Stuffat tal-fenek

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1whole rabbit (1.5 kg), jointed into 8–10 pieces, liver reserved
• 500 mldry red wine
• 6garlic cloves, crushed
• 3bay leaves
• 2 tspdried marjoram
• 1 tspblack peppercorns, cracked

Stew

• 4 tbspolive oil
• 2onions (350 g), roughly chopped
• 6garlic cloves, sliced
• 2carrots (200 g), cut into thick rounds
• 3 tbsptomato puree
• 400 gtinned chopped tomatoes
• 300 mlwater or light stock
• 700 gwaxy potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 150 gfrozen or fresh peas
• 2 tspsalt, plus black pepper
• 2 tbspchopped flat-leaf parsley

First course

• 400 gspaghetti
• 40 ggrated Maltese peppered cheese (gbejniet tal-bzar) or pecorino

Directions

1. Marinate the rabbit overnight in the wine, garlic, bay, marjoram and pepper, turning once. Next day lift out the pieces and pat them dry, keeping every drop of the marinade.
2. Heat the olive oil in a heavy casserole and brown the rabbit in batches over medium-high heat, 4–5 minutes a side, until well coloured. Rabbit browns pale, so give it time. Set aside.
3. Fry the onion, sliced garlic and carrot in the same pot for 10 minutes until soft and lightly caught at the edges.
4. Stir in the tomato puree and cook 3 minutes until it darkens, then pour in the reserved marinade and boil hard for 5 minutes to burn off the raw alcohol; the smell should turn from sharp to sweet.
5. Return the rabbit, add the tinned tomatoes and water, season, and bring to a bare simmer. Cover and cook very gently for 1 hour, or slide into a 160°C (325°F) oven; the liquid must never boil or the lean saddle meat tightens and dries.
6. Add the potatoes and cook uncovered 30 minutes more, until they are tender and have thickened the sauce.
7. Chop the reserved liver finely and stir it in with the peas for the last 8 minutes. It dissolves and gives the gravy its dark, glossy body, which is the Maltese cook’s secret.
8. Rest the stew 15 minutes off the heat. Serve the fenkata properly in two courses: boil the spaghetti, dress it with a few ladles of the sauce and the grated cheese as a first plate, then bring the rabbit and potatoes to the table with the rest of the sauce and plenty of bread.
9. Scatter with parsley and eat with the same red wine used in the marinade.

Technique

• Fenkata is an occasion, not a weekday dinner. A whole rabbit feeds a table in two courses, and the sauce on the pasta is considered as important as the meat.
• A wild rabbit needs the full 2 hours and a splash more liquid; farmed rabbit can be tender in 75 minutes. Test the front legs, which cook slowest.
• Do not skip the overnight wine marinade. It is what gives Maltese rabbit its dark colour and its faint bitterness against the sweet onion and tomato.
• The liver is stirred in at the end, never at the start, or it turns grainy and bitter.

Substitutions

• No rabbit: chicken thighs on the bone make a decent stuffat but need only 40 minutes and lack the gaminess; guinea fowl is a closer match.
• Maltese gbejniet tal-bzar can be swapped for a sharp pecorino romano, though the local cheeselets are drier and peppery.

Variations

• Fenek moqli is the other half of the tradition: rabbit fried hard in oil with a great deal of garlic and finished with wine, no tomato at all.
• Some families cook the rabbit in bay-scented wine only, without tomato, giving a pale, garlicky version called stuffat abjad.

History

Malta’s national dish; rabbit-eating became a defiant custom after the Knights of St John restricted hunting, and fenkata feasts followed.

Frequently asked questions

What is Stuffat tal-fenek?

Stuffat tal-fenek is a main from Malta: rabbit stewed in wine, garlic and tomato, the national dish. Malta’s national dish; rabbit-eating became a defiant custom after the Knights of St John restricted hunting, and fenkata feasts followed.

How long does Stuffat tal-fenek take to make?

Stuffat tal-fenek takes 30 min plus overnight marinating of preparation and 2 hr of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Stuffat tal-fenek?

Yes, within limits. No rabbit: chicken thighs on the bone make a decent stuffat but need only 40 minutes and lack the gaminess; guinea fowl is a closer match. Maltese gbejniet tal-bzar can be swapped for a sharp pecorino romano, though the local cheeselets are drier and peppery.

What is the most important thing to get right in Stuffat tal-fenek?

Return the rabbit, add the tinned tomatoes and water, season, and bring to a bare simmer. Cover and cook very gently for 1 hour, or slide into a 160°C (325°F) oven; the liquid must never boil or the lean saddle meat tightens and dries.