Marche-style rabbit “in porchetta”

“In porchetta” means with the same aromas as porchetta: wild fennel, garlic, pepper. In Marche and Romagna rabbit cooked this way is the dish of family celebrations. Ask your butcher to bone it: the rest is simple.

Ingredients for 6

• 1 rabbit of about 1.5 kg, boned, with its liver
• 200 g Italian sausage
• 100 g thinly sliced pancetta
• 3 garlic cloves
• A good bunch of wild fennel (fresh, or 2 tablespoons dried)
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• 1 glass of dry white wine, such as Verdicchio
• 5 tablespoons IL CONTE Blend
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Heat the oven to 180 °C. Lay the rabbit open on the board skin side down, season with salt and pepper.
2. Chop the liver and mix it with the crumbled sausage, the chopped garlic and half the fennel. If the fennel is fresh, blanch it for a minute and squeeze it before chopping.
3. Cover the meat with the pancetta slices, spread the filling and the rest of the fennel, roll up the rabbit and tie it tightly with kitchen string.
4. In a roasting tin rub the roll with the Blend, salt, pepper and the rosemary. Roast for about 1 hour 30 minutes, turning it now and then and basting it with the wine halfway through and then with its juices.
5. Let it rest for 10 minutes, remove the string and slice it, serving it with the pan juices.

The right oil

For long oven cooking use the Blend, the oil also meant for cooking: it flavours the meat without covering the fennel. For everyday cooking there is also the tin: the 5 litre one has the best price per litre.