Now I have cheated a bit as the title of this blog should read " Zec na Dalmatinski Nacin " and would have been the second last post but I couldn't wait to post this recipe and the story is all true.....When I was 12 or so and my brother was 10 my father built a rabbit hutch in the backyard and it was a thing of beauty enough room for a dozen or so cute little balls of fur, my brother would rush out when he got home from school to the backyard and hand feed them, and it was all going so well until they started breeding like.... well rabbits, I clearly remember my dad staring at the hutch and calling out to my mum " Stoja zovi naroda, bit ce festa " ( Stoja call everyone there is going to be feast ), now I knew this was NOT good as every time we had a festa animals disappeared, anyway the chosen date coincided with my brothers birthday so a plan was hatched whereby my brother and I and some of our cousins would be taken for the very first time to wait for it.... MacDonald's I remember my aunties sitting on the plastic stools, arms folded refusing to eat anything, whilst we got brain freeze from the milkshakes and third degree burns in our mouths from the sauce on the fillet o fish, all this was followed with a trip to the park. When we got home my brother ran to the hutch to find all the doors open, my dad explained to him that a great big rabbit had turned up and led all the rabbits away to the countryside where they would all live happily ever after, so whilst we all went inside to sit at the dinner table my brother not convinced by my dads story started snooping around and went into the garage where he saw a chopping block, an axe firmly planted in it and, next to the axe a ....rabbits foot that his Kum ( godfather ) Ivan had decided to keep to hang on the rear visor of his ford xb coupe, well my brother let out a blood curdling howl ran into the kitchen just as my mum lifted the lid on her burnt orange bessemer casserole dish of you guessed it......Zec na Dalmatinski nacin, needless to say that he does not eat rabbit to this day.
1 cleaned rabbit
red wine vinegar
a couple of cloves of garlic
suha slanina you can get this at most European especially Balkan or German delis ( dried pork similar to pancetta )
salt
olive oil
couple of sage leaves
2-3 bay leaves
twig of rosemary
white peppercorns
half an onion
pair of carrots diced
2-3 lemons
cup of red wine
sugar
water
continental parsley
In a heavy cast iron pot, dice garlic and the pancetta / suha slanina
sprinkle rabbit with salt and place in pot and pour over with cup of olive oil
when rabbit is browned all over pour in a cup of the red wine vinegar
put in sage, bay leaves, rosemary white peppercorns, onion, diced carrots
simmer on low heat for an hour
remove and joint
in a saucepan heat a tablespoon of olive oil some diced garlic and the juice of two lemons heat till simmering return rabbit to pot and pour over.
simmer for a further hour
towards the end of the hour pour over with a glass of red wine
In some parts of Dalmatia they also sprinkle some sugar over with the wine
the rabbit should be well coated at all times and if necessary add a little water to serve sprinkle generously with chopped parsley
serve with polenta ( coarse yellow variety ) or potatoes
