Add the rabbit to a mixing bowl that’s easily big enough to hold all the pieces. Pour the white wine vinegar over the rabbit and use your fingers to give the pieces a thorough coating of vinegar. Let the rabbit sit for ten minutes with an occasional mix in the vinegar. Then drain the rabbit in a colander and keep as much of the vinegar as you can – it’s going to join the rabbit a little later when you start to braise it.

Once the rabbit has drained, use some kitchen towel to pat the pieces dry.

Time now for some gentle frying of the rabbit. For that, I used a big cast-iron Dutch oven, and fried the rabbit in two batches. It makes sense to use a big pot like that right from the start because that’s where all the rest of the ingredients are going to braise the rabbit.

Set your big pot on a medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Let it heat for a minute or so and then add your first batch of rabbit in an evenly spaced single layer. Drop the heat to low-medium and fry the pieces to give them a pale gold color on both sides. That’ll take about 5 minutes at a slow sizzle on each side.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the rabbit and set it aside on a big plate. Try to leave as much oil as you can in the pot and repeat the gentle frying process for the second batch of rabbit.

Now add the onions, carrots, bay leaves, and salt to the pot and set the heat to medium-low. You’re aiming to fry the mix so that the onions soften, and the carrots pick up a little browning color. That will take about 7 minutes with a few watchful stirs on medium-low.

Turn the heat to medium, and stir in the serrano peppers, garlic, celery, bell peppers, oregano, and thyme. Let the mix fry for 3 minutes with a couple of stirs. You want the peppers and celery to soften a little, but not to start picking up any color. That’s important because you want the peppers to keep their bright colors, and, along with the celery, to retain a fair amount of their body.

Stir in the vinegar you kept from the rabbit and turn the heat to high. As soon as the vinegar starts to bubble, drop the heat to medium and add the water, sugar, capers, olives, and black pepper. Give the lot a good stir and then carefully add your rabbit and all the juices from its plate. Don’t stir the pieces of rabbit into the pot, but rather set them on top of your braising mix.

Keep the pot on that medium heat and let it come up to a slowly bubbling simmer. As soon as that happens, drop the heat to low, cover the pot and let it simmer away gently for 25 minutes.

Now carefully – and I mean carefully – stir the pot so that the rabbit gets covered as much as possible by its braising mix. Good. This is a good time to check for saltiness and adjust to suit your taste. Cover the pot and give it another 20 minutes of that slowly bubbling simmer on its low heat.

Turn off the heat and let your covered pot sit and cool for a few hours. Once that time’s up, all you have to do is stir in the lemon juice and warm the pot for a few minutes over a medium heat - so that it’s all nicely hot for serving.

Start to finish, these take about 45 minutes to cook. So, it’s a good idea to get them underway about an hour before you want to serve the rabbit.

Set your oven to 350F / 180C. Add the olive oil to a baking dish that’s big enough to hold all the potatoes in a single layer, and set the dish in the oven while it’s heating.

Put the potatoes in a saucepan with a level teaspoon of ground sea salt and just enough cold water to cover them.

Set the pan on a high heat and bring it to the boil. Turn the heat to low, cover the pan, and allow the potatoes to simmer for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat, drain the potatoes and return them to their pan. Cover the pan and let the potatoes steam there for 5 minutes.

Remove the baking dish from the oven, and quickly add the potatoes, red onions, garlic, 2 heaped teaspoons salt, and black pepper. Stir the dish so that everything gets well coated in the sizzling oil.

Now slide in the sprigs of rosemary so that they sit underneath the potatoes on the bottom of the dish.

Cover the dish with a sealing sheet of silver foil. Return the dish to the oven on a high shelf and increase the heat to 425F / 220C. Roast for 15 minutes. (That tight foil covering matters because it ensures the potatoes become infused with the wonderful flavors of the rosemary, garlic, and onion.)

After that first 15 minutes’ roasting, remove the dish and give all the potatoes a quick turn in the oil. Return them to the oven – uncovered – so they can roast to a fine golden color for 15 minutes or so. Done.

I’d make this while the braised rabbit is resting in its big pot. Once all the pilacca’s ingredients are mixed together, it certainly pays to let the sauce stand for a couple of occasionally stirred hours and allow its flavors to really meld together.

Start by heating half the olive oil in a heavy skillet over a high heat. Once the oil just begins smoking. stir in the whole chilies. You now want to give them a scorching, blistering char by stir frying them over that high heat for about 3 minutes. Take a bit of care here – as the whole chilies expand in that very hot oil, they can burst and cause the oil to spit, so it’s wise to bear that in mind as you’re charring them.

As soon as the chilies are darkly scorched, remove them from the heat and lift them out of the skillet with a slotted spoon. Let the oil cool and then turn it all into a pretty serving jug that will hold all the rest of your sauce’s ingredients.

Once the chilies have cooled enough for you to handle them, chop them very finely, seeds and all.

In your serving jug, thoroughly stir the chilies together with the other ingredients – that’s all the olive oil, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and orange zest. Make sure to stir thoroughly so the sugar dissolves completely. And give it few more stirs as it sits and waits to be served alongside the braised rabbit and rosemary roasted potatoes.