"Adding herbs, sprouts and seeds is a great way to lighten rillettes," says Dave Verheul. Start this recipe two days ahead to sprout the mung beans and make the rillettes.
Embla's rabbit rillettes, sage, sprouts and seeds
Rillettes are a French bistro classic. But they're surprisingly simple to prepare at home, too.
- 30 mins preparation
- 2 hrs 15 mins cooking
- Serves 10
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Ingredients
- 25 gm mung beans (see note)
- 2½ tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 100 gm butter, diced
- 1 cup (loosely packed) sage
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley
- 10 thick slices sourdough bread (about 1 loaf)
- 2-3 tbsp olive oil, for drizzling
Rabbit rillettes
- 1 rabbit (1kg-1.2kg; see note)
- 400 gm piece of skinless pork belly, cut into 1cm dice
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 fresh bay leaf
Method
- 1Soak mung beans in cold water for 8 hours, then drain, transfer to a jar and cover with muslin held in place by a rubber band. Rinse and drain a couple of times each day until sprouted (1-2 days).
- 2For rillettes, preheat oven to 180°C. Remove legs from rabbit and cut mid-section into three pieces (see note). Arrange rabbit, pork, garlic and bay leaf tightly and evenly in a 2-litre baking dish. Add 300ml water, cover with a lid or tightly with foil and bake until meat can be pulled apart easily (13⁄4-2 hours). Leave uncovered to cool (11⁄2-2 hours). Remove bones, shred meat into a bowl, and add 250ml cooking liquid (discard remaining) and season to taste. Cover and refrigerate to chill (3 hours or overnight).
- 3Preheat oven to 160°C and dry-roast pepitas on an oven tray until golden (10-15 minutes).
- 4Heat butter in a frying pan over high heat, add sage leaves and fry until crisp (2-3 minutes). Drain on paper towels.
- 5Remove rillettes from fridge and leave in a warm place to soften (45 minutes to 1 hour), then stir in parsley, sage, pepitas and sprouts and season to taste.
- 6Heat a barbecue or char-grill pan to high heat. Drizzle bread with oil and grill until charred (1-2 minutes each side).
- 7Serve rillettes with toast.
Notes
Sprouted mung beans are available from select health-food shops. You may need to order the rabbit ahead. Your butcher may also be able to prepare the rabbit for you.