It’s almost Easter, which means days off, time with family and, for some reason, an anthropomorphic rabbit leaving chocolate treats for your kids.
But what about regular rabbits? They’re cute, furry and, when prepared correctly, delicious.
If any of that sounds weird, you probably aren’t Italian, or familiar with southern Italians harvesting the most adorable livestock on Earth.
“There’s definitely some Italian tradition of eating rabbit in parts of Italy,” says Italian Centre’s sales and marketing manager Ryan Voneschen. “It’s still an important cuisine item, and that’s why we continue to have it available.”
The tradition of any country’s food is basically the story of geography — people harvest and cook what’s around them. Coastal communities fish, people on grain-filled plains raise cows, and people in southern Italy (especially the Island of Ischia) make plenty of pasta — with rabbit meat.
When Frank Spinelli started the Italian Centre over 60 years ago, he listened to his growing base of fellow Italian immigrant customers who wanted the tastes — olive oil, espresso and, yes, rabbit — of home. “So that’s kind of been our evolution, and the rabbit is just another extension of that,” Voneschen says.
“If people say, ‘We can’t find rabbit anywhere,'” Voneschen has a solution. “The buying team sources our rabbits from a Quebec-based meat provider that specializes in sourcing Canadian-raised rabbit so they can have it on their tables and keep that part of their tradition.”
Voneschen says there are plenty of ways to cook a rabbit, which he describes as a “lean game meat.” Stews are common, but Voneschen says many people use it in place of beef or pork in their pasta. Better yet, with the weather warming up and Albertans itching to fire up the barbecue, why not take that rabbit out of the stew pot and throw it on the grill?
The lean, surprisingly tender meat takes beautifully to a citrusy marinade and open flame, offering a lighter, brighter twist on an old-world staple.
Here’s Voneschen’s go-to recipe for grilled rabbit — a perfect way to bring a little southern Italian tradition to your spring cookouts and keep the Easter bunny on his toes.
