Coniglio in Porchetta
Marche · secondo · serves 4 · 150 min total · medium
Rabbit stuffed and roasted like a tiny porchetta. From the Adriatic backcountry — Sunday food for farmer families with rabbit hutches in the courtyard.
Ingredients
- 1500 g whole rabbit, boned
- 150 g pancetta, sliced
- 150 g Italian pork sausage meat
- 1 handful wild fennel fronds (or dill + fennel seed)
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 sprigs rosemary
- 200 ml white wine
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 set rabbit liver and heart
- 2 tsp salt and pepper
Method
- Lay the boned rabbit flat. Season inside.
- Filling: chop liver, heart, mashed garlic, wild fennel, rosemary needles. Mix with sausage meat, salt, pepper.
- Spread filling along the centre of the rabbit. Roll tightly into a long log. Wrap with pancetta slices.
- Tie with kitchen string at 4 cm intervals.
- Brown the log in olive oil. Add wine, let it bubble.
- Transfer to a 180°C oven, 90 minutes, basting every 20 minutes. Add water if it dries.
- Rest 15 minutes. Slice thick. Serve with the pan juices.