Chefs Will Cisa and David Kreifels, Laurelhurst Market, Portland, Ore.
Yield: 5 servings
3 rabbits
Salt
1# swiss chard, stems removed
1 oz. bacon, diced
1 egg
2 oz. cream
1# crepinette (caul fat), soaked in water and divided
3 oz. fatback, cubed
1 Asian pear, divided
3 oz. foie gras, cubed and divided
1 T. Viridian farms Piment d' Esplette
4 oz. bacon, thinly sliced
2 c. veal stock
Viridian Tarbais Beans (recipe follows)
Method (1) Remove loins, tenderloins, hindquarters and forequarters from rabbits. Remove livers and kidneys; clean and reserve. Remove meat from forequarters, and chill. Clean bellies, and chill. Reserve bones. (2) Blanch chard in heavily salted water, and shock in ice water. Lay it out in strips on a lint-free rag. (3) Prepare a mousseline by puréeing chilled rabbit bellies and 1 oz. bacon in a food processor until smooth. Add egg and cream while the machine is running; strain through a tamis. (4) Lay two loins from each rabbit out head to tail, cover one side of each with mousseline. (5) Place a neat layer of chard on the cutting board, top with two loins, stacked head to tail with the tenderloins and mousseline in the middle. Wrap neatly with chard, and trim edges. (6) Repeat process with the other four loins and tenderloins. Wrap each package in caul fat. Refrigerate. (7) Remove bones from thighs; trim any visible silver skin. Place thighs between two layers of plastic wrap, and pound to a uniform width. (8) Grind forequarters, pork fatback, half the pear, 1 oz. foie gras and Piment d' Esplette in the coarse blade of a meat grinder. Repeat. (9) Work this mixture by hand (wearing gloves) until the fat becomes well integrated. (10) Cook a small amount, and check for seasoning. Fill the thighs with a comfortable amount of the forcemeat. Reserve the remaining forcemeat. Wrap thighs in sliced bacon, then in crepinette. (11) To make the sauce, roast rabbit bones, and simmer in veal stock for one hour. Strain, and reserve. (12) Grind livers. (13) At the very last minute, sauté livers and foie gras. Add to sauce, and purée until bound, but still chunky. (14) To assemble, sauté saddles until medium well, finishing in the oven, taking care to render the crepinette but retain the chard’s color. (15) Sauté thighs on a higher heat until the forcemeat is cooked through, taking care to render the bacon. (16) Slice saddles and legs into 3/4” rounds, and arrange on top of Viridian Tarbais Beans. (17) Dredge cleaned kidneys in flour, and sauté quickly. Cut in half, and arrange on top of saddles and legs on top of the beans. (18) Serve sauce on the side.
Viridian Tarbais Beans
2 oz. bacon, diced
1 yellow onion, minced
4 celery ribs, minced
6 Basque frying peppers, seeded
1/2 c. Viridian tarbais beans
4 c. chicken stock
Reserved rabbit and fatback forcemeat
3 oz. tomato confit (skinned, seeded tomatoes cooked slowly in oil, oil reserved)
Handful parsley, chopped
Handful chives, chopped
2 oz. breadcrumbs
Method (1) Sauté diced bacon until crispy. Add the onion, celery and peppers; sweat. Add beans and chicken stock; cook until tender. (2) When finished, strain and reduce cooking liquid to sauce consistency. (3) Return liquid to beans. Sauté reserved forcemeat, and add tomato confit, parsley and chives to beans. (4) Divide beans in 5 cast iron pans. (5) Top with breadcrumbs, reserved tomato confit oil, and gratiné.
The Monterey Bay Aquarium, with the help of conservation and public health organizations, has compiled a Super Green list of seafood, meaning it is good for human health and does not harm the oceans. The products currently on the list are good sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and are low in environmental contaminants.
