Have you ever made the Silver Palate 80’s classic, Chicken Marbella? It’s chicken cooked with prunes and olives. It’s amazing how the sweet prunes just melt into the chicken drippings.

Prunes are an underutilized ingredient in my opinion. They’ve gotten such a bad rap that they aren’t even marketed as prunes anymore, but as dried plums, which is, in fact, what they are. Just dried plums. Like big fat raisins. Used in cooking, they can bring a deeply sweetly rich note to anything, especially meats.

Rabbit cooked with prunes is a classic French dish, known there as “lapin aux pruneaux”. In this version we sear the rabbit pieces first in a little olive oil and butter, and then braise them in white wine with shallots, garlic, thyme, and prunes.

Braised Rabbit with Prunes

Have you ever prepared rabbit? It’s a lot like chicken, both in the cooking and in the eating. In fact almost any recipe that can be made with chicken can be made with rabbit, and vice versa. The taste is just more subtle, and not “chicken-y”.

An optional step in this recipe, and one that I highly recommend, is to take the rabbit liver that should have come packaged with the rabbit, and purée it with a little vinegar, and then whisk it into the sauce at the end. Believe it or not, the liver does not impart any taste of liver to the dish, it just makes it richer, and the sauce thicker with a deeper flavor.

This recipe works great for leftovers, much like a stew improves over a day or two. The prunes fall apart into the sauce and the flavors just blend together so every bite is wonderfully savory and sweet.

Braised Rabbit with Prunes Recipe

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 4

Rabbit is available at many specialty markets, if not fresh then frozen, or can usually be ordered from your local butcher.

Whole rabbits are harder to break down than chickens, so ask your butcher to part it out for you (you may need to call ahead so they can defrost one, if all they have are frozen rabbits). Or you can check out Hank’s steps for cutting up a rabbit.

This is a pretty basic rabbit with prunes preparation. You can easily dress it up with some stewed tomatoes and or olives. Some recipes call for soaking the olives in cognac and adding them in at the very end, which would be good too.

Ingredients

  • One 3 to 3 1/2 pound rabbit, cut into six to eight serving parts
  • Salt
  • Olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 3-4 large shallots, sliced, about 1 cup
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 cup dry white wine (or chicken stock with a tablespoon of vinegar)
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 7 ounces (200 grams) pitted prunes (dried plums)
  • Several sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 rabbit liver (optional, should be sold with the rabbit)
  • 1 Tbsp vinegar (optional)

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