Antique wooden crosses grace the light-filled comedor (dining room) at Rancho Casa Luna, San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico.
Three ranch-raised rabbits, ready to prepare in the professional kitchens at Rancho Casa Luna.
A few months ago, Mexico Cooks! 'met' (in that 21st Century virtual way, via a social networking website) Dianne Kushner, owner of the fabulous Casa Luna bed and breakfast hotels and newly opened Rancho Casa Luna (for weddings, private parties, and cooking classes) in San Miguel de Allende. As it turned out, Dianne and I had a number of real-life friends in common. Dianne invited Mexico Cooks! to Rancho Casa Luna to cook with some old friends as well as with some new friends.
Three teams of professional chefs and their assistants made the menu plans: rabbit, grown at Rancho Casa Luna and cooked in a variety of ways. We chose a Mexican recipe, a French recipe, and a Spanish recipe and were happily surprised by a fourth recipe for a Moroccan tagine.
Billie Mercer, Judy McKnight, and Dianne Kushner worked as chef's assistants. They're wearing their team aprons, embroidered with flags of Mexico, France, and Spain. Each of the teams decided to cook in an unfamiliar cuisine, just for the exercise. Mexico Cooks! was eager (and a little nervous) to be in charge of a French recipe.
It was hard to drag ourselves away from relaxing on the terrace at Dianne's heaven-on-earth.
Rancho Casa Luna is perfectly designed for lounging on the terrace, watching the earth spin slowly from daybreak to its last purple light. Nevertheless, Ruth Alegría, Ben, and Billie (the Mexican team); Henri, Jessica, and Dianne (the Spanish team), and Judy and I (the French contingent) gathered at eleven o'clock Friday morning to start hopping (you should forgive the expression). We had nine ranch-raised rabbits, what looked like a ton of fresh vegetables, and every pot, pan, spoon, and knife you can imagine.
A few of the ingredients for the Spanish rabbit preparation. The photo shows about a quarter of the enormous bunch of gorgeous fresh rosemary that Henri and Jessica cut to bring for their dish.
Our teams of chefs and assistants prepared other dishes to accompany the rabbits. By team:
- Mexico: cold crema de chile poblano (creamed chile poblano soup) with minced apple, the Moroccan rabbit tagine, fresh mango pie. Team Mexico prepared Conejo en Chile (Rabbit in Chile)from Diana Kennedy's Mexican Regional Cooking, pp. 74-75.
- Spain: parsleyed new potatoes, braised acelgas (Swiss chard), salad of grated carrot, cilantro, and jugo de limón
- France: fresh green beans with diced fresh red pepper, mixed-greens salad with caramelized walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette.
Jessica and Henri Moyal of San Miguel de Allende (with Dianne as their assistant on Team Spain) sliced and diced, chopped and peeled--and peered intently at the recipe for their rabbit.
Team Spain's rabbit, browning perfectly, had marinated overnight in balsamic vinegar.
Ben Wenske formerly owned the Tuba Garden restaurant in San Francisco, California. He was one-third of Team Mexico for the rabbit marathon. Judy of Team France is stealing secrets as Ben hands a recipe to one of the other teams.
Lapin aux Pruneaux, French rabbit with prunes, is ready for the oven.
Moroccan rabbit tagine, ready to bake.
Rabbit Tagine
(courtesy Ziryab Mediterranean Grill, San Francisco, CA)
Ingredients
16 garlic cloves, peeled
3/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
2 cups chopped onions
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons paprika
4 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1 rabbit, approximately 1.5 kilos, cut in 8 pieces
3/4 cup olives, black or green
1 1/2 lemons, sliced thin
Procedure
In a food processor, finely chop garlic, cilantro, and parsley. Transfer to a bowl. Add onions and the next nine ingredients; mix well. Add rabbit pieces, olives, and lemons; toss. Cover and chill for at least two hours and up to one day.
Pre-heat oven to 450°F. Put rabbit and seasonings in a large ovenproof pot. Add 1.5 cups water. Cover and bake until rabbit is cooked through, approximately one hour. Serve from baking dish or transfer to a warm platter.
Billie surveys the peaceful dining room at Rancho Casa Luna, waiting for the arrival of massive amounts of food and happy cooks.
At last! The nine of us sat down for comida (main meal of the day) at about four in the afternoon. That's Dianne Kushner, with her back to us; to her left is Henri Moyal, then Judy McKnight, then the top of Ben Wenske's head, Jessica Moyal, Ruth Alegría, and Ned and Billie Mercer. Mexico Cooks! took the photo. Our meal started with Ruth's chilled crema de chile poblano.
One dinner plate, completely loaded! We had almost enough food. If the truth be known, we could easily have fed 20 or more guests, in addition to our teams of cooks and assistants.
The rabbit cook-a-thon was an amazing combination of old friends, new friends, work, and fun. Thanks to our generous and welcoming host Dianne Kushner at Rancho Casa Luna, to the openness, warmth, and spirit of sharing in the kitchens, to laughter and good people and best of all, to great eating.
We're planning to produce more events--teaching, cooking, eating--and Mexico Cooks! would love for all of you to participate. Let us know when you'd like to come to our newest outpost in San Miguel de Allende and we'll let YOU know all the details.
Looking for a tailored-to-your-interests specialized tour in Mexico? Click here: Tours.
I'm glad I let you tell the whole rabbit story. You did it so much better than I could. Looking forward to seeing you in a month or so.
Posted by: Billie | March 25, 2009 at 09:22 PM
ワイシャツ
Yシャツ
ボタンダウン
ショッピングモール
EC-CUBE
ネットショップ 構築
Posted by: none | March 24, 2009 at 11:07 PM
Wonderful pictures! Aren't Billie and Ned wonderful? It makes me happy that some of my favorite people have met.
Hugs,
Posted by: Jonna | March 21, 2009 at 05:29 PM
What fun, Cristina! I hope to be a part of the next cook-a-thon at the fabulous Rancho Casa Luna. Dianne really is the hostess with the mostest and it looks like you did those rabbits up good. Yum!
Posted by: Betsy | March 21, 2009 at 04:32 PM
¡Aye! Will I ever learn? Rule #1: Never, EVER come to this blog on an empty stomach. Babette's Feast!
Posted by: Travis | March 21, 2009 at 03:17 PM