Wednesday Night Rabbit

It's been a long time since I made lapin à la moutarde, rabbit in mustard sauce. As someone who loves rabbit, this was criminally negligent and had to be fixed immediately. I know it's more of a Spring dish, but with the cold weather in NYC I felt this would remind us of warmer times.

A friend came over and volunteered to make a Bosc pear tart, so who was I to say no? And better yet, Burgundy goes best with this dish, yet another excuse to open a bottle!


The rabbit was butchered and cleaned, ready for his big moment of fame.


Then he was quickly browned, to seal in his lovely juices.


Next came the long, slow bath in a chicken and Chablis broth (tasting note on the Chablis down below).


After a while I added the mustard, letting the meat roll around in it to really cover it well.


The final touch: some fresh parsley and chives, lovely herbs to add flavor and color.


At last, à table! The table is set, and the wine awaits.


Some stinky cheeses ended the meal, the way any civilized dinner should end.


The pre-cooked pear tart.


Post-cooking, the pear tart was yummy, not too sweet, with a light and flaky crust. C'est si bon!

And the wines? Well, to start things off I opened a 2006 Louis Jadot Chablis, which smelled like seashore and sunshine wrapped in lemons right from the start. As it warmed up and breathed, it filled out, balancing the crunchy acidity with some lovely weight and fruit and seashells. Nice finish too for a sub-$25 bottle. Delicious to drink while the rabbit cooked. I really don't drink enough Chablis, this needs to be rectified.

With Mr. Le Lapin I opened a 1998 Fourrier Gevrey Chambertin 1er Cru Les Combes aux Moines. At first, it had some mushroomy/funky thing that had me worried about TCA (corked), with some shrill acidity coming and going, kind of poking me in the nose every once in a while. Not entirely pleasant for about an hour or so of sitting up and breathing.

After a while, it began to fill out and settle down, a real beauty that was both powerful yet light, with an almost weightless weight. And yes, I know that doesn't make sense, but that's the only way I can describe its mouthfeel, so deal with it. Sort of like a bowl of dark cherries covered in a lovely sauce of truffly, light mushrooms, but in a good way. And the acidity really managed the mustard sauce (which wasn't that mustardy anyway) and the rabbit meat.

It was, to put it in technical terms, yummy.

And the rabbit? He was fantastic, the moist tender meat falling off the bones. It really reminded us of Spring and the end of winter. Yay!
Cheers!