Palacinke. the bed rock of any good house wife.

In a similar vein to my earlier musing on this blog " What is a man without a moustache " I give you " Who can call themselves a Domacica if they cant make palacinke " now domacica roughly translates into English as housewife so before the feminist sisterhood rallies the lynch mob and marches on my home with flaming torches in one hand and a noose in the other LET ME EXPLAIN !!!! In the Balkans the real power resides in the kitchen as a woman's skill in the art of being a domacica was much more relevant and important than a mans whose days were spent staring at an oxen's behind as he plowed the fields, a domacicas skills could bring income into the family home by the way of her baking ( catering for less skilled domacica ) preserving foods and sewing skills that kept the family clothed and maybe even sell a few pieces of lacework, my grandmother was, and my mother and my wife are all great domacica and I thankfully don't have to stare at a oxen's arse, anyway this recipe for palacinke is not our families, as that recipe will be whispered to my daughter and kept in the family for another generation. But its a great recipe none the less.

PALACINKE S ORASIMA I COKOLADOM )

( crepes with walnut and chocolate )  I'm on a walnut thing OK.

Palacinka batter

1     cup plain flour
1/2  teaspoon baking powder
2     tablespoons caster sugar
2     teaspoons vanilla sugar
1/2  teaspoon salt
2     eggs
1     cup milk
1     tablespoon butter

Filling

100g  dark chocolate
2        tablespoons whipped cream
2        teaspoons of Rum ( we will find any excuse to use alcohol )

Topping

3/4 cup ground walnuts
2 tablespoons icing sugar

Sift the flour, baking powder, caster sugar, vanilla sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Add eggs milk and melted butter, beat well to make a thin batter. Preheat a frying pan lightly greased, pour about 1/4 cup of batter onto the hot pan tilt the pan for the batter to cover the bottom, when lightly golden flip and brown the other side. Repeat with the remaining batter greasing the pan before adding more batter place in a ovenproof dish and cover and keep warm in oven.

Melt the chocolate over low heat in a saucepan, stir in the cream and rum. When well combined remove from heat spread chocolate mixture on left half of palacinka roll to form a cigar shape sprinkle with the crushed walnuts and icing sugar on top.

Enjoy with a nice glass of kruskovac ( pear liqueur )

I'm back a short story about walnuts ( Orah )

I know its been a while but I've been busy OK, now that we have got that out of the way lets continue. In the part of Croatia that I was born the Bilogora hills walnuts abound as they do in most parts of the Balkans and are used extensively in cooking cakes, biscuits and making the fabulous liqueur Orahovac  ( which you can find in Australia through the Dan Murphys chain see recipe below ),  I remember visiting my cousin Dragan who was the last of our family to be still left on the farm and who looked after his bedridden mother and how behind the mud brick house with the thatched roof and whitewash walls in which they lived, was a walnut grove from which he made a small living, and as we sat in the house in the half light as there was only one tiny window to let the afternoon sun in, I wondered how different our lives were solely for the fact that my father had decided to emigrate and take us to Australia and how hard life was for Dragan and what might have been had we stayed, anyway as I got up to leave Dragan looked desperately for something to give me as a parting gift but all he had was a small bag of walnuts which he thrust into my hands as I left, I shared those walnuts all but one of them with the rest of my cousins when I got back to the city, that one walnut I still have......( just don't tell customs )

Half fill one whisky tumbler with ice add shot of Orahovac and a twist of lemon then drink.....and behold you shall see the face of God !!!

Something to go with a nice chianti N is for Noklice od dzigerice ( liver dumplings )

" A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti. " Aaah Hannibal Lecter I'm with him on the chianti, but if he had this recipe I'm sure he would have forgone the fava beans, I've found that kosher butchers stock the freshest livers, these are great added to your favourite clear or chicken soup recipe.


1 1/2     tablespoons lard
1/2        onion minced
300g     livers finely minced ( use a food processor )
1 day old sourdough bun
milk for soaking
1          egg beaten
1 1/2    tablespoons bread crumbs
1         sprig parsley, finely diced
salt and pepper to taste


Heat the lard in a pan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute. When lightly browned remove from heat and cool, the stir into the liver. Soak the roll in some milk until soaked , drain off excess, and finely chop. Now add the liver mixture, egg, bread crumbs, parsley salt and pepper to a mixing bowl. Mix well and let stand for 30min. Shape the dumplings with a spoon and add to your soup that has been brought to boil for about ten minutes

Forget about the dog...a donkey is a mans best friend.

