Wine and Not-Hassenpfeffer

There a are a lot of recipes out there that call for wine to enrich the dish. The first one we ever tried was before we even started exploring the world of wine together, and a dish where the use of wine was unexpected: Hassenpfeffer. A strange dish; a rich, slow cooked, spicy stew made with rabbit, its a special treat that I make myself every year for my birthday. Out of deference to that fact that Tina is reluctant to eat rabbit, I make it with chicken, but the real star of the dish is the thick gravy, flavored with bacon, pepper, and red wine. In the past, I have made it with cooking wine from the grocery store, but now that I know a bit more about wine, I was able to buy a bottle of wine for both a cup to add to the dish and for a glass for us to enjoy with the finished meal. Since the main flavor of the meal is the 'pfeffer', or crushed black peppercorns, I selected a spicy red wine, a Lamoreaux Landing Cabernet Franc. While I hate to use a good wine in cooking, because a cup in the recipe is a glass that could be drunk, this worked out well. The wine was the perfect addition to the recipe; peppery, smokey, with a hint of fruit highlighting the best flavors in the dish. And in a glass with the dinner, it was the perfect "like with like."

While I love to go out for special meals, this was a perfect treat. Cooking a great meal with my own hands always makes for a wonderful day. And finding a perfect wine to pair with my perfect meal was an added treat, reminding me that all this "hard work" is paying off, and we are really learning how to understand wine and food.





Recipe courtesy of Allrecipes.com
Ingredients

• 3 pounds rabbit meat, cleaned and cut into pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 pound bacon, diced
• 1/2 cup finely chopped shallots
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup dry red wine
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1 tablespoon currant jelly
• 10 black peppercorns, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
• 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain on paper towels and set aside. Sprinkle rabbit with salt and coat with 1/3 cup flour, shaking off excess. Brown rabbit in remaining bacon fat. Remove from skillet, along with all but 2 tablespoons of the fat, and reserve.
2. Saute shallots and garlic in skillet for about 4 minutes, until tender. Stir in wine, 1 cup water and bouillon. Heat to boiling, then stir in jelly, peppercorns, bay leaf, rosemary and thyme. Return rabbit and bacon to skillet. Heat to boiling, then reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer about 1 1/2 hours or until rabbit is tender.
3. Remove bay leaf and discard. Place rabbit on a warm platter and keep warm while preparing gravy.
4. To Make Gravy: Stir lemon juice into skillet with cooking liquid. Combine 3 tablespoons water with 2 tablespoons flour and mix together; stir mixture into skillet over low heat. Finally, stir in thyme. Pour gravy over stew and serve, or pour into a gravy boat and serve on the side.