Edges of vineyards in Dalmatia used to be surrounded with dry walls and planted figs. It is no wonder then that figs end up in wine. If you add some honey and aromatic Mediterranean herbs, you get a simple but top-notch dessert with Dalmatian signature.
Family recipe for this caraway cake was given to us by our darling Mema. Recipe which is over 100 years old was prepared by her grandmother and great grandmother from the Goršeti village on the Kupa river side. Yeast dough strudel with unusual butter and caraway filling will definitely not leave you indifferent.
Perkelt is the profound member in the family of stews. It originated in the 18th ct. when paprika started to be used in Hungary, and left its roots also in Slavonia. Even though in the Hungarian cuisine it is prepared from chicken, pork or venison, in Slavonia you can find it made with river fish. We used pike-perch. Its excellent aroma is provided by the smoked paprika and bacon, while its taste is rounded up by wide-noodles side dish with fresh cottage cheese and sour cream.
Pork, garlic and parsley are ingredients to this simple and delicious meal. They can be served on their own with bread being dipped in the gravy 🙂 or next to roast potatoes. Pork chops can also be slightly fried in a pan and then continued to be baked in the oven with potatoes. All together is poured over with garlic gravy, and abundantly sprinkled with parsley before serving.Â
An interesting combination of fruit flavours closed in a jar. Trust me, it will not stay there for very long. As a bread spread, ice-cream topping, pancake stuffing or in preparation of cakes. Enjoy!
Deep sea chameleon, the cuttlefish, apart from delicious meat, also contains defensive black ink which started to be used in gastronomy for colouring meals, primarily pasta, pastry and rice. Connoisseurs say that black risotto has to be strong in flavour, but light when eaten. Except from the cuttlefish, key ingredients in its preparation are quality rice full of starch and fish stock (clean sea water was also once used in preparation).
The green heart of Croatia, as Gorski kotar is called, hides delicious forest fruit, blueberries definitely being the highlight of them. With their colour and sweet and sour taste, they are excellent for preparing various desserts. At Gorski kotar they are traditionally dressed in filo pastry in the form of a strudel. You can taste it in renowned vacation resorts of Gorski kotar, but also at your home.
In the area around the river Gacka, food used to be prepared from ingredients that people would have in their homes, at their heaths. This is how preparation of meat under the lid or pekva. They used to be made from clay, and today they are metal. The final product of such preparation of meat is soft, tasty meat and delicious potato, with flavours of gravy.
Pandišpanj, patišpanj, pandešpanj is a favourite dessert from Dubrovnik, which has spread around the coastal area. Its original name is Pan di Spagna (Spanish bread) and it is assumed that it reached Dubrovnik though sailors from that city. Required ingredients you can always find in your kitchen, and during preparation it is important to mix in enough air so that the sponge cake is soft and spongy. One of the particularities is placing the cake in cool oven and baking at low temperatures for a longer period of time.
Brodetto (brudet, bruje, brodet) is a common Dalmatian fish meal. Although the meal is in its name linked to the Italian bread soup (pane in brodo), here brodetto has a completely different meaning and refined taste. A rough description of the meal would be: fish soup prepared as stew on onion, vinegar, wine and olive oil.