The ubiquitous donkey or Magarac was till not too long ago a familiar sight in the balkans, now sadly less so my Baka ( grandmother ) had a donkey very similar to the one pictured on this blog, and when we would visit she would take us on rides to neighbouring villages where us kids would get up to no good whilst my mum would tell horror stories about Australia (the wine is terrible, suns too hot, crap shade under gum trees etc etc.) Anyway one particular summers night it was time to go and my grandmother put me on the back of the donkey for the ride home....except she had forgotten to take off the hobble which was a leather strap shaped in a figure 8 that you slipped on the back legs of the donkey to stop it wandering off, so I go on the back of the donkey which freaks out because it cant move and bucks so violently that I fly through the air laughing my head off and land in a freshly hoed garden bed, I get up my head spinning and watching my Baka beating the living daylights out of the donkey hey she loved the donkey but I WAS the eldest grandson.

Seeing as we are up to the letter M I thought I would mix things up and offer a cocktail recipe, featuring Maraschino cherry liqueur from my home town of Zadar

Commonly used ingredients	2 oz. gin 1/2 oz. lemon juice 1/2 oz. maraschino liqueur
Preparation	Add all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry. and sprinkle with a pinch of caster sugar.

LJ imagine inventing your own letter.

By all accounts the letter LJ was invented by Ljudevit Gaj in the early 1800's, fancy inventing a letter you can keep your micro processor, penicillin, or instant coffee ( like really WHY would you invent that ) anyway thats all ancient history, and back to the here and now and Ljute paprike or hot peppers are very popular in the balkans they come in all sorts of varieties, dried or pickled great to add a bit of heat, now this recipe calls for Kajmak which is a sort of creamy ricotta which you can find in middle eastern delis particularly turkish ones.

20 hot peppers ( the long thin variety )
30ml verjuice or white wine vinegar
1.5 ltr water
3 tbsp olive oil
300g kajmak
1 tsp salt

clean the peppers by inserting a knife at the top and cutting away the " crown " scrape out seeds being careful to not make to big a hole

bring the water to boil adding salt and vinegar

add peppers for 1 minute NO MORE

remove and place on paper towel to dry

when dry fill with kajmak to 2/3 rd. anymore and you will have kajmak oozing out.

arrange in a ceramic or pyrex baking tray let the salted water cool and pour over peppers will keep for about a month in the fridge but i guarantee they wont last that long.

best eaten as part of an antipasto or mezze platter with some ice cold beer to drown the peppers heat

These are the type of peppers or capsicum you want we are not talking Birdseye chilli here

Lignje a test of a mans worth

In Dalmatia they have a couple of sayings one of them is " Sto je muskarac bez brkove " what is a man without a moustache, I would say clean shaven but what they actually mean is that you can't call yourself a man without some facial hair and you can't call yourself a man OR a Dalmatian unless you can cook, much like the paella ritual in Spain which is the domain of men. In Dalmatia being known as a good cook is an honour  and being in charge of the BBQ is a given, with Lignje otherwise known as calamari a staple,  my Dida (grandfather) Tadija was a superb cook whilst my fiercely anti communist grandmother would take the children to church on Sunday my Dida who held a government job and hence if he was seen in church would have got the sack, remembering we are talking about Tito's communist Yugoslavia, would instead be preparing the Sunday lunch on their return and for whoever else might pop in ( communist or anti- communist he was a bit like that ever the diplomat) so this recipe was one they would have often and is in his honour. So all you blokes out there get cooking.

As many calamari as you like the smaller the better do not buy squid tubes they are an abomination.

Clean the inside of the calamari removing the "quill" which is the hard backbone, remove innards, and beak,a good trick is to use a spoon to scoop out the innards

Pat dry the calamari, keep the wings on ( the flaps either side of the main body )

marinade for a few hours in a gremolata which is olive oil, finely chopped parsley, finely chopped garlic, lemon zest, and a chopped Birdseye chili if you like it hot.

Fire up the charcoal on the BBQ wait till the coals are glowing and have gone white, place the lignje on the grill and char nicely all over they will go a beautiful pink colour, baste with a fresh batch of gremolata not the one they were marinading in.

to serve drizzle slightly with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

best served with Blitva which is silver beet sauteed served with boiled potatoes and drizzled with olive oil , lemon and salt and pepper.

