Italiano
Rolled rabbit stuffed with porcini mushrooms
A second course served with a mixed green salad seasoned with ginger-flavored oil paired with the Merlot Coli Aprutini Ift Inkiostro by Valori winery.
Ingredients for 6-8 people:
1 rabbit of around 1.3kg, 200g speck ham, 600g fresh porcini mushroom, 1 red garlic clove, 2 slices of white bread without the crust, a cup of whole milk, fresh thyme and marjoram, freshly ground black pepper, 300g mixed green salad, 2 tablespoons of walnuts, 125g fresh raspberry, extra-virgin olive oil and salt.
For the ginger-flavored oil: 60g extra-virgin olive oil and 30g fresh ginger.
Directions:
Preparing the ginger-flavored oil: warm the olive oil to 45-50°C and then add the ginger that has been cleaned and sliced thinly. Cover with seal wrap and let soak for 12 hours. Filter the oil and keep aside in a closed jar.
De-bone the rabbit or have your butcher do it. Place the rabbit between two sheets of plastic wrap and then flatten with a tenderizer.
Clean the mushrooms with a damp sponge, cutting any dirt out with a knife. Slice the mushrooms and fry them for a few minutes in a hot pan with a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and the garlic. Remove the garlic and dice or roughly blend the mushrooms. Place them in a bowl and add the white bread, which has been soaked in milk and fully strained, and some black pepper. Mash together well and salt to taste.
Roll out a sheet of plastic wrap that is about 20cm longer than the rabbit. Create a bed on of speck ham on it and on top place the flattened rabbit that has been rubbed with a little salt, pepper and oil. Spread the stuffing on top of the rabbit but not too much or it will be difficult to roll up. Add the fresh thyme and marjoram on the surface.
Roll the rabbit up using the plastic wrap and then remove it and tie the roll with cooking twine.
Line a pan with baking paper and delicately place the rabbit on top and bake at 180°C for an hour or, if you have a meat thermometer, until it has an interior temperature of 65-70°C. Once cooked remove the meat and let it cool before covering it inplastic wrap and placing it in a refrigerator for at least a half a day or all night.
Remove the twine from the rabbit and slice it into at least 16 pieces some 2-cm-thick. Place the slices in a pan, cover with aluminum foil and warm in the oven at a low temperature.
Serve on a plate with the mixed green salad garnished with chopped walnuts and a few raspberries and dressed with the ginger-flavored olive oil.
Vino in abbinamento:
Inkiostro Merlot Colli Aprutini Igt Valori
Brilliant ruby red color with violet hints. Intense, fragrant and elegant bouquet with aromatic notes of red berries, liquorice and cocoa.
Production area: the municipality of Sant'Omero, in the South area of Colline Teramane (hills around Teramo), at 280 metres of altitude.
Grape variety: Merlot 100%, 18 years old vines, simple Guyot training system. Density of 6,000 plants per hectare.
Wine making: harvest in the first week of October, fermentation in stainless steel vats with long macerations. Ageing in new barrique for 1 year and 1 year more in bottle.
Alcoholic content: around 14% vol.
Serving temperature: 14-16°C
Suggested food pairing: red meat, cheese.
