Hare is good for this recipe, but also wild rabbit. I would go further to say that roe deer would be fine too. But we are on the Isola del Giglio, so we remain faithful to what the island offers us.
Like sour cherries, the legendary “sarace”. With the leaves Cristiano Ricardi aromatizes a very special wine whose result is tannic and sweet: a real delight that you never tire of. He called it Saraciolo and the recipe takes its name from this infused wine.
What other ingredients are needed? many, but not many. First of all:
Lots of white wine in which to marinate the rabbit or the hare. together with vegetables and aromas: carrot, onion, garlic, celery, juniper berries, rosemary and sage. It should be kept overnight in the fridge in the marinade.
The next day you have to dry it and start cutting it. I follow the joints of the hips and forelegs. The wine from the marinade is thrown away: it has done its job now and some of the “wild” flavor is left in there. Our hare – or our rabbit – will have the sweetness of the wild but will not be too strong.
At this point the difficult work begins: it must be boned.
The meat obtained is cut into cubes of about 3 centimeters. Obviously the cubes will not be “cubes”. We do what we can.
With the bones we make a “fast fundation” . All in a pot, together with a carrot, an onion, a stalk of celery, cut into pieces; two cloves of garlic; one leaf of then and two of sage. Double the weight in the water and off on the high heat for about 40 minutes, until we get one centimeter (in height) of rather dark reduction.
The bottom must be filtered with a fine sieve.
Meanwhile, also the “cubes” begin cooking. First with nothing …
In this way we let the water out. Then we add some butter (not much, 40 grams) and brown the meat. When the meat is well browned it is time to add salt and pepper and a good half liter of red wine.
We lower the heat, put the lid on and cook over low heat. If by the time the wine is finished, the meat is dry but still a little hard, continue cooking by adding broth (which we must always keep next to us when cooking).
Maybe it’s time to make the ingredients list:
One hare is enough for 5-6 people.
A small wild rabbit is enough for two.
It takes about 2 liters of white wine for the marinade and half a liter of red wine
onion, celery, carrot, garlic
rosemary, sage, bay leaf
salt, pepper and juniper berries
and then:
salt flavored with orange and fennel (future TerrAmare production)
a small glass of Saraciolo wine (future TerrAmare production)
half a kilo of pitted cherries or sour cherries
Don’t worry: you will have time to stone the cherries – or sour cherries – while the meat cooks gently.
While the meat is cooking, we finish the sauce with which it will be served.
The flavored salt and cherries – or pitted sour cherries – a glass of Saraciolo wine are added to the filtered base. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the sugar contained in the ingredients creates a glaze,
Here, the dish is practically ready to be served. It seemed difficult but in the end it can be done.
I also prepared a puree of boiled chestnuts. I know, it’s not the season, but I organize myself for these all-Italian shortcomings of seasonality (… yes … we alsohave the seasons! ). The chestnuts were in the freezer . I flavored it with a little fennel flower.
Hare meat, cherry sauce, chestnut quenelle, a fresh myrtle leaf. Try it!
Marcella Ansaldo © 2021