Liebre Estofada Castellana

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy lidded casserole, 5 to 6 litres
• •Nonreactive marinating container
• •Tongs
• •Mortar and pestle
• •Food mill or immersion blender
• •Instant-read thermometer

Instructions

1. 1

   Marinate the hare

   Put the hare in a nonreactive container with the wine, onions, carrots, 4 crushed garlic cloves, bay, thyme and black pepper. Turn the pieces so every surface is wet, cover and refrigerate for 8 to 12 hours, turning once if the meat isn't completely submerged. The wine seasons the surface and softens the wild edge of the hare; the long braise, not the marinade, will make it tender.

   Don't leave the hare in the wine for more than 24 hours. The surface begins to turn mealy while the centre gains nothing.
2. 2

   Drain and dry

   Lift out the hare and strain the marinade, reserving the wine and vegetables separately. Retrieve and keep the bay and thyme. Pat every piece thoroughly dry with kitchen paper, then season with 10g of the salt. Dust lightly with the flour and shake off every loose patch. Wet meat stews in the pan instead of browning, and pale meat gives a pale, thin sauce.

3. 3

   Brown in batches

   Heat 50ml of the olive oil in a 5 to 6 litre heavy casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the hare in three batches, giving each broad side 3 to 4 minutes until properly chestnut-colored. Don't crowd the pot and don't keep moving the pieces. Transfer each browned batch to a tray while you finish the rest.

4. 4

   Make the majado

   Lower the heat to medium and add 15ml oil. Fry the bread and the 2 whole garlic cloves for 1 to 2 minutes per side, until deep gold but not scorched, then transfer them to a mortar. If you have the liver, cut it into 3cm pieces and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, turning, until firm and cooked through with no raw centre. Pound the liver, bread and garlic into a thick paste. Without the liver, use 50g bread in all; the sauce will be lighter and less game-rich, but still sound.

5. 5

   Cook the sofrito

   Add the remaining 15ml oil and the drained onions, carrots and crushed garlic to the casserole. Cook over medium-low heat for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring often and scraping up the browned residue, until the onion is dark gold, sweet and nearly dry. Add the grated tomato and cook for another 10 to 12 minutes, until it turns brick-red and the oil begins to show around the edges. This is the sofrito, the slow vegetable base. Rush it and the finished stew tastes of wine sitting on raw onion.

6. 6

   Boil the marinade

   Pour in the reserved wine marinade and scrape the base clean with a wooden spoon. Bring it to a full rolling boil and keep it there for 8 minutes, reducing it by about one quarter. The marinade touched raw hare, so this firm boil is not optional. Add the stock or water, the remaining 6g salt, the bay and thyme, then return the browned hare and any juices from the tray. The liquid should reach roughly two-thirds of the way up the meat.

7. 7

   Braise very gently

   Bring the liquid only to a gentle simmer, cover tightly and place the casserole in an oven heated to 150°C conventional, 140°C fan, or 300°F. Braise for 2 hours, turning the pieces once after the first hour. Check a hind leg with a fork: if the meat still grips the bone, cover and continue for 20 to 40 minutes. The thickest piece must reach at least 71°C or 160°F, but temperature alone doesn't mean tenderness. The fork must enter easily.

   An older wild hare can need close to 3 hours. Keep the heat low and give it the time. Adding more heat only tightens lean game.
8. 8

   Thicken with majado

   When the hare is nearly tender, loosen the majado with about 150ml of hot liquid from the casserole, stirring until smooth. Fold it into the sauce without breaking the meat. Cover and cook for another 20 minutes. If the hare is already fully tender, lift it out first and let the majado cook in the sauce alone so the meat doesn't dry while the sauce thickens.

9. 9

   Finish and rest

   Lift the hare onto a warm tray and discard the bay and thyme stems. Blend the sauce briefly with an immersion blender, or pass it through a food mill, then simmer uncovered for 5 to 10 minutes until it coats the back of a spoon with a dark, glossy layer. Taste for salt, return the hare and warm it gently for 5 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and rest it, covered, for 15 minutes before serving. Spoon plenty of sauce over every piece.

Chef Tips

• •Buy hare from a game dealer or butcher who sells it dressed and inspected. For hunted hare, wear disposable gloves while checking the carcass, remove every pellet and trim generously around damaged tissue. Don't use an animal that appeared ill. Cook the meat and liver to at least 71°C or 160°F.
• •No hare where you live? Use two meaty farmed rabbits weighing 1.8 to 2kg in total. Marinate them for 4 hours and braise for 60 to 75 minutes. Rabbit is milder, paler and less firm, so the sauce won't have the same wild depth. It becomes conejo estofado, an honest Castilian dish in its own right.
• •Use a dry, young red wine you'd willingly drink, preferably Tempranillo from Castilla-La Mancha or Castilla y León. A heavily oaked or very tannic bottle grows harsh as it reduces. Cooking wine with salt in it belongs nowhere near the pot.
• •For a slow cooker, complete the browning, majado and sofrito on the stove, then boil the used marinade for the full 8 minutes. Transfer everything to the cooker with only 150ml stock and cook on low for 6 to 7 hours. Stir in the loosened majado for the final 30 minutes.
• •Serve with fried or boiled potatoes, or simply coarse country bread for the sauce. Pour a young Tempranillo or a fresh Mencía alongside. The wine should clear the richness, not sit on it like furniture.

Advance Preparation

• •Marinate the hare for 8 to 12 hours in the refrigerator. Strain and dry it only when you're ready to brown it.
• •The finished stew is better after one night. Cool it within 2 hours, cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days, then reheat gently until the centre reaches 74°C or 165°F.
• •Freeze the finished hare in its sauce for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and loosen the sauce with a little water while reheating.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 480g)