Farina’s Sergio Maglione is bringing a fresh taste of his home town, Napoli, to his restaurant this month. The dish of fried rabbit (coniglio fritto) is served with an olive tapenade made from Ghiotti’s Green Sicilian Olives.
"It's all about using the best quality rabbit and pairing it with amazing green Sicilian olives," says Maglione. The entree will be $19.50 from Farina, 244 Ponsonby Rd, or you can attempt it yourself with the recipe below.
FRIED RABBIT WITH GREEN SICILIAN OLIVE TAPENADE
• 1 small farmed rabbit deboned and diced
• 30 large Ghiotti green Sicilian olives
• 60g of capers
• 10 fillets of high-quality anchovies chopped
• 2 small red chilli roughly chopped
• 1 shallot finely diced
• 25g fresh thyme chopped
• 25g fresh rosemary chopped
• 40g fresh Italian parsley chopped
• 400g white flour
• 250ml fresh whole milk
• 3 whole lemons
• Salt and pepper (to taste)
• 1.5 litres olive or sunflower oil
To Garnish
• 6 Italian parsley tips
• 2 Tbsp tomato concasse (crushed or very finely diced)
1. Mix the flour with the chopped rosemary and thyme, 25g of the chopped Italian parsley, zest of 1 lemon and salt and pepper. This will be used to dust the rabbit.
2. Remove the pips and roughly chop the Ghiotti green Sicilian olives. Mix them with the capers, finely diced shallot, chopped anchovies, roughly chopped chilli and the zest of 2 lemons and put aside.
3. In a deep saucepan heat up all of the oil. Soak diced rabbit pieces in the milk. Dust them in the flour and herb mix, and fry in small batches.
4. Fry the rabbit until it is crispy and golden. This should take 2-3 minutes. Remove the rabbit from the oil, and toss with salt and pepper.
To Serve: Traditionally in Italy, coniglio fritto is served on brown straw paper to absorb any extra oil but a large plate works also. Sprinkle the olive tapenade generously over the rabbit. Garnish with lemon wedges and parsley tips.
