Saddle of rabbit with herb filling (Alain Ducasse)

Ingredients

Directions

1. 1

   Preparation of the rabbits: Expose the legs of the rabbits and parry from the base. Leave 5 ribs and expose the front legs. Use forelegs and legs for another preparation. Bone the back completely, taking care not to cut the thin skin of the back.

2. 2

   Tap the belly flaps between baking paper with a meat tenderizer. Set aside. Soak the pork net in water. Parry the offal: Remove blood from the heart and excess kidney fat. Cut the livers into 3 pieces each.

3. 3

   Fry the livers in a coated, lightly greased pan for 1 minute, browning them slightly. Salt. Set aside.

4. 4

   Filling: Wash the zucchini and cut into fine sticks. Put them in a sieve and salt them. Chill for 30 minutes. Press the zucchini to squeeze out the water. Wash the chard and remove the stalks of leaves.

5. 5

   Peel the garlic clove. Heat some olive oil in a casserole. Add the chard leaves and let them collapse quickly. Spoon the clove of garlic onto a fork and stir. Cool the leaves.

6. 6

   Squeeze well. Chop with a knife. Peel onion and chop finely. Sauté covered in a small oiled pan on a low heat for 10 minutes. Take it out. Chop the zucchini flowers. Wash, dry and pluck the marjoram.

7. 7

   Put the chard, onions, zucchini flowers and marjoram in a bowl and mix. Add eggs and parmesan. Mix again until all ingredients are well combined. Salt, pepper and sprinkle with some olive oil.

8. 8

   Preparation of the rabbit backs: Lay out the back meat flat. Apply the filling 1 cm thick to the fillets. Spread the offal. Spread another layer of filling. Close with the belly flaps and chill for 10 minutes.

9. 9

   Drain the pork net and cut it into two pieces. Wrap both back parts in it and tie them together. Chill for 30 minutes.

10. 10

    Garnish: Cut the zucchini flowers into 4 pieces. Put 8 flower pieces aside, cut the others into fine strips. Wash the zucchini. Cut 4 courgettes in half and sauté in an oiled pan for 1 minute.

11. 11

    Add 100 millilitres of chicken stock in several steps. Cover and cook for 6 to 8 minutes. Leave to cool in the cooking stock. Finely chop the rest of the zucchini. Cover and sauté in an oiled pan over medium heat for 5 minutes, gradually adding 100 millilitres of chicken stock.

12. 12

    Add flower strips. As soon as they are soft, mash the zucchini with a fork into a coarse puree. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Cut 4 small cams from the ricotta. Halve the peppercorns and place 3 halves on each ricotta cam.

13. 13

    Sprinkle with fleur de sel. Put it in a cold place.

14. 14

    Saddle of rabbit: Heat some olive oil in a sauté pan. Brown the back of the rabbit from all sides. Cook in the oven over medium heat for 20 to 25 minutes (50°C inside the meat), pouring the frying fat over them and turning them over from time to time.

15. 15

    Remove the saddle of rabbit from the sauté pan. Keep warm covered with aluminium foil.

16. 16

    Prepare and serve: deep-fry 4 of the zucchini flowers set aside at 140 °C Place on a kitchen roll. Warm the zucchini puree and pieces of zucchini in their own juice. Heat up the rabbit jus. Cut each rabbit back into 6 slices. Arrange 3 slices on each side of a plate. Arrange a square of courgette puree on the other side of the plate and place pieces of courgette on top. Put a ricotta noodle on each plate and drizzle a little olive oil over it. Add one fried and one raw zucchini flower. Make a ribbon with rabbit jus

17. 17

    Recipe: Alain Ducasse: Grand Livre de Cuisine - The Mediterranean Cuisine, Matthaes Verlag, 2008