Conejo en Salmorejo Canario

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large nonreactive glass or ceramic dish with a cover
• •Mortar and pestle or small food processor
• •Wide heavy casserole or frying pan, about 30cm
• •Kitchen tongs
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Saucepan with lid, about 20cm, for the potatoes

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the salmorejo

   Cover the dried pepper with hot water and leave it for 15 minutes, then drain and chop it. Pound the garlic and 16g salt in a mortar until you have a rough paste. Add the pepper, pimentón and oregano, then strip in the leaves from the thyme and rosemary and pound again. Work in 60ml olive oil, followed by the wine and vinegar. Add the bay leaves. This loose, brick-red adobo is the Canarian salmorejo.

   No pimienta picona where you are? Use a dried guindilla of the same weight. It gives the needed heat, though the sauce loses a little of the picona's round, fruity character.
2. 2

   Marinate the rabbit

   Put the rabbit in a glass or ceramic dish and pour over the salmorejo. Turn every piece until coated, cover tightly and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours, turning once halfway through. The overnight rest decides the dish: it seasons this very lean meat before the heat tightens it. Keep it cold throughout.

3. 3

   Drain and dry

   Take the rabbit from the refrigerator 30 minutes before frying. Lift the pieces from the salmorejo, scrape any heavy clumps of garlic back into the dish and reserve every drop of marinade. Pat the rabbit thoroughly dry with kitchen paper. Wet pieces boil pale in the pan, while loose garlic and pimentón scorch before the meat browns.

4. 4

   Brown in batches

   Heat the remaining 120ml olive oil in a wide, heavy casserole over medium-high heat. When the oil shimmers, fry the rabbit in three batches so the pieces have room. Brown them for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, including the cut edges, until deeply golden with darker patches around the joints. Transfer each batch to a plate.

   Don't crowd the pan. A crowded pan fills with liquid, and the salmorejo never develops the roasted depth that balances its vinegar.
5. 5

   Simmer in salmorejo

   Pour off the frying oil, leaving about 30ml in the casserole. Lower the heat and carefully add the reserved marinade, then the 150ml water. Scrape up the browned bits and bring the sauce to a full boil for 2 minutes because it held raw rabbit. Return the meat, cover and simmer very gently for 25 minutes, turning the pieces once. Uncover and cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the rabbit is tender, the thickest pieces reach at least 71°C away from the bone, and the red sauce clings lightly instead of running like broth.

   If the sauce reduces before the rabbit is tender, add up to 30ml water. If it remains thin, lift out the meat and reduce the sauce alone for 3 to 5 minutes.
6. 6

   Wrinkle the potatoes

   While the rabbit simmers, put the scrubbed potatoes in a snug 20cm saucepan with 200g coarse salt and 1 litre water. The potatoes should be barely covered. Boil for 20 to 25 minutes, until a small knife enters cleanly. Drain every drop of water, return the pan to low heat and shake it for 2 to 3 minutes. The skins will dry, wrinkle and take on a fine white salt bloom. Those are papas arrugadas.

7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Take the rabbit off the heat and let it rest in the salmorejo for 10 minutes. Taste the sauce before adding anything, since the vinegar softens and the salt concentrates as it reduces. Arrange the rabbit with the papas arrugadas and spoon the glossy sauce over the meat, letting a little reach the potatoes. My Margin says only this: drain it, brown it, then sauce it. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher to joint the rabbit into 10 to 12 pieces, keeping the bone in. Farmed rabbit is mild and tender. Wild rabbit has a deeper taste but may need up to 24 hours in the marinade and another 15 to 25 minutes of gentle cooking.
• •Use sweet pimentón, not a mixed chili seasoning. Smoked pimentón de la Vera works if that's what you can buy, but it makes the sauce smokier than most island versions.
• •If rabbit is unavailable, bone-in chicken thighs are the honest household substitute. Brown them skin-side down first and cook to 74°C. The salmorejo remains Canarian, but the finished dish is pollo en salmorejo, not conejo.
• •The 200g salt for the papas arrugadas looks alarming. Most of it stays in the water and on the skin, which is precisely why small, unpeeled potatoes are used. Don't peel them and don't salt the rabbit sauce to compensate.
• •A light, dry Listán Negro from the Canary Islands is the natural bottle here. If it isn't sold where you live, choose a young, unoaked red with bright acidity and little tannin.

Advance Preparation

• •Make the salmorejo and marinate the rabbit 8 to 12 hours ahead. An overnight rest is ideal for farmed rabbit; keep it covered in the refrigerator and turn the pieces once.
• •The rabbit can be fully cooked one day ahead. Cool it in its sauce within 2 hours, cover and refrigerate, then warm it at the barest simmer for about 15 minutes, adding 30 to 60ml water if the sauce has tightened.
• •Cook the papas arrugadas during the final 30 minutes before serving. Made ahead, their dry salt bloom softens and the skins lose the wrinkle that makes them worth eating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 375g)