Kanína með sósu

Rabbit in sauce

In Iceland it was quite common for the rural population to keep a few rabbits on their farm for their own use. Nevertheless, rabbit meat never became widespread on a large scale in Iceland, probably because rabbit farming was relatively expensive here.

A German from Brandenburg who came to Iceland in 2007 to set up a rabbit farm here had to give up her company Kanína ehf at the end of 2016 for financial reasons. Although she was able to have between 60 and 90 rabbits from her farm slaughtered every month, the meat was served in top restaurants and sold in delicatessens, but unfortunately the sole proprietorship was ultimately not economically viable.

It's a shame - after all, white rabbit meat is relatively low in fat and extremely tasty!


Ingredients

1 rabbit ready to cook
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 carrots
1/4 celery bulb
1 stalk of leek
100 g butter
500 ml malt beer
300 ml water
250 ml sour cream
2 Tbsp potato flour
1 bunch of parsley


Preparation

Clean the rabbit and cut it into 6 pieces with a sharp knife: First carefully dislocate and cut off the hind legs, then separate the body under the ribs. Then separate the forelegs.

Salt and pepper the pieces.

Peel the carrots and the celery root and cut them into cubes as small as possible. Wash and clean the leek, halve it and cut it into rings.

Melt the butter in a large pan.

Add the rabbit meat to the pan with the vegetables and fry briefly on all sides.

Then add the root beer and water.

Put the lid on the pan and let the whole thing simmer over low heat for about 1.5 hours - it's important to keep checking whether there's enough water in the pan, otherwise keep adding a little more water!

Then remove the pieces of meat from the pan and keep them warm in the oven.

Bring the vegetables to the boil briefly in the liquid. Mix the potato flour in a glass with a little cold water and use it to thicken the sauce.

Stir in the sour cream.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Wash and chop the parsley and add it over the food.

Add the pieces of meat back into the sauce.

Serve with potatoes and fresh salad.

[Translated from here.]