Roasted Rabbit With Olives and Feta

By Melissa Clark

Published March 18, 2014

  • Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
Media 1 of 2
Total Time
45 minutes, plus 1 hour marinating
Rating
5(88)
Comments
Read comments

Rabbit is mild and just a little earthy tasting, with silky meat that stays moist if you take care not to overcook it. Here it’s quickly roasted with olives, lemon and feta cheese, which melts into a creamy pan sauce to spoon on top. Try to find French feta, which is softer and mellower than its assertive Greek and Bulgarian cousins. While the recipe calls for white wine, you can also make this dish with a light-bodied red. Serve it with crusty bread for scooping up the good, savory sauce.

And if you must, yes, you can substitute chicken for the rabbit. Just increase the roasting time, before you add the feta, by 10 minutes.

Featured in: Hop, Skip and a Jump: Rabbit the Easy Way

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

    or to print this recipe.

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:2 to 4 servings

  • 1 3-pound rabbit, cut into 8 pieces (your butcher can do this)

  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary

  • 2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano

  • 6 garlic cloves, crushed and peeled

  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt, more to taste

  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

  • ½ cup white wine, not too dry, such as riesling

  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

  • 5 thin slices lemon, seeded

  • ¼ cup pitted kalamata olives, halved

  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

  • 4 ounces feta cheese, preferably French, crumbled

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (2 to 4 servings)

15 grams carbs; 250 milligrams cholesterol; 743 calories; 13 grams monosaturated fat; 5 grams polyunsaturated fat; 17 grams saturated fat; 41 grams fat; 4 grams fiber; 1244 milligrams sodium; 74 grams protein; 3 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Place rabbit pieces in a large bowl and toss with rosemary, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

  2. Step 2

    Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a small saucepan over medium heat, simmer wine until reduced by half.

  3. Step 3

    Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add rabbit pieces and garlic in a single layer and cook until meat is golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes a side. (If the garlic gets too dark before the rabbit is finished browning, put the garlic on top of the rabbit to keep it from cooking more.)

  4. Step 4

    Put lemon slices, olives and half the butter into the pan. Pour in reduced wine. Cover and transfer to oven for 5 minutes. Uncover and scatter feta over top. Continue cooking until rabbit is just cooked through, 5 to 10 minutes more. Stir in remaining butter and more salt if needed, and serve.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
88 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Helene

While the flavors were very good, rabbit cannot be “quickly roasted”. It requires more cooking time and a braising technique or longer roasting. Sautéed then roasted for a total of approximately 20 or so minutes produces a chewy/tough result.
I have several rabbit recipes and the shortest roasting time is 1 hour.
Typically, I really like most of Melissa's recipes but this one needs (in my opinion) some major revision in preparation.

s-monk

I've made this recipe several times, with mostly minor adjustments depending on my mood. I've done it, for example, with a whole rabbit, which I've cut up into serving pieces when it's done. It doesn't take much longer, is easier to make and easier to cut up than raw rabbit, and it allows me to put lemon slices, garlic, and rosemary inside the cavity while it's cooking.

Gregory

You overcooked it. 10-15 minutes max will yield a perfect result. Braised rabbit typically takes an hour or more, but this is a roasted rabbit, and the shorter cooking time is better.

Lauren Dowell

My wife made this for a family dinner with a much bigger rabbit that we raised. She browned it longer and increased the oven time by about five minutes. She made sure it was at room temp before starting. Y’all, this was the best thing we’ve had a family dinner since the last NYT recipe last week. The whole family (three gens) were very happy. If you are raising your own rabbit, this one worked for a 10 month old rabbit. (About 5lbs processed). We had six people that all ate rabbit and we have leftovers. I’m going to kindly request that she make this again.

Rocky

I’ve not made this recipe with rabbit, but it sure is good with bone-in skin off chicken thighs.

Lark

This was delicious. We made it into a weeknight meal by soaking the rabbit in cultured milk (yogurt, kefir, etc) along with seasonings for only 30 minutes. I roasted the rabbit at 375, covered, until the last five minutes. We raise rabbits and cook it regularly. Marinating in cultured milk has been a game changer. We regularly roast and grill rabbit and it's always tender.

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.