Kiseli Kupus..... a love affair

I think of the great love affairs during the ages, Richard Burton and Liz Taylor, Marc Anthony and Cleopatra ( hang on weren't they the same couple ? ) my wife Erica and I, and then I come to that wonderful joyous love affair I have with kiseli kupus otherwise known as sauerkraut, during the winter months I keep a jar well actually a largish jar on hand to add to schnitzels, sausages, pork ribs or what the hell just straight out of the jar, I have it on good authority the reason sauerkraut is so popular with pork dishes is that it aids in the digestion of the pork in no small way aided by the beer, now kiseli kupus is very popular in Croatia especially the Continental part due to the long association with the former Austro - Hungarian empire, we during the winter months have made our own using the plastic barrels as shown in the picture which is a 120ltr barrel

12 heads of cabbage or as many that will fit in the barrel that you are using.
2 1/2 cups of salt per cabbage or there about
1 garlic clove per head
bay leaf per head

wash cabbage heads and remove any tough outer leaves and reserve, core each head and fill with salt, bay leaf and garlic, place one layer of cabbage leaves on bottom of barrel and place a layer of cabbage heads, and keep adding layer of cabbage heads repeating the process of adding salt etc until barrel is full cover with cabbage leaves.

Fill barrel with as much water as it will hold, place a clean UNTREATED timber lid ( you might have to make your own to fit the circumference of the barrel ) and weigh down with large rock or similar weight about 25kg leave barrel in garage or somewhere suitably cool after about ten days skim the foam off the top of the water and repeat every few days or so during the fermenting process which should take about 40 days heads can be frozen once done , before using them rinse leaves and chop finely for your very own kiseli kupus. Note this is best done during the winter months when temperatures are better suited.

jegulja godzillas balkan cousin

Jegulja just say it   ' YEAH-GOUHL-YAR ' if that doesn't sound like some mythical creature lying dormant in a Bosnian mountain waiting for a local to free it, who's  in the process of finding a spot to stash his black market cigarettes, I don't know what does, anyway jegulja are EELS now my dad is a mad keen fisherman who loves nothing better than catching these suckers, but he doesn't eat them so he does one of two things number 1 he gives them to my Uncle Miro and they spend a good couple of hours drinking sljivovitz and complaining that things aren't as good as they were in 1973. Number 2 he swaps them with our Vietnamese next door neighbours who's grandmother delivers a pile high tray of handmade spring rolls.  Needless to say this is not a recipe for spring rolls.

Jegulja na ribarski nacin  ( Eel fisherman style )

1 kg eel ( don't ask me for any unless you can make a black forest cake..... from scratch )
3 tbs olive oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
parsley
tomato
30ml rakija ( moonshine or try grappa )
1/2 cup of red wine
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp verjuice or white wine vinegar

Gut, wash and cut into pieces, olive oil into a pan and bring to heat and brown pieces all over, remove eel and place on plate, add the diced garlic to the oil as well as the sliced onion, and chopped parsley and diced tomato and fry till onions start to brown then add sljivovitz and red wine return the eels and season simmer for 20min and sprinkle with verjuice to finish all up this recipe should take 30min

An Ode to Istra

After my native Dalmatia, Istra would have to be my favourite region situated on the northern shore of the Adriatic, bordering Slovenia and the gulf of Venice this peninsula packs some culinary punch, whether its the white truffles of Vodnjan at the ridiculously cheap price of $400 AU a kilo or the best pizza I have ever had in the magnificent city of Pula, Istra has got it in abundance not to mention the wine with varieties such as Teran and Malvazia being ones to watch on your radar, I reckon the best way to describe Istra would be to say its a mini Tuscany but one with crystal clear beaches, now where else in the world are you going to find that.

Istarski Lonac

2 onions diced
3 carrots diced
250g cabbage leaves ( inner leaves )
1 clove of garlic finely diced
3 tomatoes diced
salt and pepper to taste
400g diced lamb preferably leg
bay leaf
1/4 cup of olive oil
dry white wine

preheat the oven to 180c smear some olive oil into a heavy cast iron pot and soften onion and garlic, begin to layer with the vegetables first then the meat season each layer as you go , tuck in a bay leaf pour in the olive oil and wine until covered roast in the oven for 1hr and a half until most of the liquid has been absorbed.

Hobotnica a recipe if you have ever wondered what to do with.......Octopus

This is a classic summer recipe although nowdays you can get our eight legged friends at all time of the year. I have very fond memories of eating this as part of a summer feast with grilled sardines (srdele ) calamari ( ligne ) bakalar and my all time favourite whitebait ( girice ) because the octopus is prepared as a salad its a great recipe to bring to a party or BBQ although I have never understood the bring a plate philosophy and I mean literally didn't understand it to the point that in high school I brought a empty plate to a " bring a plate " function as part of end of year festivities.

