A good choice to tone down the pickle sauce that combines well with the beans is an As Sortes wine (DO Valdeorras) by Rafael Palacios, made from Godello grapes. The hint of wood in the wine gives just the right finishing touch to the dish.
Alubia de La Bañeza Beans in a Pickle Sauce with Rabbit
Preparation
How to cook beans
Before cooking, rehydrate by submerging them in a pan full of cold water and leave them to soak for approximately 12 hours. Then pour off the water and place them in fresh, cold water (never hot), covering the beans with about 6 cm (2.3 in) of water and then cook. Salt is best added only when the beans are cooked, otherwise they might lose their characteristic creaminess. Cooking time will be between 1 and 3 hours depending on the variety.
It is very important that any water required during cooking should be added cold. This brings down the temperature and helps the starch inside the beans to swell together with the skin. If hot water is added the skins may burst, releasing the starch and making a purée instead of just cooking the beans.
Cook the beans as explained previously and set aside until cool.
For the pickle sauce
Reduce the wine plus the vinegar by half, add the vegetables and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the extra virgin olive oil and the beans and cook for another 10 minutes. Leave the beans to stand in the pickle sauce for at least two days.
Place the rabbit and the duck fat in a vacuum pack for 20 hours at 50ºC / 120ºF. Debone, then wrap the meat in the filo pastry. Roast at 180ºC / 356ºF for about 10 minutes until crisp.
Presentation
Serve the freshly-roast rabbit on a bed of warm beans in pickle sauce.
Chef's Remark:
"This unusual dish might have disappeared altogether had the La Bañeza Regulating Council not come on the scene to guarantee and promote these top-quality "
Preparation by: Carlos D. Cidón
RELATED RECIPES
20 h. for the rabbit confit (+ 1 h. to cook the beans over a slow flame)
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- 2 leeks
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- 1 clove garlic
- 1 bay leaf
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Wine match