Potted marinated rabbit "salmi"

Hmmm, this is an absolutely delicious recipe to cook with rabbit! It is a traditional recipe cooked in various areas of the Peloponnese peninsula of Southern Greece. Very often the recipe was cooked using a hare in the old days but rabbit does the work just fine! A variation of this recipe is to slowly cook the rabbit for 2 hours in the oven along with baby potatoes and bay leaves. If, though, you are not big fans of that kind of meat you can try out the recipe (I strongly recommend it because it is delicious) with chicken or cockerel

Recipe of Nicki Mytarea,
from "Cook Book" magazine of "ETHNOS" newspaper



Ingredients (for 4 people):
1 whole rabbit, cut in portions (about 1-1 1/2Kg)
1 tea-cup of malt vinegar
1 tea-cup of olive oil
250gr. of hard yellow cheese, cut in cubes (like Greek Kefalotyri or Kefalograviera or pecorino)
2 lemons, the juice
3 tbsp of tomato paste
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp of dried oregano
1 tsp of dried marjoram
2 glasses of red dry wine
½ tsp of ground allspice
salt (carefully added because of the cheese)
black pepper

Method:
Put the meat in a large bowl, pour over with the vinegar and marinate for 2-3 hours. Drain and pat dry with kitchen paper.

In a wide and shallow pot warm the oil in high heat and sauté the meat until it is nicely coloured on all sides. Add the garlic and sauté for about 1 minute, not allowing it to get browned.

Pour over with the wine and the lemon juice, add the oregano, the marjoram, the allspice and season with pepper. Add 3 glasses of water, turn the heat to low, cover with the lid and simmer the food for about 30-35 minutes.

Add in the pot the tomato paste (dissolved in 1 glass of warm water) and the cheese and continue simmering until the meat is cooked through and the cheese lightly softened but not melted.

Check if any salt is needed and cook until the food is left with a nice thick sauce.