Pasta al coniglio

As I mentioned in my earlier posts, we decided to make spaghetti al coniglio for dinner using the rabbit I’d shot earlier in the day. Since then, we’ve marinated the quartered rabbit and changed the plan slightly–we had no spaghetti in the cupboard so it had to be a mix of conchiglie and penne pastas instead. Anyway, I started by cutting some fresh pork fat into small cubes, then browned it in a pan until it was crisp. The pan was then removed from the heat before I stirred in two small diced onions and the garlic from the marinade. I crushed the garlic as it and the onion softened.

Dinner preparations

Having shot, skinned, paunched and quartered our rabbit, it was time to start preparing the meat for inclusion in our spaghetti al coniglio. I popped the quartered rabbit plus its liver, kidneys and heart in a non-reactive bowl, then pulled out a bottle of spiced potato wine, a couple of cloves of garlic and some sprigs of thyme (and yes, all ours).

Look Pa, it’s dinner!

The boys and I were in the kitchen discussing what to have for dinner, when we looked out the window and spotted the answer. A rabbit! I took the air rifle out, loaded it and cautiously opened the back door. Once I had the door open far enough for a clear and safe shot, I cocked the air rifle, took aim at the centre of the rabbit’s head, and, smack, a half second later we had dinner. As it’s a small rabbit, I think I’ll turn him into spaghetti al coniglio (pasta with rabbit sauce).