Lapin au Cidre Normand

Lisieux Normandie’s selected lapin au cidre marinates rabbit overnight with dry cider and aromatic herbs before simmering the pieces with lardons and onions. The tourism office places this recipe in its collection of Pays d’Auge and Normandy cooking.

The rabbit is cut into pieces and marinated with cider, bay, thyme, rosemary, clove, onion, shallot and peppercorns. The pieces are then drained and coated with flour, while the marinade is filtered and reserved.

Butter and a spoonful of oil heat in the cooking pot. Coarsely cut onions and lardons cook first, followed by the rabbit pieces, which are browned over high heat.

The filtered marinade returns to the pot around the browned rabbit. The pieces simmer in this liquid, with additional cider used if the sauce becomes insufficient.

The rabbit pieces leave the pot and are coated with their sauce. This brings the cider marinade back into the finished dish alongside the cooked onions and lardons.