RABBIT COOKED WITH PIMENTÓN (paprika) - Conejo chilindron

Conejo chilindron

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

30 ml olive oil.

1 rabbit

4 garlic cloves, chopped finely or minced

1 large onion peeled and sliced

1 tablespoon sweet paprika.(Pimentón dulce)

½ tablespoon hot paprika (Pimentón picante)

2 bay leaves

4 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped (or tinned tomatoes or passata)

2 tablespoons tomato purée.

2 red peppers, deseeded and cut into strips. (Or one jar of roasted sweet red peppers, drained)

250 ml red or white wine

500 ml chicken and/or rabbit stock*

750g potatoes

100g chopped serrano ham or similar**

1 dessert spoon chopped rosemary

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Salt and pepper

METHOD

If using fresh peppers, cut into strips and gently fry in olive oil until softened and set aside.

Chop the rabbit, or ask your butcher to do this for you, place in a polythene bag with flour seasoned with salt and pepper and shake.

Shake off excess flour from the pieces of rabbit and fry gently in batches until lightly browned on all sides and set aside.

Whole dried Ñoras 

Add the wine and two bay leaves. Bring gently to the boil and allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Gently fry the onion until softened but not browned, adding the chopped/minced garlic during the cooking. 


Add the chopped ham and fry gently for a few minutes. 

Return the meat to the pan. Add the pimentón, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée and chopped rosemary. If you use passata (tomate frito in Spain) you may not need the tomato puree. Stir to ensure meat is thoroughly coated. 

You can use any pimentón. This is really a matter of personal taste. For the sweet one I used Ňora picada - roughly ground.  Ňoras are grown a lot in the Murcia region (south east Spain). You could use sweet (dulce), bittersweet (agridulce) or hot (picante) in varying proportions. Some recipes use ñoras or ñora paste, others choricero puree.  Ñoras are popular in Murcia and Valencia where they are sun-dried.  In Spain they will find any reason for a festival. We were in Guardamar del Segura a few years ago (the southernmost town where Valenciano is spoken) when they were celebrating a week long Ñora Festival!  If you prefer a smokey taste use Pimentón de la Vera, which is smoked,  the characteristic flavour often found in chorizo, and originates from Extramadura in western Spain. 

Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil, put on the lid and gently simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in prepared peppers and potatoes, chopped into bite size pieces, and return to heat and simmer** gently for 45 minutes.

When ready to serve, sprinkle fresh parsley on top. Serve with crusty bread and a green side salad or seasonal vegetables. We served ours with steamed red cabbage - a hearty winter dish.

* If the rabbit comes whole, you can use the head and heart/lungs/liver to make a rabbit stock.

**If you don’t have serrano ham you could substitute pancetta or lardons of bacon

*** At this stage, instead of cooking on top of the stove, the casserole dish can be put in a preheated oven at 130C.

John Austin

Santa Pola, Spain, March 2019