50g diced capers
2 cloves garlic diced
black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp finely chopped parsley
50ml vinegar or verjuice
100ml olive oil
10 bay leaves
1/4 cup of white wine
4 or 5 potatoes a good waxy type

now to prepare the octopus you can go two ways
1/ get peasant style and give the beast a good bash on some rocks ( preferably no where near your home ) till you feel that it has softened up
2/ you freeze the octopus.

why freeze well when you put it in the pot covered with water , bay leaves and the white wine added the fact that its frozen will tenderize and speed up the cooking process whilst you bring it to the boil, you want to get the tentacles to the point that they are al dente once you have got it to that stage dice the tentacles put into bowl with capers, garlic season with salt and pepper.

Bring potatoes to boil in salted water let them cook just through let them cool chop and add to octopus with olive oil and verjuice/white wine vinegar toss well and garnish with chopped parsley.

Gods favourite bean stew is Grah ( trust me its true )

I have a confession to make, I actually didn't like Grah when I was younger, go with me on this I'm going to go Freudian psychoanalysis for a moment and explain why. Mealtimes when I was a kid meant exactly that MEAL TIME and mum kept a traditional Croatian kitchen which meant we had to clear our plates no matter how piled up they were, It was also around this time ( 8 years old ) that I started flirting with some revolutionary ideas I had picked up at school such as announcing I didn't want grah and, demanded fish fingers that i had spied at my friend Craig's house ( not that they offered me any ) so 3 hours later I was still sitting at the table finishing off my last mouth full of cold grah whilst my brother was watching Starskey and Hutch or was it Fantasy Island I can never remember, anyway it was a few years before I was embraced in the grah fold again, I digress, for the best results use good quality small goods and don't take shortcuts with the recipe.

400G    Red kidney beans dried
200G     Slanine ( smoked bacon you can find it a balkan or polish delis ) or speck
2            onions
100G      diced celery
2             carrots
1/2          diced capsicum
1            bay leaf
2            hot chillies not birdseye but larger variety ( feferona )
40G       Lardo ( pork fat ) or lard
1tbs       sweet paprika
40G       flour
              salt and pepper

soak beans in cold water overnight, drain and bring to simmer for 10 min in water, drain once more add fresh water and bay leaf and bring to simmer once more.

In another pot heat lardo with finely diced onion, diced carrot, celery, capsicum, paprika  and slanina add flour to form a roux add water and simmer on a low heat, when the beans have softened strain and transfer to pot with vegetables mix well and season to taste cooking time all up 1 hr 40 min you can add Krajnski sausages ( no they were not invented in Yarraville Australia as some think but Kranj in Slovenia ) or a pork hock with the slanina, which to serve you can remove and serve on a side plate washed down with a fine beer.

have you noticed how every race on earth has a recipe for doughnuts well here is the Croatian one F is for Fritule

I reckon pretty soon after the human races started cultivating wheat , some one made the first doughnut and why not, who doesn't love a  doughnut and these are my absolute favourite, these are so good that my brothers fiance who is a diabetic was rushed to hospital one afternoon after having one too many of these beauties ( true story I swear ) this recipe is particular to the Dalmatian region of Croatia were I hail from and just one word of advice you got to eat these hot to get the best result ( I bet you knew that already )

- 6 tsp. (2 packets of dry yeast)

- 125 ml (1/2 cup) warm water

- 250 ml (1 cup) + 1 pinch sugar

- 1.75 liters (7 cups) plain flour

- 500 ml (2 cups) boiling water

- 125 ml (1/2 cup) rakija, plum brandy or other brandy

- 2 tsp. vanilla

- 1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg

- 250 ml (1 cup) raisins

- Zest of 1 lemon

- Oil for frying

- Icing sugar

1. Mix the yeast with the warm water and a pinch of sugar and set aside until risen and foamy. Place the flour in large bowl, forming a well. Add the hot water gradually and blend with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring until the dough begins to form a ball.
2. Continue beating as you gradually add the 1 cup sugar, brandy, vanilla, nutmeg, raisins and lemon rind. Blend in the yeast mixture and then let the batter rest for 15 to 20 minutes. Meanwhile heat the cooking oil in a deep pot or fryer (the oil should be at least 6 cm / 2 1/2" deep).
3. When the oil is hot enough (test by dropping in a small piece of the batter, which should sizzle, but not burn), drop in the batter by well-rounded 1/2 tablespoon measures. You will have to dip the measuring spoon in water between spoonfuls of batter to clean it off. You may also have to coax the batter off the spoon.
4. Do not overcrowd . Ensure the fritule are turned so that all sides are golden. When browned, transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels, let cool slightly, then roll in powdered sugar. Arrange on a serving platter.

