I saw sunchokes, Jerusalem artichokes or topinambour on someone’s blog and decided to look for them in the market. I’d never had them before. I can’t remember the blog or I would mention it here but whoever you are, thank you. Off putting, because of their appearance, I would probably not have bothered with them. That would have been our loss because they are so good and a perfect accompaniment for rabbit and mushrooms.
There are two schools of thought; to peel or not to peel. Mme Parret does not peel and neither did I. The skin is perfectly edible and probably good for you. Do what you want.
The rabbit rable or saddle was excellent, served with a rosemary infused cream sauce and quickly sauteed mushrooms.
Rabbit Saddle, Mushrooms and Sunchoke Puree
4 slices of rabbit saddle
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 branches rosemary
Salt and pepper
1 lb sunchokes, peeled or not
2 shallots, chopped
1 tbsp butter
2 ounces white wine
3/4 cup cream
1/2 lb mushrooms
Butter
Chives, snipped
Put the rabbit, olive oil, salt, pepper and vinegar in a zip lock, squish around and marinate for 2 hours.
Boil the sunchokes for 25-30 minutes until soft enough to mash. Saute the shallots in the butter until soft, pour into the cooked sunchokes, mash all together, season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside, keeping warm.
Remove the rabbit from the zip lock and reserve the marinade. Brown the rabbit in the unwashed shallot pan, remove and set aside. Add the marinade and wine to the pan and reduce the liquid to half. Add the cream and rabbit, then simmer for 15-20 minutes on a very low flame.
While the rabbit is cooking, saute the mushrooms in some butter and add salt and pepper.
To serve, plate the rabbit with sauce, the mushrooms and the mashed sunchokes, sprinkled with chives.
Wine suggestion: Chablis
I’m such a bog fan of Jerusalem artichokes that I already like the idea of it with rabbit. Its also great to see a rabbit dish that’s not just a stew!
Thank you Amrita. Here in France, rabbit is the other white meat 🙂
My dad calls the Fartichokes for the effect they have, these look a lovely variety as some of them can be knobbly, looks a great combination with rabbit.
Cheers
Marcus
Thank you Marcus. I believe there are other varieties in the market. I plan to try them.
I was thinking about growing these this year,I have never tasted them, maybe i will grow them after all!
I think they are worth it!
We like our rabbit here in Andalucia and it goes so well with rosemary and mushrooms. Just wish we could get Jerusalem artichokes. Like Celi I am thinking about growing some this year.
Good luck with your planting!
Your sunchokes look so much easier to handle than the ones I used. Less nodules. They are also a bit pinker in color. I wonder if there are different varieties of sunchokes like Marcus pointed out. And next time I prepare them, I will try them with the skins on.
I’ve seen some beige colored ones in the market that I will try next.
Look delicious ! Sunchokes is such a wonderful vegetable… I’m going to make this as soon as I got rabbit in the fridge =)
Great Mathilde! Looking forward to hearing about it.
Your meals are always so elegant.
Thank you Greg. Simper 🙂
Gorgeous!!! I can’t wait to try this!
Thank you Anna
Fabulous dish! I too love that this is not a stewed rabbit. And I don’t peel any root veggie. That’s where all the nutrients live. A beautifully delicious post!
I like skin on also. Maybe the rabbits in the U.S. are mostly muscle and you have to boil them to death to enjoy? I think I remember my father parboiling a rabbit he had shot before frying.
Looks fantastic! Though, rabbits are SO cute! Cute goes a long way!
To me puppies and kittens are cute and rabbits are food. Sorry 🙂
Lovely dish, looks great! In Spain we use to eat rabbit quite a lot, in paellas, stew, BBQ,etc, ……delicious combination…:)
I would love to try paella with rabbit!
rabbit is one of my boyfriend’s favorites.. I should try this! it will be great dish for him!! thanks
I know this is quite an old post, so I’m hoping you’ll see this! It looks incredible! Any idea on the weight of your rabbit saddles? I’m planning to try this recipe out (finally got the hubs to agree to try rabbit!) but all I can get my hands on are boneless rabbit loins, in a 1.5# package. I’m sure it’ll taste delicious even if I fudge it, but I’m trying to convert your recipe as well as I can.
No worries on that 1.5 package and the cooking time shouldn’t be far off either.