This last savory course was awesome both nights, and it was one of the most classic preparations I've served at Lazy Bear yet. A simple rabbit saddle with boneless rabbit leg confit, served with a Yukon gold potato puree, Yukon gold confit, roasted spring onions, breakfast radish, and a rabbit reduction. Absolutely delicious. And I had lots of fun butchering seven rabbits!

Now, the preparation wasn't completely classic. The saddle is a roulade in which the flank of the rabbit is used to roll up the loins (and in this case, tenderloins and other lean meat). Typically it is sauteed to brown the outside of the roulade, then finished in the oven. However, the flank that forms the outside of the roulades seizes up like crazy when subjected to the high heat of a saute pan. if you don't pre-cook the flank, it will seize up and your nice roulades will be likely to come undone. To prevent that, chefs traditionally tie the roulades with twine and hope for the best. I did that, but I also did two non-traditional things. First, i used meat glue on the roulades. It isn't enough to keep the outsides of the roulades from coming undone, but it does provide a little extra hold. Second, I par-cooked the roulades sous vide. See, you can't pre-cook the lean meat of rabbit because rabbit turns mealy if re-heated. But when you roll up the loins and tenderloins of rabbit in the flank meat, the flank meat protects the lean meat inside. So I cooked the saddles sous vide at 64C (147F) for only eight minutes, then immediately plunged them into ice water to stop the cooking. It's just long enough to cook the flank, but not enough to cook the delicate meat inside. Once it's all chilled, I take it out of the bag and, like I said, tie twine around the roulades. Then at service I sauteed the roulades as usual. The flanks still seized up a bit more (since when sauteeing I cooked them to a much hotter temperature than the 147F), but the par-cooking, meat glue, and twine were enough to keep the roulades together beautifully. Once the outside were nicely brown I transferred to the oven to reach an internal temperature of around 135F. After resting, they'll be up around a perfect 140F.

The potato puree was straightforward Yukon golds, simmered until tender then pushed through a tamis and mounted with obscene amounts of butter and cream. The Yukon golds confit were cut out of baby Yukon gold potatoes by slicing in 3/4 inch slices, then cutting out rounds, vacuum-sealing with roasted chicken fat, then cooking sous vide at 85C until tender (about an hour and a half). You could do the same thing in an oven if you had tons and tons of roasted chicken fat to submerge the potatoes. The onions were simple yellow spring onion bulbs, seared then finished in a low oven to tenderize and mellow the flavors. The radishes were pristine breakfast radishes sliced thinly on a mandoline. And the thighs confit were rabbit thighs, cured overnight then vacuum-sealed with rabbit fat and roasted chicken fat, then cooked at 80C (176F) until tender (about 5-6 hours, but check it frequently).

For the sauce, I made a stock from the bones of all seven rabbits, and reduced it with some red wine to form a nice reduction. I didn't mount it with anything at service because there was plenty of fat already on the plate.

Posted by Barzelay on 2010/04/13 @ 0:54 | Comments (0) | Lazy Bear, Meat, Veggies, Fruit, Grain, Cheese