Elvis was my uncle and the biggest Balkanac that ever lived.

A few people have asked me about the photo of Elvis and Richard Nixon that I have on the blog, I'll get to Elvis first and Tricky Dick will have to wait for another time, my parents are big Elvis fans and there was absolute silence whenever there was an old elvis movie on tv, my mum had a framed photo of Elvis on the mantle piece where ever we lived in Australia next to the photos of all our relatives back home, now I thought nothing of this as I was convinced that Elvis was " Striko Elvis " or Uncle Elvis and why not there he was up with the rest of the family, dark and swarthy like the rest of us, overseas like the rest of the relatives, and also beacuse Elvis was the biggest BALKANAC !!! ( ie someone from the balkans ) that ever lived and here's the proof
1/ Elvis was a known connoisseur of all things pork especially bacon and as anyone knows nobody loves pork more than a balkanac (the Chinese a distant second )

2/ Elvis was a mommas boy, and no self respecting balkanac can live without constant smothering from his Majka and her food.

3/ Elvis's penchant for firearms, I once spent a good part of new years eve a while back in Croatia lying on the floor of my cousins apartment as gunfire rang out all around, only to join in later to let of a few rounds whilst drunk on slivovitz, and bambus ( red wine and coke, don't knock it till you have tried it )

Recipe coming soon ( maybe one elvis would be proud of )

What sort of alphabet has three versions of the letter D well here is the last one

Đuvec is a great stew that can be the saviour at your next dinner party when one of the guests is horror of horrors a VEGETARIAN Arrrggghhhh !!!!!! as anyone who has hung around us balkan types or been to the region can testify is that we love our meat, and that's all types Pork ( all hail the magic meat ) lamb ( spit roasted ), goat , duck, goose, and just recently they have revived in Croatia an ancient breed of Istrian Oxen called Boscarin which is going to give wagyu a good run for its money, which is not very hard as how much average grade wagyu is out there, I passed a Subway recently and it was advertising a new Wagyu 6 inch sub ....so  finding vegetarian options can be a bit tough, my wife who makes her own muesli mixes, lasted about a week on our honeymoon in Croatia with the local breakfast of cold cuts of smoked meats, cheese and pastries washed down with espresso and slivovitz, so I did what any good husband would do I found her some muesli in get this a Chemist!!! when I asked the pharmacist who bought the stuff she replied " Oh you know invalids, people with digestive problems, anybody who can't eat a proper breakfast " I on the other hand relished an opportunity to have cake for breakfast and not be stared at.

2 cups      brown rice
600g         potatoes peeled and diced
1               onion
2              garlic cloves
2tbsp        olive oil
4              red capsicums
4               tomatoes
140ml       vegetable stock
                 black pepper
4tbsp        chopped parsley

Cook rice whatever way works for you absorption etc....
Bring the potatoes to the boil and simmer for 5 min
Fry garlic and diced onion in the olive oil till translucent
dice capsicum and tomatoes and add to pan also adding potatoes and saute for a few minutes
pour in stock bring to the boil and then simmer for 5 min stirring occasionally

Stir in cooked rice season to taste and serve with crusty bread and sprinkle with parsley.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a recipe that begins with DZ

Persistence pays off my fellow readers, here I was thinking I would have to skip a letter and hope no one notices, when I found this gem of a recipe that combines the elements of eastern and western European cuisine in one sweet little biscuit, with the cheese a eastern influence and the Powidl a more central European angle all combined by my ever resourceful ancestors, who took every opportunity to extract something out of whoever was the occupier at the time Turk, Venetian , Austrian the list goes on, anyway just one more blog after this one and we find out what the hell is the photo of Elvis and Nixon all about!!!!

