Since I came back from Spain last year, I prepared this dish quite few times, and it became a staple of my Spanish dinners . We had this in Barcelona on our first day at a neighborhood restaurant on the side streets of Eixample`. The only problem we had, was the fact that was no rabbit in the plate, even though the dish was advertised as pork ribs and rabbit fideua. It was delicious anyway. Fideua is a short cut pasta, similar to vermicelli and is very popular in Catalunya, replacing the rice in the paellas. It comes up in different sizes and can be found in Latino markets or Spanish specialty food shops. For mine I used spaghetti bits (I can't stay away from Italian ingredients). The dish I made is for 6 people, but easily can feed 8.
1 pack of spaghetti
2 lbs of rabbit (thighs and loin only)
3 lbs of pork short ribs
2 small size onions
4 oz tomato paste
2 oz of frozen baby green peas
2 chopped carrots
piquillo roasted peppers
4 cloves of chopped garlic
1 tbs of smoked paprika
1/2 bottle of dry white wine
salt and pepper
olive oil
To begin with I marinated my meats with salt, pepper, garlic, paprika and a touch of olive oil. I've braked the spaghetti in 1/2 inch pieces and I boiled them for three minutes. In a non stick pan I added olive oil and I pan seared the meats, to seal the juices. on a cast iron casserole, I added the meat, tomato paste, the wine and the chopped carrots, and I slow cooked the meats at 300 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours. After cooking the meat, the next step is adding the precooked fideua, so I taked the meat out in a separate pan, and I added the noodles to the sauce, putting the meat on top of them, adding the thawed green peas, as well the roasted peppers. Salt and pepper should be added, only if necessary. The casserole is almost done, needs about 1/2 hour more in the oven. Remove the casserole from the oven when the meats are tender, falling of the bones, and the noodles are not over cooked. The dinner was fabulos, we had friends, bottles of Beautiful Spanish reds : Tempranillo, Bodegas Valdepablo 1999, Rioja Reserva Ondare 2002, and quite few more. If you try this at home and have any questions, I'll be more than happy to assist.
Enjoy!
