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RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

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RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

by Robin Garr » Sat Mar 29, 2014 10:18 pm

After a beautiful taste of spring over a couple of days, today turned rainy, gray and chilly, prompting thoughts of a simple comfort-food dinner. How about some Welsh rabbit? Or better yet, instead of the traditional dish of cheesy sauce over toast, why not roast some delicious veggies, including tiny red-skinned new potatoes, and serve them in a consoling, roux-based sauce with cheese and spice?

Sounded good. Was good! Welsh rabbit is one of those old folk dishes whose history is lost in time, by the way. Perhaps a joke on hapless rabbit-hunters who came home empty-handed, it's sometimes altered to "rarebit" by people who think the idea of naming a meatless cheese dish after an animal is just plain silly; but on the whole, I'd rather eat a cheesy rabbit than a bunny, so I'm good with the original.

It was pretty simple to put together: I cut up a fennel bulb into good-size chunks, did the same with a medium onion, and smacked and peeled a few garlic cloves. I tossed all these in a bowl with olive oil, salt and freshly ground black pepper, then sauteed them in a black-iron skillet on medium heat for about 10 minutes until they were slightly cooked but not yet browning. While they were cooking, I halved and parboiled about 6 or 8 small new potatoes, drained them when crisp-tender, and added them to the browning skillet.

Then I popped the skillet in a preheated 425F oven and roasted them, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes or until they're soft and browned.

While they were cooking, I made a quick cheese sauce: I melted 2 tablespoons butter in a saucier, whisked in 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, and, when this roux started to turn light reddish brown, gradually whisked in 1 cup milk (or you can use broth, or water, or a milk-and-water combination.) When this bechamel sauce is thick and smooth, season with salt, pepper (white pepper if you're persnickety about flecks) and 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard. Reduce heat to very low and stir in 1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar.

When the cheese sauce and veggies are finished, stir the veggies into the sauce and serve.
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Jenise

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Re: RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

by Jenise » Sun Mar 30, 2014 3:02 pm

Really (on rabbit vs. rarebit). I figured that the 'rabbit' was an Americanization of a word that didn't sound quite right to us about something we didn't have an ancestral connection with. Wouldn't be the first time that happened!

But it sounds good. I'm going to do a 'White Rabbit' dish for a dance performance themed to Alice in Wonderland, and I had only considered putting the sauce over croutons (so no knife would be needed) and in place of the toast that I've understood to be classic. Potatoes would be an interesting alternative I hadn't considered.
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Re: RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

by Robin Garr » Sun Mar 30, 2014 4:10 pm

White rabbit! What a great idea! Now I'm having one of those "Wish I had thought of that" moments. :lol:
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Re: RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

by Jenise » Sun Mar 30, 2014 4:25 pm

Robin Garr wrote:White rabbit! What a great idea! Now I'm having one of those "Wish I had thought of that" moments. :lol:


One pill makes you larger
and one pill
makes you small /
And the one that
mother gives you
doesn't do anything at all /
Go ask Alice....
My wine shopping and I have never had a problem. Just a perpetual race between the bankruptcy court and Hell.--Rogov
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Robin Garr

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Re: RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

by Robin Garr » Sun Mar 30, 2014 4:53 pm

Jenise wrote:Go ask Alice....

... what the dormouse said ...
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Re: RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

by Peter May » Fri May 09, 2014 8:03 am

Jenise wrote:Really (on rabbit vs. rarebit). I figured that the 'rabbit' was an Americanization of a word that didn't sound quite right to us about something we didn't have an ancestral connection with. Wouldn't be the first time that happened!.


Just seen this looking for something else, but from Michael Quinion's World Wide Words:

Welsh rabbit is basically cheese on toast (the word is not “rarebit” by the way, that’s the result of false etymology; “rabbit” is here being used in the same way as “turtle” in “mock-turtle soup”, which has never been near a turtle, or “duck” in “Bombay duck”, which was actually a dried fish called bummalo).

The usual story is that Welsh rabbit was a derogatory and mildly racist term of the early eighteenth century for cheese on toast, this being all the impoverished Welsh could afford. Later in the century, rabbit was changed to rarebit, more probably as a misunderstanding rather than an attempt to remove the opprobrium from the term.


http://www.worldwidewords.org
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Re: RCP: Veggie "rabbit" with fennel and new potatoes

by Frank Deis » Fri May 09, 2014 5:45 pm


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