For the risotto last night, I cut the loins on a diagonal, very thin. In my enameled, cast iron frying pan I added a pretty big pour of olive oil and turned the gas on. Over high heat I fried the rabbit, adding only pepper. The thin slices curled up and browned quickly, so I turned off the heat. The meat was still very tender.
With our cold, rainy spring, my snap peas flourished, and now in the heat of July I'm harvesting the last of them, the tall vines disheveled and rampant. Chard runs wild and parsley flavors everything. At the end of the twenty-fives minutes or so of stirring the risotto I steamed the peas for just a moment, and added them to the creamy, plump rice. The rabbit bits were saved for the top of the dish; I usually mix the meat into the body of the risotto, but I figured I'd let everyone do that as they saw fit. Some, like my son, just ate it plain from the top, avoiding the chard.
When I got home after work I pulled the rabbit meat from the bones it was barely hanging on to, and put it into a bowl. I heated up the bit of stock in the pot and added a little flour to thicken it, and added a little more stock to make even more gravy. With this evening's beautiful weather we ate outside. I served the rabbit over rice with sauteed zucchini on the side, and a big Caesar salad from the garden.
I still have a few legs left; tomorrow it'll be something else.
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