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Slow Cooker Rabbit Stew. A truly delicious creamy slow cooker rabbit stew loaded with seasonal vegetables and a creamy French style sauce made with the rabbit juices as it cooks.
Slow Cooker Rabbit Stew
This slow cooker rabbit stew is part of our stews and casseroles theme this month on Recipe This. We recently shared with you our slow cooker venison stew and today it is all about the rabbit.
I grew up in England and I don’t know anyone that had eaten rabbit or even considered making slow cooker rabbit stew. It just wasn’t something that you ate. Instead you would eat what I would call the common meats such as beef, chicken, pork, lamb and turkey.
But living in Portugal and being part of the Mediterranean lifestyle means that rabbit plays a big part in regular cooking.
The same can also be said for a lot of other European countries such as Spain, France and Italy. If you have never tried rabbit stew before, then I suggest you give it a go as cooked right it is delicious.
The funny thing is, that even though rabbit is freely available in Portugal and that my son always had it at school dinners, the rabbit that I am using in todays slow cooker rabbit stew came from Spain.
We were on our summer holiday in Spain and visited our favourite Spanish supermarket before crossing the border back into Portugal. It is a massive supermarket chain in Spain and is slowly opening stores in Portugal, though not in our area.
But what we love about the Spanish supermarket is the choice of fish and meat, that you just can’t get in Portugal. I loaded the trolley with a huge amount of meat and while grabbing some boneless chicken thighs I noticed some rabbit.
The rabbit was chopped like chicken is chopped for making chicken fricassee and I dumped two lots into my trolley ready for making a delicious rabbit stew in the slow cooker.
French Rabbit Stew
Our slow cooker rabbit stew has a French theme as that is how we like most of our casseroles and stews. If you want to be able to cook French food on a cheap budget then this is it.
You achieve the amazing French rabbit stew flavours thanks to:
- White Wine
- Garlic
- Bacon
- Cream
For a finished dish I would say my slow cooker rabbit stew is like a carbonara. Thanks to the creamy sauce. Plus like with a lot of French food you only need to dice the garlic rather than grate it, making it easier to prepare.
Easy Slow Cooker Rabbit Stew
Can we call this rabbit stew easy slow cooker rabbit stew? Because it is just so easy to prep and cook. The slow cooker does the hard work so that you don’t have to.
It is a typical slow cooker recipe of dump and start. Throw in your rabbit stew ingredients into your slow cooker and then come back a few hours later to perfectly cooked rabbit in a delicious stew.
My husband who is an ex chef, claimed that the rabbit stew was stunning and went back for seconds!
How To Slow Cook Rabbit?
There is often that fear when we cook something new. It’s also about the unknown or if we have paid extra for something, then you don’t want to screw it up.
Well I suggest that you think of rabbit like chicken. It tastes similar to chicken, but it is a little drier. Just like how lamb mince is drier than beef mince.
Quite often when you buy rabbit, it will come already prepped for you or you can ask your butcher to do this for you.
In our case it was prepped like fricassee. You had plenty of chunks all of which are still on the bone and all of which are easy to cook and then eat.
The most important thing to learn about cooking rabbit is that those bones are small, so if you slow cook for too long, you could end up with little bones in your rabbit stew. To avoid this, take the rabbit to just been cooked so that its not in tiny pieces in your slow cooker.
How To Slow Cook Rabbit Stew?
To slow cook rabbit stew is easy. I always start by peeling all the vegetables that I plan on using, dicing them and making sure they are clean. I always go with vegetables that I would associate with French cooking for a more French rabbit stew.
Once I have prepped the vegetables, I will add seasoning and the rabbit.
Now the slow cooker will do its magic and all you have to do is add in a few simple extra ingredients at the end of the cooking time.
It is one of those slow cooker stew recipes that has the wow factor, without much effort going into the cooking process. Or the kind of stew you can serve family when they come around for dinner.
What To Serve Rabbit Stew With?
For me the rabbit stew on its own is a delicious meal and a great one pot dinner. But its also nice to have sides with your slow cooker meals.
My first thought will always involve lots of butter and a big French bread stick. I mean you really can’t beat that can you?
Here are a few other serving suggestions for the rabbit stew:
Slow Cooker Rabbit Stew
Ingredients
Kitchen Gadgets:
Main Recipe Ingredients:
- 600 g Rabbit
- 8 Garlic Cloves
- 8 Bacon Slices
- 1 Large Onion
- 3 Large Carrots
- 3 Celery Sticks
- 2 Medium Parsnips
- 1 Medium Leek
- 100 ml White Wine
- 75 ml Single Cream
- 1 Tbsp Bouquet Garni
- Salt & Pepper
Instructions
- Place your slow cooker on high.
- Peel, clean and dice your garlic, onion, carrots, celery, parsnips and leek.
- Slice your bacon.
- Add in the bacon and prepped vegetables and stir.
- Pour in your white wine and seasonings.
- Place your rabbit pieces on top of the vegetables.
- Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6.5 hours.
- Remove the rabbit and using a hand blender, blend a small amount of the stew to thicken it. Add in your cream and serve with the rabbit.
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