A delicious pan-fried rabbit alla cacciatora with bell peppers and olives, easy to prepare, scented with fresh herbs and cooked in white wine for a truly special flavor. If the rabbit is home-reared it’s even better. A typical Calabrian recipe, the rabbit alla cacciatora cooked in a pan with peppers and crushed olives that have a special taste and give this fine white meat an exquisite flavor. The perfect main course to make at Easter. As a girl I used to go pick grass for our rabbits; we had up to 200 of them, so rabbit was never missing from our table. Meat wasn’t eaten every day like now, but when it was, it was home produced — rabbits, chickens, turkeys, pigs, and also lambs and calves. That’s how I learned to appreciate good meat and to cook it. Rabbit has particularly flavorful meat and with lots of practice and the tips from my grandmother and my mother I learned to cook it in the best way to enhance the taste without making it too strong. I like to cook it with white wine as my mother taught me; the flavor becomes more delicate this way, delicious on its own, but with peppers and olives it becomes special. Try it yourself — I’m sure you’ll love it too.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Slow cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons, Easter
Ingredients for pan-fried rabbit with bell peppers and olives
- 2.2 lbs rabbit
- 2 yellow bell peppers
- 1 jar crushed olives (Taggiasca or Leccino)
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 sprig rosemary
- 2 leaves bay leaf
- 1 glass white wine
- to taste salt
Tools
- 1 Pan
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Knife
- 1 Wooden spoon
Steps to prepare pan-fried rabbit with bell peppers and olives
Put a drizzle of olive oil in a pan, add a chili pepper if you like, one clove of garlic, a bay leaf and a sprig of rosemary. Heat the oil and add the rabbit cut into pieces, previously washed and dried.
Let the rabbit brown over high heat, turn it, then salt and add a glass of white wine. Cover, reduce the heat and cook for about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, cut the two bell peppers into strips. After the 40 minutes, add them to the rabbit along with the olives, cover and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.
If it is too dry at the end of cooking, loosen it with a splash of water.
When the rabbit is tender, you can serve our delicious rabbit alla cacciatora with olives and bell peppers.

