Rabbit in Tomato Sauce

Preparation

Pour olive oil into a deep frying pan or a stew pot large enough to hold everything. Be generous with the oil. Once it's hot, add the onion, red pepper, green pepper and the three garlic cloves. Stir well until everything combines nicely. Brown all the ingredients. The ingredients don't need to be fully cooked at this stage, as they'll finish cooking in the final step of the recipe. Have they turned that golden colour? Perfect: set them aside on a plate, and don't clean the pan or pot. Add a little more olive oil. As soon as it's hot, it's time to brown the rabbit meat in all that flavour. Turn the pieces of meat once they've quickly browned. Add the chilli peppers. Turn the rabbit pieces once more. The aim is to make sure you can no longer see the pink of the meat, but without overcooking it too much at high heat. Remember: everything will finish cooking harmoniously in the final step of the recipe. Once the meat is browned, place everything on a plate and reuse the same pan or pot. Over the mixture of aromas and fats left in the pan, add the tomato paste and the choricero pepper flesh. Stir the mixture. Add the crushed tomato, two bay leaves and the thyme. Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir everything well. Let it reduce for 10 minutes over low heat. Depending on how much tomato you like in the dish, you can increase or decrease the amount suggested. Meanwhile, the extra touch that adds flavour and colour to this dish is a splash of red wine. As we hadn't noticed it was missing until the moment we needed it, we chose to use 100 ml of chicken stock instead, which is also commonly used in this recipe elsewhere. Whether you use wine, beer or stock, you just need to reduce the sauce for 5 more minutes over medium heat. Now comes the step we mentioned earlier, where everything comes together. Once you have a good, thick tomato sauce with vibrant colours, add back everything you set aside earlier: the rabbit meat and the sautéed vegetables. Stir well. Cook for a further 5 minutes and serve. Straight from the pan or pot to the plate. That's it. Make sure each portion includes all the elements: meat, peppers, a garlic clove and a generous amount of tomato sauce.