Coniglio O Pollo Con la Peperonata

Place the rabbit in a bowl of cold water with the vinegar and soak it for half an hour. (If using chicken instead, omit this step). Cut pancetta or prosciutto into very small pieces and finely chop the rosemary and combine them, or even better, coarsely grind pancetta and rosemary together. Place a casserole with the butter and oil over medium heat and when the oil is warm, add the pancetta/rosemary mixture and the bay leaves to saute for 2 minutes. Meanwhile, quickly drain the rabbit pieces, pat them dry with paper towels, and add them to the casserole. Let them saute all over until very lightly golden. Season with salt and pepper. Add the broth, a small quantity at a time, turning the rabbit over several times, and cook until soft, about 25 minutes for a 2 pound rabbit. As the rabbit cooks, prepare the peppers - Warm the butter with the oil in a saucepan over low heat, then add the anchovies and mash them with a fork. Be sure the heat remains constantly low, so the anchovies do not crumble and become very fishy. Put in the peppers and saute for 5 minutes. Raise heat, add 1/2 cup of cold water, and cook the peppers for 5 minutes more; at that point, the peppers should be half-cooked. Add the garlic, parsley and vinegar and let the vinegar evaporate for 5 minutes. Taste for salt and pepper. Transfer contents of saucepan to the casserole containing the not yet completely cooked rabbit and mix well. Cook until the rabbit is done. The peppers will be overcooked and form a chunky sauce. Discard bay leaves and transfer everything to a serving platter. Serve with parsley leaves sprinkled over each portion. NOTES : (Rabbit or Chicken and Peppers, Piemonte Style) Recipe by: =A9 Giuliano Bugialli - August 13, 1996 Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #492 by Frank Cavalier <fcaval@idt.net> on Mar 02, 1997.