After figuring out the best time and temperature to cook rabbit sous-vide, I wanted to put my new-found knowledge in practice to make a proper sous-vide rabbit dish. That’s when I remembered reading about cajun rabbit on REMCooks.com. As Richard’s recipes are always impeccable, I decided to make a sous-vide version of that. I did tweak it a little, as Richard calls for a tablespoon of Tabasco. Even though, in part thanks to Richard and his Baby Lady, I have grown to love spicy food a lot more than I used to, that is still out of my league.

When cooking a stew with meat and vegetables sous-vide, there are two issues to take into account:

• The vegetables need to be tender before the stew is cooked sous-vide, because vegetables won’t become tender if they are cooked sous-vide at a temperature below 84ºC/183ºF.
• For vacuum sealing a stew with liquid there are three options: when using a chamber vacuum sealer everything needs to be at room temperature (preferably refrigerator temperature) as otherwise the stew would boil at the low pressure, when using a ‘clamp’ vacuum sealer the liquid needs to be frozen as otherwise it would be sucked out, or a ziploc bag and the water displacement method need to be used. The latter is the only method that allows to seal the stew when it is still warm, rather than cooling or even freezing it.

The result is very nice: tender succulent rabbit in a piquant sauce. Thanks for the inspiration, Richard! Here’s what I did…

Ingredients

For 3 servings

3 rabbit legs, about 750 grams (1.6 lbs)

flour for dusting

olive oil

1 can peeled tomatoes (400 grams/14 oz), pureed in the food processor

2 bell peppers, seeded and diced

1 large onion, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

3 jalapeños, diced

1 bay leaf

tabasco sauce, to taste

250 ml (1 cup) rabbit stock

1 clove garlic, minced

For the spice mix

2 tsp salt

3/4 tsp mustard powder

3/4 tsp sweet paprika

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1/2 tsp freshly ground white pepper

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1/4 tsp dried thyme

Preparation

Combine the spices in the a bowl and stir to mix.

Rub the rabbit legs on all sides with about 2/3 of the spice mix.

Dust the rabbit legs with flour.

Heat 4 Tbsp olive oil in a frying pan over medium high heat. Add the rabbit legs and brown them on all sides, then take them out of the pan and set aside.

Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery.

Sauté over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Add the garlic and sauté for another minute.

Add the tomatoes.

Stir in the tomatoes. Add the bay leaf and the remaining spice mix.

Add tabasco to taste.

Add the rabbit stock.

Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and allow to simmer, uncovered, until the sauce has a nice thick consistency and the vegetables are tender.

Since I used a chamber vacuum sealer, I allowed the sauce to cool down to room temperature. Then I put the sauce with the rabbit legs in a bag.

I vacuum sealed the rabbit legs with the sauce, and cooked this sous-vide for 8 hours at 74ºC/165ºF.

Serve on preheated plates with white rice.

Wine pairing

This is very nice with a dry rosé such as from Provence.

Flashback

Lasagne alla Napoletana is an alternative very tasty version, made with ragù napoletana and ricotta.