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a piece of parchment paper down on the surface of the oil. Cover the pan and cook until tender but not falling apart, about 3 hours. Check occasionally—the oil should never come to a full simmer; reduce the heat as necessary. (When done, you may cool to room temperature and refrigerate overnight, or up to 3 days. However, you must slowly heat the rabbit pieces in confit oil in a warm oven before grilling, otherwise the center will be cold.)

Preheat a charcoal or gas grill, or ridged cast-iron grill pan, until very hot. Lift the rabbit pieces out of the confit oil and season with kosher salt and pepper. Reserve the oil until serving time. Lightly sear the rabbit to imbue the smoky char flavor of the grill (remember, the rabbit is already cooked). Drizzle with a little of the confit oil and squeeze a wedge of lemon over, or, if you have Roasted Lemon Purée on hand, paint the rabbit with some of the lemon purée instead. You may also use the rabbit-infused confit oil to make a quick vinaigrette or to roast some mushrooms to serve alongside. The oil will add another dimension of flavor in both cases.

Lightly cure the rabbit before making it into a confit: mix 3 tablespoons kosher salt with 1 tablespoon sugar. Rub the mixture all over the rabbit pieces and place on a rack in your refrigerator overnight, uncovered. Rinse well and pat dry thoroughly with paper towels before you begin the confit.

Make the confit with a mixture of 50 percent extra-virgin olive oil and 50 percent canola or safflower oil instead of a 10 percent/90 percent blend.

Rabbit confit makes the very best deep-fried rabbit you’ll ever have: smear the pieces of rabbit with Dijon mustard, and bread as you would for deep-frying, using milk, flour, beaten egg, bread crumbs or panko; fry until golden brown.

RUSTIC BRAISED RABBIT WITH HILOPITES PASTA

HORIATIKO SIGOVRASMENO KOUNELI ME HILOPITES

SERVES 4 TO 6

Most of a rabbit’s meat is on its legs, but in this dish all the meat will be falling off the bones, so you’ll get more meat than usual in the sauce. Rabbits have tasty belly flaps, one on each side, below the rib cage. The flaps are very thin and small, but if you cut them off and save them until you have enough, you can bread them in the same way you would to make a Milanese, or any other way you would use a veal or pork scallopine. Imagine serving rabbit soffrito to your foodie friends… so cool, so haute, so easy!

In Greek, hilo means sun, and pita means bread. So, it is literally “sun-bread.” If you prefer to make pasta in an electric stand mixer, by all means substitute that for the food processor used here. Because of the cake flour, this is a very delicate pasta.

1 dressed rabbit (with all its innards), cut into 8 to 10 pieces

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons blended oil (90 percent canola, 10 percent extra-virgin olive)

1 Spanish or sweet onion, finely chopped

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

8 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup white wine

4 quarts water

1 cup tomato purée (or good store-bought marinara sauce)

2 teaspoons dry Greek oregano

4 large sprigs thyme

1 large sprig rosemary

4 cinnamon sticks

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Hilopites Pasta dough (page 76) or 2 pounds dried pappardelle pasta, cooked

Semolina and all-purpose flour, for dusting

Set the innards aside. Season the rabbit pieces liberally with kosher salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven or heavy braising pan, warm the oil over medium-high heat. When the oil is very hot, sear the rabbit pieces until golden brown on all sides, shaking the pan and turning frequently. Add the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until soft, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and stir for 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and let it evaporate completely.

Add the rabbit’s innards, water, tomato purée, 1 tablespoon salt, a generous grinding of pepper, and the oregano, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon sticks, vinegar, and mustard. Bring to