Wild rabbit hunter's style

WILD RABBIT HUNTER'S STYLE

Two steps in the preparation of this yet simple and tasty dish.

A wonderful dish to eat in Autumn/Winter time, and very popular from north to south of Portugal.

First, you must prepare the wild rabbit for cooking with a marinade. The portuguese marinade for this dish, and other meat dishes, is called "vinha d'alhos" ("vinha" for wine and "alhos" for garlic", but it contains a few more ingredients). Then, after leaving the meat to marinate overnight, you can cook it.

1. Ingredients:

- for the "vinha d'alhos": 3 garlic cloves chopped finely, wine (You can use red or white wine; I usually use red wine for red meat and game, and white wine for poultry), bay leaves, salt and black pepper (I rather use black pepper with red meat and game, and white pepper with poultry).

- for cooking the dish: 150/200 g of margarine/spread, 1 1/2 onion, 2 garlic cloves medium chopped, 1 red chilli pepper finely sliced (try to create long strips), 1 Knorr (or other brand) beef stock cube, 4-5 canned tomatoes, 2 cloves, vinha d'alhos.

2. Preparing the "vinha d'alhos": In a large and deep recipient, put the bay leaves and 150 ml of red cooking wine. Sprinkle some garlic, salt and pepper. Put the rabit on top of it and repeat the process. Cover the recipient with some kitchen foil and leave it to rest in the fridge overnight.

3. Cooking: Put 100 g of margarine/spread on a pan, let it melt and add the chopped onion and garlic. Let it gain some colour and add the red chilli pepper. Mix gently with a wooden spoon and then add the beef stock cube. Mix again and add the canned tomatoes. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes and then reserve.

In another pan, melt about 50/100 g of margarine/spread and fry the rabbit. Turn the meat every 3 minutes with a tweezer to prevent burning it. This process is to give the rabbit a bit of a roasted flavour. It should take no more than 10 minutes.

Once you're finished, put the other pan back on the stove and add the rabbit.

Let it sweat, pouring the "vinha d'alhos" on top of it (use a colander to separate the solid bits out of the marinade).

Let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes, always turning the meat every 5 minutes.

Serve with some basmati rice and/or homemade chips.