Maltese Rabbit Stew (Stuffat tal-Fenek)

Cut up the rabbit at the joints. Cut the rib section into 3–4 pieces, and divide the legs at all the joints. Split the head of the rabbit in half. The whole animal should be cut into about 10–12 pieces so they are large and chunky, but small enough that they can be easily manipulated with large spoon. Remove and keep internal organs apart.

Mince the garlic. Heat the oil in a large frying pan. Heat some of the garlic in the oil. Add some rabbit pieces and cook through.

Remove cooked meat from the pan and place in a large container. Cook the rest of the meat in the same way in batches, adding some garlic with every batch. The meat should be well cooked but not very brown.

Fry the internal organs whole in the same oil until well-cooked. Take some of the smaller pieces of meat without bone and add them to the organs. Keep these apart from the main meat.

Cut the potatoes into large irregular chunks, slightly smaller than the pieces of meat.

In a stock pot, place the fried rabbit, the potatoes, the chopped carrot, the tomato pulp, wine, sugar and laurel leaves. Add salt, pepper, mixed spice and Tabasco carefully. Cover and simmer on a low flame for 4 hours. Stir occasionally during the first hour.

4 hours

Once done, add the peas, and cook until tender (about 10 minutes).

10 minutes