February 2006
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Day February 26, 2006

Braised Rabbit with Bell Peppers

Adapted from Mario Batali’s Coniglio ai Peperoni

Ingredients:
1 pound rabbit, cut into smaller pieces
1 cup white wine vinegar, mixed with 1 cup of water
2 large onions, thinly sliced
1 red and 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded, cut into eights
1 cup dry white wine
salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Marinate the rabbit pieces in vinegar-water mixture for about an hour, turning occasionally. Drain and dry with paper towels.
2. In a large Dutch oven, heat some olive oil over medium-high heat. Brown rabbit pieces on all sides, about 8 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and set aside.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onions and cook, stirring until limp and light golden. Add wine and bring to a simmer. Add back rabbit pieces and cover. Cook for about 30 minutes.
4. While the rabbit is cooking, heat some more olive oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Cook peppers for about 15 minutes. Cover and stew gently until they wilt and start to brown, about another 15 minutes. Stir in the peppers and their juices into the pan with the rabbit pieces. Add salt and pepper to taste and continue to cook the rabbit for 30 more minutes or until tender. Add more wine or water to keep it from drying and sticking.

Winter Melon Soup

Adapted from chinesefood.about.com

Ingredients:
winter melon, green skin, seeds and pulp removed, cut into smaller pieces
chicken broth
3 slices of ginger
1 scallion greens, chopped
handful of spinach
rice noodles
fish sauce
lemon juice
salt and pepper

1. Place winter melon in a pot of chicken broth, bring to a boil and simmer until winter melon is tender, about 15 minutes.
2. Add ginger and noodles. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Season with fish sauce, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Add spinach and turn off heat.

Gyu-Kaku

34 Cooper Square off 6th Street and Lafayette
212/475.2989
about $60 for two, with two drinks, without tip

I’ll group Gyu-Kaku under my Korean and Japanese restaurants list because they had both Korean-style barbecues and Japanese yakitoris. They had several kinds of soups served in clay pots that tasted like Korean chigaes, but udon or ramen noodles were added. They also offered a nice-sized bowl of bibimbap but they had ahi tuna and shrimps we grilled on the tabletop stove ourselves.

It’s a spacious restaurant off the hubbub of St. Mark’s Place. The attentive service is perfect for bigger groups, plus the happy hour price of drinks ($2.50 for Kirin beer on tap) and meat specials (50% off on filet mignon meat to grill) are hard to say no to.