Rabbit Braised With Rosemary And Olives
Relationships are odd, no? We shack up, sure, individual space becoming suddenly (and oddly) collective. And we make certain promises (sometimes explicit, sometimes implicit). But then there's the rest, the stuff we don't really know about until it happens--or even know about until after it already has happened. Like the ways we change each other over time.
One of the first meals I ever made for Bruce was rabbit. He, Mr. Trained Chef, had never prepared it himself, had only had it once at a restaurant. But he was game. (A good thing because, as I recall, I didn't even ask.) And he relished the meal. So began the complicated dance in which each of our rather set food tastes--me, the food writer who'd been all over on assignment and he, the Johnson and Wales boy--began to morph, adapt, and meld.
These days, he's the king of the rabbit braise. And he may have come up with a winner off the cuff the other night.
One note: our rabbit was already cut-up in the package. If you want to make this dish, you'll also need one cut up into about 9 pieces. Listen, the anatomy can be tricky for the uninitiated. There's a whole discussion of how to cut one up in COOKING KNOW-HOW, complete with step-by-step pictures. But if you're squeamish, ask the butcher at your market to do it for you.
braise, comfort food, rabbit