Robin Cooking out at Rancho Casa Luna

I love being in the kitchen and one of the best kitchens I love to cook in is at Rancho Casa Luna outside of San Miguel de Allende. (Check out my post on May 7 to see pictures of the Rancho and read about how I took my group out to their for a cooking class). This is just one of the kitchens at the Rancho. There is another one in the large sala (living/dining room). And an outdoor kitchen that has a pizza oven and a big wood burning grill.

I have a great kitchen in my Denver house and my casa in San Miguel de Allende; If you read my post on May 10, you will see what I am talking about. But to have a pantry like this, I would kill for. My husband would not even consider it in his wildest dreams, for it would give me just another excuse to buy more dishes!

Dianne, good friend and the owner of the Rancho and Casa Luna B & B in town, raises rabbits (conejos) along with chickens and goats. I had already braised two rabbits earlier in the day. In the one skillet, I have shitakes, porchinis and the rabbit along with some butter, garlic and shallots. I have risotto in the other skillet. This recipe is an adaption from Frank Bonano's braised rabbit that is in his cookbook, Mizuna. Mizuna, along with Luca d'italia, are two of my favorite restaurants in Denver, Colorado.

I am about to plate the plates. I used sections of water bottles that I had cut for my rings. I first drizzle the reduced braising liquid on the plate. I set the ring on the plate and partially fill it with the risotto and then with the rabbit mixture. I gently press down on the risotto and rabbit with a back of a spoon and carefully slide the ring off. It makes for a great presentation. To add to the meal, I seved a fresh green salad straight out of Dianne's garden with a cilantro dressing that I had just whipped up.

Two of the guests were a cousin of my Mom's, Marje, and her daughter, Jill, who were visiting from Minneapolis. Jill was convinced she was going to loose weight on her visit since she did not like Mexican food and was sometimes a picky eater. When she got back home, her friends could not believe she was the same person for she loved the food on her trip and that she had eaten rabbit and liked that too!
Dianne is ready to dig into the "Conejo."
Bon Appetit! Seconds anyone?

Please let me know if you are interested in joining me on one of my tours. I would be more than happy to organize a custom cooking class for you ranging from Mexican dishes, Italian pastas & raviolis to Spanish tapas. You may reach me at robindsg@aol.com .