Conejo en Salsa Pasilla

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Back in the day, I was a young boy when our family raised rabbits because meat was scarce during WWII.  Nostalgia led me to longing for rabbit and I discovered this Mexican recipe presented by Yuri de Gotari^✯.  Compared to chicken, rabbit is very lean so in this recipe, this meat is braised in a pasilla sauce to keep the meat nice and moist. The sauce also works perfectly with chicken, beef and pork.

Pasilla and ancho peppers are different from each other; it’s the package mislabeling that creates the confusion.  You will often find ancho chile peppers labeled as pasilla chile peppers as the following photo demonstrates. 

Pasilla is the dried form of the chilaca pepper.  It’s form is long and narrow and said to be sweet, fruity, earthy and could be slightly hotter. Another common and accepted name is chile negro.

Ancho pepper is the dried form of the poblano pepper. Ancho chile is more popular than pasilla and it’s form is short and stout. 

This rabbit recipe is very simply prepared with pasilla, tomatillos, onion and epazote. Let’s get started.

Ingredients

1 rabbit (2-3 lbs) cut in pieces

2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil

2 oz pasilla peppers, stems and seeds removed

1 lb fresh tomatillos, peeled and rinsed

½ small onion

1 clove garlic peeled

2 tablespoons epazote, chopped (optional)

Preparation

Sauce 

• Soak the pasilla in water for about 30 minutes until soft and pliable.
• Cook in water, the tomatillos, onion and garlic for about 10-15 minutes or until the tomatillos are soft. Remove them from the water and place in the blender jar. 
• Liquify the tomatillos, onion, garlic, epazote and pasilla peppers with the aid of added water from cooking the tomatillos as necessary.  Salt to taste.

Rabbit

In a dutch oven pot, add 2 tablespoons of oil and heat the oil to moderate-high temperature.  Pat dry the rabbit pieces, salt and pepper, place in the hot oil, and brown on both sides. 

Add the sauce to the rabbit and reduce the temperature to a simmer.  Cover the pot and cook for about 3/4 to 1 hour or until the meat is tender.

Serve hot.  Cooked russet potatoes pair nicely with the rabbit.

✯Note

Yuri de Gortari Krauss,(1951-2020), was a Mexican chef, writer, historian and educator of historically traditional Mexican gastronomy.  He and his historian and researcher partner, Edmundo Escamilla, establish “La Escuela de Gastronomía Mexicana”.  This culinary school is internationally known for it’s focus on traditional Mexican Cooking.  Videos of Yuri cooking can be seen on You Tube.  

Buen Provecho

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