Rabbit Ragu Over Pasta
Browned rabbit slow-simmered with tomatoes and herbs, spooned over pasta at camp.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 14 oz
- cal / oz
- 39
- protein
- 42 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 120 min
- total time
- 140 min
- water
- 1500 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Liquid fuel
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Rabbit, sectioned | 2 rabbits | cut into legs, loin, and rib pieces before the trip |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Canned diced tomatoes | 2 cans (14 oz each) | |
| Chicken stock | 1 can | boxed or bouillon plus water works the same |
| Onion | 1, diced | |
| Garlic | 2 cloves, chopped | |
| Mushrooms | 1 cup, sliced | dried and rehydrated saves cooler space |
| Butter | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried basil | 1 tsp | |
| Dried oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Dried Italian parsley | 1 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tsp | |
| Salt | 2 tsp | |
| Dried pasta | 1 lb |
Method
- Dry the rabbit pieces with a paper towel and season them with the salt and pepper. Wet meat steams instead of browning.
- Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or heavy lidded pot over a bed of coals or a low stove flame. Brown the rabbit in batches, five to ten minutes a side, until the pieces are deep gold. Crowding the pot kills the browning.
- Add the onion and garlic and cook until the onion goes soft.
- Pour in the tomatoes and stock, add the basil, oregano, and parsley, and cover. Hold it at a bare simmer for 90 minutes, stirring every twenty. Over a fire, that means a thin layer of coals, not flames.
- Take the lid off, bring the heat up, and add the mushrooms. Cook 15 to 20 minutes until they soften and the sauce tightens.
- Pull the meat out, strip it off the bones, and return it to the pot. Stir in the butter. Taste and add salt.
- Boil the pasta in a second pot of salted water, drain, and spoon the ragu over it.
Rabbit is lean and worked hard, which means it goes tough fast over direct heat. The fix is the same one Italian kitchens have used forever: brown it hard for flavor, then hold it just under a simmer for an hour and a half until the connective tissue gives up. That long window is why this is a basecamp or car-camping meal rather than a backpacking one. You need a dutch oven, a steady bed of coals, and no reason to be anywhere else.
The mushrooms go in at the end on purpose. Ninety minutes in the pot turns them to nothing, and the uncovered final stretch is what thickens the sauce enough to sit on pasta instead of running off it. Butter stirred in off the heat pulls the sauce together and adds the fat that rabbit does not bring on its own.
Packing
Section the rabbit and dice the onion at home; both ride in the cooler in zip bags. Cans, pasta, and the herb mix go in the dry box. Premix the basil, oregano, parsley, and pepper into one small jar so it is one pour at the pot.
Variations
- Squirrel or an older pheasant works the same way. Any tough small game wants the long simmer.
- Dried mushrooms rehydrated in the stock cut cooler weight and darken the sauce.
- No second pot, no pasta: serve it over instant polenta cooked in the ragu pot after you scoop the meat out.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/rabbit-ragu-over-pasta