French Rabbit Stew with sweet peas and potatoes (Lapin aux petits pois et pommes de terre). An easy family stew recipe, slowly cooked (on the stove), the French way. Kid-friendly too.
Friends, today we are making an easy stew with vegetables and rabbit meat – la façon française. The beauty of this stew is that it’s rich, delicious and super easy to make – either on the stove top or in a slow cooker. If you are a fan of French cuisine, definitely check out my recipes for Rustic French Late Summer Plum Cake or French Baked Chicken Leg Quarters.
FUN FACTS: Rabbit meat has been a staple in French cuisine (especially the rural and peasant communities) for centuries. In fact, rabbit meat still has it’s place at the table of many Europeans (even outside France). The reason behind it is that rabbit meat is lean, easy to cook and especially suitable for stews and slow cooked meals.
It’s not uncommon to see rabbit terrine (or terrine de lapin) or pate sold in French and other European supermarkets. There are many ways to prepare rabbit stew – marinated in wine, with onions and herbs; with carrots and other vegetables, or even mustard sauce. Today, I’m sharing with you a family recipe for rabbit stew with fine peas and potatoes.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Fresh rabbit meat – diced in large chunks. if using frozen rabbit, thaw the cut first.
- Potatoes – best to use old starchy potatoes
- Carrots – diced
- Peas – a can of organic sweet peas works best, especially if baby sweet peas
- Red onion – or shallots as they have much sweeter taste when cooked
- Butter – for browning rabbit meat in. Olive oil can be used too
- Water for stew – or if preferred use broth (preferably homemade)
- Seasoning: sea salt, pepper, nutmeg, sweet paprika, tomato paste, dill, cumin powder and bay leaves – thyme can be used too instead of dill
How to cook French Rabbit Stew?
1st: In a large cooking pot melt butter & brown rabbit chunks on all sides for a few minutes on medium heat. Set side.
2nd: Next, sauté vegetables in remaining butter, add flour and paprika and brown for a minute. Then, add all remaining ingredients (water and peas). Let simmer until cooked. Season 10 minutes before removing it from the stove top. Serve.
What to serve with Rabbit & Peas stew?
A light salad or appetizer always goes well with this hearty stew. A few suggestions to consider form my kitchen:
French Rabbit stew with peas and potatoes
Equipment
- 1 cutting board with knife
- 1 large cooking pot with lid
Ingredients
- 1 kg rabbit meat with bones, cut in large chunks
- 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
- 1 medium carrots, diced
- 1 can sweet peas, (220g/8oz)
- 1 medium red onion, diced
- 4 tbsp. butter, (or more as needed)
- 1 liter water (broth) for stew, more or less as needed
- 1 tbsp. all purpose flour
Seasoning
- 2 tbsp. all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp. tomato paste, heaping
- 1 tbsp. sweet paprika
- 2 tbsp. fresh dill, minced
- 1 tsp. cumin powder
- 2 bay leaves
- pinch of nutmeg
- sea salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large cooking pot with lid heat olive oil and brown rabbit meat on all sides for a few minutes. Remove meat from pot and set aside.
- Then, place diced onion, carrots and potatoes in the same pot and sauté for a few minutes on low heat. Stir frequently.
- Next, add flour and sweet paprika to the pot and brown for a minute while stirring constantly.
- Then, add peas and water to the pot. Also add rabbit meat, bay leaves and tomato paste, stir to combine. Bring to a boil and let simmer with lid on until almost cooked.
- Finally, 5-10 minutes before removing from the stove top season with minced dill, cumin, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Let cook completely and serve. Remove bay leaves before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
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Lovely stew, cooked in a crockpot for 4 hours on high and it was delicious.