There’s a butchery near my place that I like shopping at as their meats are top notch and their staff knowledgeable and proud of their products. The first time I entered the butchery, I was amazed by the variety of cuts available, most of which I had never seen in a supermarket. Loads of great steak discoveries have been made ever since we started shopping there for steak! Another thing great about this place is that they’ve got a box of random frozen products offered at a discount at any given time. I make it a point to check it out to see what’s available and interesting.
Ever since I started AIP, I’ve grown more adventurous in cooking and eating – it’s funny how a restricted diet can open up your horizons! My most recent purchase from the discount box was a pack of ‘abats de lapin’. My French isn’t exactly fluent and I knew abats meant offal, so I assumed that it was a package of rabbit livers given the dark colour of the meat. My kids enjoy liver and I’m training myself to eat more offal, so rabbit livers sounded like a treat. When I was ready to cook them, imagine my surprise when I opened the vacuum packaging and found not just liver but numerous miniature kidneys!
Rabbit kidneys are very small, like the size of large olives. They’re covered with a very fine membrane, and it’s better to remove the membrane and trim the fats off before cooking. Because they’re so tiny, the taste is really mild and I couldn’t detect any ammonia scent while prepping or cooking, compared to kidneys of larger animals. The funny thing is that I’ve yet to try rabbit meat!
This recipe is for a chunky stew-like sauce, inspired by a recipe for chicken livers at nytimes.com. It’s pretty rich-tasting and would go well with a light vegetable puree and flatbread. I served it on top of coconut socca. Feel free to use chicken livers if you can’t get rabbit. I omitted the anchovies in my version as I did not have any on hand and increased the seasoning to make up for it.
Have you tried rabbit offal before? What is your preferred offal?
- 5 tablespoons bacon fat
- 4 rashers bacon, diced
- ⅓ cup shallots, sliced finely
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 11 ounces rabbit livers and kidneys, rinsed well and trimmed of visible fat and fine membrane surrounding the kidneys, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons capers, rinsed, drained, chopped
- 1 apple, cored and diced (peel removed, if preferred)
- ½ cup red wine (or bone broth)
- Pinch of mace
- Smoked sea salt, to taste
- 1 bay leaf, torn
- Heat a frying pan over medium heat and saute the diced bacon until it begins to brown.
- Reduce the heat to low and add the shallots and rosemary.
- Saute until the shallots turn translucent, for about a minute.
- Add the bacon fat and let it melt in the pan before adding the rabbit livers, kidneys and capers.
- Stir occasionally, until the liver and kidneys start turning light greyish-brown but not firm
- Add in the red wine, increase the heat to medium-low and allow the mixture to simmer gently.
- Season with a sprinkling of mace and smoked sea salt.
- Allow to simmer for another 5 - 10 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture takes on a chunky sauce texture.
- Remove from heat, add the bay leaf and set aside to infuse for 15 minutes.
- Reheat the mixture gently, adding more wine, oil, or seasoning to taste, if necessary. Discard the bay leaf before serving.