I really liked the fresh tagliatelle with rabbit at Bussia, and so I decided to make a similar dish. Tajarin al Sugo di Coniglio is a dish from the Piemonte region, where narrow tagliatelle (taglierini) are called tajarin in the local dialect. It really brings out the delicate flavor of the rabbit, which pairs very well with the delicate pasta. I decided to enhance the rabbit flavor by using rabbit stock rather than chicken stock.

Ingredients

For 4 servings

1 kg (2.2 lbs) rabbit legs

1 small onion, minced

1 carrot, minced

1 celery stalk, minced

1 glass (100 ml) dry white wine

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp butter

1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary

1 Tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme

For the tajarin

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

250 grams (1 1/2 cups) 00 flour

Preparation

Debone the rabbit legs and reserve the bones. You can probably do a better job than I did, but since I wanted to make stock it was okay to leave some meat on the bones.

Let the bones soak in cold water for a few minutes to remove any traces of blood.

Put the bones in a pot and cover them with cold water. Bring to a boil and then to a simmer and remove all the scum that rises to the surface. Let simmer, uncovered, for at least 1 hour.

Drain the rabbit stock. The stock turned out a bit cloudy but that’s okay since it will be used in the sauce anyway.

Cut the rabbit meat into small pieces.

Sauté the carrot, onion, celery, and rosemary in the olive oil over medium heat until golden.

Add the rabbit meat and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Sauté the rabbit meat until the raw meat color has disappeared completely.

Add white wine and stir until half the wine has evaporated. Add the rabbit stock and lower the heat to a mere simmer.

Cover, but not completely, and let simmer over very low heat until the rabbit is tender, stirring occasionally. In my case this took about 3 hours. Add a bit of water or stock if the sauce becomes too dry.

Meanwhile, make the tajarin from the eggs and flour using my instructions for making fresh pasta. The original way is to cut tajarin by hand (by folding the pasta sheets, cutting, and unfolding again), but cutting by machine gives the same result and is easier.

Make sure to let the pasta sheets dry or to sprinkle them with flour, to prevent the tajarin from sticking together.

When the rabbit is tender, add the butter and stir to let it melt.

Cook the tajarin al dente in salted boiling water, which will only take a minute or so. Reserve some of the pasta water if the sauce is a little dry. Add the drained pasta to the sauce with the thyme and oregano.

Toss to mix, adding a bit of the pasta cooking water if needed. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve on warm plates. I served it without parmigiano as that would overpower the delicate flavors.

Wine pairing

Goes well with a dry white from Piemonte such as erbaluce or arneis.