Some recipes are universal; most memories are not. The process of shaping raw ingredients into something palatable — and the events that surround this endeavour — can lead to all kinds of unforgettable moments: kitchen disasters, severed digits, epic struggles with newfangled culinary gadgets and, sometimes, personal triumphs. So why not ask some of the city’s top chefs for their most memorable recipes? Why not, indeed? No, really — that’s what we did, and will continue to do weekly.
This week, we asked Chef Alex Bruveris, Maléna’s current head chef, for his “breakthrough” recipe. Only 23 years old, Bruveris has worked in a number of notable kitchens (including Auberge du Pommier and Enoteca Sociale). His passion for his craft is undeniable: the man has vegetables tattooed on his bicep. Herewith, Bruveris shares a recipe for braised rabbit and explains the significance of this particular dish.
Says Bruveris:
“I’m a big fan of braising. It’s a wonderful way to introduce a ton of flavor into a protein, and turn more affordable cuts into something very special. This rabbit dish is something I’ve made several times — and utterly ruined once. How did I ruin it? I tried to pressure-cook a rabbit, and in a hurry to get it on the stove, didn’t check how much liquid I was putting in. Twenty minutes later, I was greeted with a half-inch of cinder on the bottom of my ruined pressure cooker.
Why braised rabbit? Well, when I was first starting out, I didn’t think any parent could be over the moon about their son or daughter cooking for a living. Hours are long and hard, and it doesn’t pay well. But the most important meal I’ve ever cooked was for my father a few years ago; I feel like this was the meal that made him see I was doing the right thing with my life. We seldom saw one another, and I had invited him over for dinner on a night off — and bought a rabbit.
Here’s my recipe for a rather simple braise, celebrating rabbit, rather then altering its flavour. It’s also a dish that uses every single part of the animal."
BRAISED RABBIT
Ingredients:
1 rabbit
2 cooking onions
2 stalks of celery
1 carrot
1 bulb of fennel
6 or 7 bay leaves
10 sprigs of thyme
300 grams of olives
1 cup of dry cooking white wine
Preparation:
To start, break down the rabbit. I take the fore and hind legs off the body and take the loin off of the rib cage. Then, I split the skull, save the brain, and harvest the rest of the offal, (set aside the kidneys, liver and the heart as well) for later use. I break up the rib cage with a few whacks of a cleaver, and caramelize the bones in a hot cast iron pan (until bones are browned all over). Once the bones are browned, degrease the pan, and add just enough water to cover. Then let it all cook for about an hour, while prepping the rest of the ingredients. Next, prep the vegetables: pit the olives, medium-dice the carrot, onion and celery, and if you like fennel, it works really nicely here as well. Start pre-heating a pan on medium high, while you season your rabbit legs, and as soon as the oil is hot, start searing off those legs.
Once browned on both sides, set the legs on a plate to the side, add in your vegetables, and turn down the heat to medium. Sweat off your vegetables with the olives for a good twenty minutes, until translucent, then add your thyme, bay leaf, a few cracks of black pepper, and cook for another five or so. At this point, you’re ready to start putting everything together, so deglaze your pan of vegetables, and in a suitable braising dish, add the legs, your vegetable mixture, and top it up with the rabbit stock from earlier.
Now your mixture has to simmer for a good hour and a half or so (until tender), but the special bit I think is in how the dish is finished. Once the legs are tender, and the braise is on low, add in your rabbit loins, and the offal, and cook for another five minutes — making sure not to overcook the loins.
To serve, plate a braised leg (or two of the fore legs), some of the vegetables, a slice or two of what should be a beautifully cooked loin, and a heart or kidney. This is a dish that would also go wonderfully with a nice thick slice of crusty country sourdough, like what we make at the restaurant. (It rivals the best in the city!)
When I ate this dish with my dad, it brought him back to Argentina as a boy, eating offal at home. Being able to bring someone back to somewhere special was, and is, the biggest treat.