Braised Rabbit with Alsatian Dumplings

In preparation for an upcoming wine pairing event, two rabbits ended up in my possession and I decided to braise one of them to pair with a bottle of Charles Baur Riesling Cuvee Charles 2015 for a #Winophiles event that goes live this weekend. 

Stay tuned for my tasting notes. But, for now, here's my recipe.... Note: I added fennel pollen to my Alsatian dumpling which is not a traditional ingredient. But I wanted to mirror the licorice notes from the fresh fennel in the rabbit. If you aren't a fan of fennel, swap carrots for the fennel in the stew and skip the fennel pollen altogether. However if you're up sometime non-traditional, I liken fennel pollen to a culinary pixie dust!

Ingredients

Rabbit

• 2 pound rabbit
• olive oil
• 2 C fennel bulb, trimmed chopped
• 2 C onion, peeled and diced
• 2 C celery, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• sprig of fresh thyme
• water and/or stock (I used a homemade beef broth)
• 1/2 C white wine

Alsatian Dumplings

• 1-1/2 C flour
• 1 t freshly ground salt
• 1/2 t freshly ground pepper
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1/2 C heavy cream
• 2/3 C butter, room temperature
• freshly ground nutmeg
• pinch of fennel pollen

Procedure

Rabbit

Brown the rabbit in a splash of olive oil in the bottom of a Dutch oven. Cook it for 2 minutes on each side to get a nice brown color. Add in the rest of the ingredients, making sure the rabbit is about halfway submerged in liquid. Bring it to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Braise for 2 hours. 

Remove the rabbit from the liquid and let it cool enough that you can handle it. Pull the meat from the bone and reserve the bones for making stock. Return the shredded meat to the pot and bring it back to a simmer. In the meantime, make the dumpling batter.

Dumplings

Beat egg whites into stiff peaks. Cream butter until lightened and fluffy, then, beat in egg yolks. Gradually stir in flour, salt, pepper, nutmeg, fennel pollen, and stiffly beaten egg whites.

Shape in small balls - I use a truffle scoop -  and drop into boiling, salted water. Simmer, covered, for approximately 5 minutes; take care not let dumplings boil or they will fall apart. Gently remove the dumpling with a slotted spoon and place them on top of the simmering rabbit stew. Remove from heat and cover until ready to serve.

To serve, spoon a generous portion of the stew and, at least, one or two dumplings into each dish. Serve immediately.