origin and somewhere in that muddled floppy eared gene pool spaniels are still chasing rabbits.

(And no, this is not the time to ask about Alice and the White Rabbit. That’s a different trip altogether.)

Casa del Conill is a large mas on the C-244, the road between Vilafranca and Sitges, in the small village of Sant Miguel d’ Olérdola. There is a sprawl of rooms, ranging from small to grand---the restaurant seats up to 350 people. There is also a huge cellar, much of it given over to aged rancio, the common name in Catalonia for vin doux naturel that have been deliberately maderized. The best rancios have a powerful flavor, reminiscent of overripe fruit, nuts and almost rancid fat. Right. They are an acquired taste but once you acquire it you will make long pilgrimages to satisfy it. (See future rancio posting.) The interior of the rabbit king is fairly plain, although the owners couldn’t resist sprinkling a few old time vineyard tools here and there. Who could? It’s built for eating, not for flash.

Back to the rabbit, a very Catalan rabbit. Two Catalan rabbits, as it turned out.

Ann ordered the rabbit cooked in snails and I ordered the rabbit with turnips and pears. Solid winter comfort dishes, but what makes them Catalan? Let’s start with the snails. Sure, snails are eaten outside of Catalonia but rarely with the gusto that you find there. Catalans do take their snails seriously. Every spring in Lleida in western Catalonia, there is a snail festival which attracts hungry snail snackers from all over Spain. (See Snails posting coming soon.)

My rabbit with turnips and pears is clearly a very old recipe. Turnips were the most popular root vegetable all over Europe before the introduction of the potato from the Americas. What makes it Catalan is the combination of fruit with meat, especially game. Such combinations are sometimes found elsewhere in Europe, usually in recipes going back to the middle ages, but are still rather common in Catalonia.

Salud!



Rabbit with Snails
(conill amb cargols)
Serves four to six

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 rabbit, cut into six pieces
salt and freshly ground black pepper
24-30 snails, fresh or canned; if fresh leave in shells
6 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
3/4 pound onions, peeled and minced
2 small red bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded and pureed
2 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup chicken stock

Preheat oven to 350F
Heat oil in a skillet, add the rabbit and cook until golden, lightly sprinkling with salt and pepper as it cooks.
If using canned shells, refresh under cold running water. Set aside. Remove the rabbit from the skillet and set aside.

Add garlic tot he skillet and cook over moderate heat until browned. Add the onions and cook until soft. Stir n the peppers and cook 1 minute. Add tomatoes and cook to a paste. Add thyme and stock and cook until the liquid is reduced to 1/2 cup. Mix with the rabbit in an ovenproof casserole. Add snails. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve direct from the oven in the casserole.

Rabbit with Turnips and Pears
(conill amb naps i peres)
Serves six

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 2 1/2 pound rabbit, cut into six serving pieces
1 medium onion, peeled and minced
2 leeks, cleaned and finely chopped, white part only
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 bay leaf
Sprig each of thyme, marjoram and oregano
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 small pears, peeled and cored
2 cups chickens tock
1 cup dry white wine
2 pounds turnips, peeled and cut into strips

Heat the oil in a large skillet and sauté the rabbit until golden. Remove the rabbit. Add more oil if necessary and sauté the onion, leeks, garlic and carrot until soft. Add the tomatoes, herbs, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper; cook over high heat until reduced to a paste.

Return the rabbit to the sauce and arrange the pears around the rabbit. Pour one cup of the stock and the wine over all and cook, covered, over medium-low heat until the rabbit feels tender when pierced with a fork, about 30-45 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring the remaining cup of stock to a boil in a saucepan and add the turnips. Cook, covered until tender. Drain, reserving the stock and setting aside the turnips on a heated platter.

Remove the rabbit and pears from the skillet to the heated platter of turnips and keep warm. Purée the stock in a blender, pour it through a fine sieve into the skillet and add the reserved turnip stock. Cook over high heat to reduce and thicken. Taste for seasoning. Pour the sauce over the dish and serve immediately.



Only Connect

Casa del Conill, Sant Miguel d’Olérdola.
93-890 20 01
www.casadelconill.com
info@casadelconill.com

The recipes above and many others will be available in the upcoming book Catalan Hours by Ron Scherl, Ann Walker and Larry Walker.