So it seems little known that there's an Italian dish almost the same as the great English classic, jugged hare. And if you judge things right, you get a splendid two-for out of one big cook. If you've a chance to cook this then please, please have a go - this is one of the all-time classic dishes and it is of quite incomparable flavour. Hare isn't especially like rabbit - it is richer, gamier, darker, and just basically better. And this is from someone who you'll know, if you read this blog, loves rabbit.
To begin with, you must procure tour hare. If they're thin on the ground where you are, don't. If you can find a good game dealer who you trust then thats great. Ideally, you'd get the hare in its skin.
Now, if you do manage that (as I did with this one, but I'll spare the images of processing it for now) hang it head side down for a few days. I'd tell you exactly how long but you can't know. You know its ready when you brush aside the white fur on its belly and the fat under the skin is starting to turn green. That doesn't mean anything untoward is happening, it just means that the bacteria in its gut have done their job and its ready. Now skin it, carefully, and save all the blood you can.
When I got this hare, way back, I cooked the saddle in another dish and saved the rest alongside the offal (liver, kidneys and heart) and froze the lot. After defrosting, I marinated it. The marinade contains herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, bay), a few cloves of garlic, olive oil, blackberry (or 'red') wine, salt, pepper and juniper berries. Some marinade it overnight, some don't do so at all. I like to put it on in the morning and cook it later. Does it make a difference? Yes, it really intensifies the flavour. But some don't like that as much, its already rich and gamey enough. Yes, that is the rib-cage in there. Yes, you do cook that. And strip the meat off it. 
Sautee stock vegetables until just turning brown (onion, carrots, celery, all chopped relatively coarsely) and reserve. Now get the pan very hot. Save all the wet ingredients from the marinade and dry off the hare before browning it. The smell at this stage is amazing. You could, if you really wanted to, not brown it and go very old-school with this recipe - literally put it in a big pan or a jug, cover it, and cook it therein. But its better browned, you get a more intense taste. After its browned, put it back in with the marinade, the stock vegetables, and probably the rest of the bottle of wine you used and the offal. And then add mushrooms, and plenty of them. 
Deglaze the pan with the rest of your wine (I use a whole bottle, half in the marinade, half added later). Season it the stew, and cook it now for at least three hours in a low oven, until the meat is very, very tender. And now its time to perform some genuine magic. Remember you saved the blood? You're going to put it in the sauce. Take the hare out, and when its cool enough to handle (because you'll need to strip it off the bones in a moment), put the rich sauce on a very low heat but do not boil it. Those clever folk in Italy realised that this is even better with some chocolate in it, so put a square of dark chocolate in the blood, and take some of the sauce and put it into the blood to warm it up. Then slowly add the blood mix into the sauce, stirring the whole time, while keeping it warm but not boiling it. Watch the sauce take on a sheen, a shininess. Strip all the meat off the bones as best you can, break it up, and put it back into the sauce. And now you're ready to serve - its great with roast veg, but I go for mash or baked spuds to soak up the gravy, and something like cabbage.
We had a guest over when we had this as jugged hare, but we had enough for a really hefty portion with pasta the next day (image at the top). It should really be pappardelle, but my other half prefers tagliatelle - thats the dish at the top there. Its basically jugged hare with pasta, and its great.
There are many variants of this dish. Some put shallots in the marinade. Some add some spices. But however you do it this is one of the greatest game dishes you'll ever encounter - and if you've got game lovers coming to dinner its hard to think of a better thing to cook for them. If you can't get it with the blood in, don't be put off, its still a great dish without. But there's something of a spectacle to cooking the blood in, so if you can do that, its even better. And it really does lift the sauce to another level - if you can't get that, maybe a little butter won't hurt.
And thats it - a slow to prepare but actually very simple dish. And hard to beat.
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