Braised Rabbit with Prunes

Ingredients

• One 3 to 3 1/2 pound rabbit, cut into six to eight serving parts
• Salt
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 3-4 large shallots, sliced, about 1 cup
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup dry white wine
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 7 ounces pitted prunes, dried plums
• Several sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 rabbit liver
• 1 Tbsp vinegar, optional

Directions

1. Warm 3 Tbsp olive oil in a large, heavy Dutch oven, such as a 5 quart pot, over medium-high heat. Add the butter. Blot the rabbit pieces dry, season them all over with salt, and sear them in batches until they are browned on every side.
2. Transfer the rabbit out of the pot. Stir in the sliced shallots, turn the heat down to medium, and let them soften for 2 minutes. Add the minced garlic clove and continue cooking for 30 seconds.
3. Pour in the white wine, then raise the heat to high. With a wooden spoon, loosen the browned bits stuck to the base of the pot. Boil the wine until it has reduced by at least half.
4. Turn the heat to low, moving the pot to the smallest burner if that helps maintain a gentler flame. Set the rabbit pieces back in the pot along with the prunes, thyme, and bay leaf, and season with black pepper to taste.
5. Cover the pot snugly and cook for 45 minutes. This timing assumes the rabbit was brought close to room temperature before cooking; if it went in cold from the fridge, it may need a few extra minutes. Try not to peek too often, since letting out the heat can slow things down.
6. Once the rabbit is fully cooked, you can use the rabbit liver to deepen the sauce, if you like. Purée the rabbit liver with 1 Tbsp of vinegar. Lift the rabbit pieces, prunes, thyme sprigs, and bay leaf out of the pot and place the rabbit and prunes on a serving dish; discard the thyme and bay leaf.
7. Whisk the liver and vinegar purée into the sauce in the pot, then cook it for another 10 minutes. If the sauce still seems thin, you can thicken it further with corn starch or flour. Spoon the sauce over and around the rabbit and prunes.
8. Serve over egg noodles.