Liebre con Chocolate de Aragón

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Nonreactive covered dish large enough to hold the hare and marinade
• •Wide heavy casserole with lid, 5 to 6 litre capacity
• •Fine sieve
• •Kitchen tongs
• •Small frying pan
• •Large mortar and pestle or small food processor
• •Food mill or immersion blender

Instructions

1. 1

   Marinate the hare

   Put the jointed hare in a snug nonreactive dish with the wine, onions, carrots, four crushed garlic cloves, bay, thyme and peppercorns. Turn the pieces so the wine reaches every surface, cover, and refrigerate for 12 to 18 hours. Turn the meat once during that time if it isn't fully submerged.

   Keep the hare refrigerated throughout the marinade. Wine adds flavor, but it doesn't make raw game safe at room temperature.
2. 2

   Drain and dry

   Set a sieve over a bowl and drain the hare, reserving the wine. Keep the vegetables and herbs separate from the liquid. Pat every piece of hare thoroughly dry with kitchen paper, then season with 10g of the salt and all the ground pepper. Wet meat stews in the pan instead of browning, and that lost browning cannot be put back later.

3. 3

   Brown in batches

   Heat 45ml of the olive oil in a wide, heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the hare in two or three batches, giving each piece space and turning it until dark golden on every side, about 8 minutes per batch. Transfer the browned pieces to a tray. Lower the heat if the residue on the bottom begins to blacken.

4. 4

   Cook the sofrito

   Remove the bay and thyme from the drained vegetables and reserve them. Add the onions, carrots, marinated garlic and peppercorns to the casserole with 2g of salt. Cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, scraping up the browned residue, then lower the heat and cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Stir regularly until the onion is dark gold, soft and nearly dry. This is the sofrito, the slow vegetable base, and rushing it leaves the whole sauce thin and sharp.

5. 5

   Reduce the wine

   Pour the reserved marinade wine into the casserole and scrape the bottom clean with a wooden spoon. Bring it to a brisk boil and cook uncovered for 8 to 10 minutes, until reduced by roughly one third. Add the stock, reserved bay and thyme, then return the hare and any juices from the tray. The liquid should reach about two-thirds of the way up the meat.

6. 6

   Braise until tender

   Bring the casserole just to a simmer, cover, and cook over very low heat for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 30 minutes. Turn the pieces after the first hour. Begin checking the smaller saddle pieces at 90 minutes and remove each piece when a skewer enters easily and the meat begins to loosen from the bone. Older wild hare can take the full time; let the hind legs have it.

7. 7

   Pound the picada

   While the hare braises, heat the remaining 30ml olive oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat. Fry the picada garlic until pale gold, about 45 seconds, then remove it. Fry the almonds for 2 minutes until golden, remove them, and fry the bread until crisp on both sides. Pound the garlic, almonds and bread in a mortar to a fine paste. Add the chopped chocolate and continue pounding until evenly mixed.

   A small food processor works if you have no mortar, but stop only when the almonds and bread are finely ground. Large pieces give a gritty sauce.
8. 8

   Smooth the sauce

   Lift all the tender hare onto a warm tray and cover loosely. Discard the bay and thyme. Pass the vegetables and braising liquor through a food mill, or blend them carefully until smooth. Return the sauce to the casserole and simmer uncovered for 8 to 12 minutes, skimming excess fat, until it lightly coats the back of a spoon.

9. 9

   Finish with chocolate

   Scoop 150ml of hot sauce into the mortar and work it into the picada until smooth. Stir this mixture back into the casserole, lower the heat, and cook at the gentlest bubble for 12 to 15 minutes. Do not let it boil hard. Return the hare for the final 5 minutes, turning each piece through the sauce. Add the remaining 2g salt if needed. If the sauce becomes too thick, loosen it with hot water, 30ml at a time.

10. 10

    Rest and serve

    Take the casserole off the heat and let the hare rest in its sauce for 15 minutes. The picada will finish thickening as it settles. Serve one or two pieces per person with plenty of the dark, glossy sauce and plain country bread for the plate.

Chef Tips

• •Hare is at its best in the legal autumn and winter hunting season. Buy it dressed from a licensed butcher or game dealer, check carefully for shot, and wear gloves if you need to handle or joint wild game yourself.
• •If hare is unavailable, use two meaty rabbits weighing about 2.2kg in total. Marinate them in the same way, but begin checking for tenderness after 75 minutes. Rabbit gives a paler, gentler dish and needs less time.
• •Use 25g of dark chocolate with at least 85% cocoa. Milk chocolate and sweet drinking chocolate have no place here; both turn the sauce sugary. Unsweetened baking chocolate works, but reduce it to 20g because its bitterness is stronger.
• •Choose a dry red wine you'd willingly drink, preferably Garnacha or Cariñena from Aragón. A tired or vinegary bottle becomes harsher as it reduces. Serve the same style of wine with the finished dish.
• •The proper companions are quiet ones: country bread, mashed potato or simply boiled potatoes. The sauce has already done enough talking.

Advance Preparation

• •Marinate the hare for 12 to 18 hours in the refrigerator. Do not exceed 24 hours, or the wine begins to make the surface of the meat mealy.
• •The complete braise can be made one day ahead and is better for the rest. Cool it promptly, refrigerate within two hours, and reheat covered over low heat until the meat is hot throughout.
• •The sauce thickens firmly in the refrigerator. Add 30 to 60ml water while reheating and turn the hare gently so the bone-in pieces remain whole.
• •Leftovers keep for up to three days in the refrigerator. Remove the meat from the bones and fold it through the remaining sauce before reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)