Smoked Rabbit Salsa Verde Chilaquiles

Sam Kohler

Spice up your whole rabbit with this Mexican inspired dish. Smoked rabbit gives this its own unique flavor paired with home cooked tortilla chips.

Ingredients

• 1 GameKeeper Butchery Whole Rabbit
• 1 Pack of Bacon, Sliced
• 12 Tomatillos
• 3 Sprigs of Oregano
• 6 Cloves of Garlic
• 3 Jalapeno Peppers
• 3 Serrano Peppers
• 2 Poblano Peppers
• 1 Bunch of Green Onions
• 1/2 Large White Onion
• 2 Tablespoons of Paprika
• 2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder
• 2 Tablespoons of Dried Oregano
• 2 Tablespoons of Sea Salt
• 2 Tablespoons of Garlic Powder
• 2 Tablespoons of Onion Powder
• 2 Tablespoons of Cumin
• 1 Pack of Corn Tortillas
• Corn Oil
• 1 Bunch of Radishes
• 2 Limes
• Queso Blanco
• Mexican Crema
• 2 Bunches of Cilantro
• 3 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon of Chicken Bouillon
• Eggs

Instructions

Begin by starting your smoker to 225 degrees Fahrenheit with apple wood pellets and starting your oven to 415 degrees Fahrenheit. (You can use any wood pellets that are good with poultry as rabbit are lean, small game animals.)

_{Rabbit Hunting 101: 6 Tips to Get Started}

Salsa Verde

1. Take a deep baking pan and place your 12 tomatillos, 2 halved jalapenos, 3 halved serranos, 2 halved and seeded poblanos, 6 cloves of garlic, 3 sprigs of oregano, 1 bunch of green onions, and 1 halved white onion into the pan and then pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil and chicken bouillon into the pan and mix them around so all the vegetables are well-coated. (Make sure you remove the bottoms of the green onions as well as the exterior leaves on the tomatillos. Also, you can choose to leave or remove the seeds from the jalapenos and serranos depending on how much heat you want in your salsa verde.)
2. Place the vegetables into the oven for 45 minutes at 415 Fahrenheit.
3. Once the 45 minutes has passed, take the vegetables out of the oven and place them and all the liquid in the pan into a blender with 1 bunch of cilantro leaves and blend it until you get a thin salsa consistency.

_{Watch: Beer Braised Rabbit with Garlic from Ingredient Wild}  

Smoked and Pulled Rabbit

1. Take your rabbit and make sure it is at room temperature and cover the entire rabbit with the paprika, sea salt, dried oregano, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder and rub it into the rabbit on the exterior and in the interior cavity.
2. Next, wrap the rabbit in bacon so that the entire rabbit is properly covered.
3. Take your rabbit and place it on the smoker and cook it for roughly 2 - 2.5 hours until the internal temperature reaches 185 degrees Fahrenheit. (Normally you cook rabbit to 165 Fahrenheit, but because you want the shredded consistency you cook it to 185.)
4. Once the rabbit is done, remove the bacon and take a fork and shred the rabbit and set it aside in a bowl or on a plate.

Tortilla Chips

1. Take your corn tortillas and cut them into either strips or into 4-6 triangles depending on the size of the tortilla. (The fresher the corn tortillas the better!)
2. Take your corn oil and but it on high heat in a cast iron or frying pan. (You will know the oil is ready when you place a tortilla chip into the oil and it immediately starts bubbling.)
3. Fry the chips until golden brown and immediately place them on a fry tray and salt them until you go through all the tortillas. (Remember to place salt on chips immediately after pulling them out of the fryer so that the salt is absorbed by the chip.)

Bringing It All Together

1. Take your salsa verde and heat it in a pan on medium high heat and mix in your shredded rabbit and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Next, place your chips into the pan and mix them together.
3. Remove the pan from the heat, and fry up 2-4 eggs over easy and place them on top of the Chilaquiles.
4. Finally, for garnish, place some thinly sliced radish & jalapeno, cilantro leaves, Mexican crema, Queso Blanco, and lime juice on to the Chilaquiles and enjoy!
 

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