Mexican Rabbit

This rabbit casserole is a rustic Mexican dish built in three stages: poach, saute, bake. The rabbit simmers first with herbs until tender, then gets pulled from the bone and cooked again with corn, tomatoes, olives, and chili powder before being bound with cornmeal and baked.

Poaching the rabbit with rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns infuses the meat with flavor from the inside out. Save a cup of that poaching liquid. It gets strained and mixed with cornmeal and egg yolk to create the binding mixture that holds the casserole together as it bakes. Without it, you’d just have a skillet hash.

Black olives add a salty, briny depth that’s classic in Mexican cooking. The chili powder brings warmth without blowing out the delicate flavor of the rabbit. Everything bakes at a low temperature until the cornmeal sets up firm enough to slice.

Kitchen Tips

• Simmer, don’t boil the rabbit. A hard boil toughens the meat. Keep it at a gentle bubble for 30 minutes.
• Pull the meat off the bone while warm. Cold rabbit is harder to separate and the meat shreds unevenly.
• Strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve to catch any bone fragments and peppercorns before mixing with the cornmeal.
• Grease the casserole dish well. The cornmeal mixture sticks if you don’t.

Variations

• Chicken substitute: Use a whole chicken if rabbit isn’t available. Same method, same timing.
• Spicier version: Add 1 minced chipotle pepper in adobo to the saute mixture for smoky heat.
• Green chile: Replace tomatoes with roasted green chiles for a New Mexico-style twist.