DŽEPIĆI OD TIJESTA SA SIROM ( Cheese and Pastry pockets )
500G plain flour
40g    butter
500g  plain cottage cheese
1        egg yolk for brushing
1        tablespoon baking powder
powidl plum conserve find it most good delis( been dying to say that )
salt


Add the baking powder to the flour and mix well, knead in butter with fingers, add cheese by " crumbing" into the mix and work quickly to combine, once combined roll out on a floured bench till its the thickness of say a chefs knife cut into squares however large you like, smear some of the plum mix in   the centre of each square fold corners into the centre and wash with egg yolk, place in hot oven until golden brown and enjoy with a fine herbal tea maybe a sipak ( rose hip )

Dalmatinski Zec....Rabbit Dalmatian style

Now I have cheated a bit as the title of this blog should read " Zec na Dalmatinski Nacin " and would have been the second last post but I couldn't wait to post this recipe and the story is all true.....When I was 12 or so and my brother was 10 my father built a rabbit hutch in the backyard and it was a thing of beauty enough room for a dozen or so cute little balls of fur, my brother would rush out when he got home from school to the backyard and hand feed them, and it was all going so well until they started breeding like.... well rabbits, I clearly remember my dad staring at the hutch  and calling out to my mum " Stoja zovi naroda, bit ce festa " ( Stoja call everyone there is going to be feast ), now I knew this was NOT good as every time we had a festa animals disappeared, anyway the chosen date coincided with my brothers birthday so a plan was hatched whereby my brother and I and some of our cousins would be taken for the very first time to wait for it.... MacDonald's I  remember my aunties sitting on the plastic stools, arms folded refusing to eat anything, whilst we got brain freeze from the milkshakes and third degree burns in our mouths from the sauce on the fillet o fish, all this was followed with a trip to the park. When we got home my brother ran to the hutch to find all the doors open, my dad explained to him that a great big rabbit had turned up and led all the rabbits away to the countryside where they would all live happily ever after,  so whilst we all went inside to sit at the dinner table my brother not convinced by my dads story started snooping around and went into the garage where he saw a chopping block, an axe firmly planted in it and, next to the axe a ....rabbits foot that his Kum ( godfather ) Ivan had decided to keep to hang on the rear visor of his ford xb coupe, well my brother let out a blood curdling howl ran into the kitchen just as my mum lifted the lid on her burnt orange bessemer casserole dish of you guessed it......Zec na Dalmatinski nacin, needless to say that he does not eat rabbit to this day.

1 cleaned rabbit
red wine vinegar
a couple of cloves of garlic
suha slanina  you can get this at most European especially Balkan or German delis ( dried pork similar to pancetta )
salt
olive oil
couple of sage leaves
2-3 bay leaves
twig of rosemary
white peppercorns
half an onion
pair of carrots diced
2-3 lemons
cup of red wine
sugar
water
continental parsley

In a heavy cast iron pot, dice garlic and the pancetta / suha slanina
sprinkle rabbit with salt and place in pot and pour over with cup of olive oil
when rabbit is browned all over pour in a cup of the red wine vinegar
put in sage, bay leaves, rosemary white peppercorns, onion, diced carrots
simmer on low heat for an hour
remove and joint

in a saucepan heat a tablespoon of olive oil some diced garlic and the juice of two lemons heat till simmering return rabbit to pot and pour over.

simmer for a further hour
 towards the end of the hour pour over with a glass of red wine
In some parts of Dalmatia they also sprinkle some sugar over with the wine
the rabbit should be well coated at all times and if necessary add a little water to serve  sprinkle generously with chopped parsley
serve with polenta ( coarse yellow variety ) or potatoes

Ć is for Ćvarci the ultimate bar snack

What the hell are Ćvarci you may well ask and with good reason,  why my friend they are the ultimate bar snack, salt and vinegar crisps, dirty old peanuts, forget about it !!!! basically you get a slab of bacon ( smoked is perfect ) with skin attached and dice into say 1 inch cubes you then slowly fry in a cast iron pot on a low heat until all the fat has been rendered out and you are left with the skin and the meat, place on absorbent paper ( my one concession to a healthy angle in this article ) I like to let them cool and then toss in paprika powder and there you have it. Winter is the traditional time to make them as that's when most of the gorgeous piggy byproducts are made, but if I get a couple of takers I will make them and deliver to a chosen venue to wash down with a fine beer ( maybe a karlovacko ) who's game ???

č is for čevapčici

čevapčici who hasn't enjoyed these spicy skinless sausages at a BBQ at least once in their lives and before i go any further they are NOT rissoles, good got that clear now lets move on, čevapčici  are popular all over the balkans as a fast food snack especially as a 3am got to have one now kind of snack,can be teamed up with their cousin raznjiči ( diced pork ) to form a POLA-POLA (half and half). You get one bread roll fill with čevapčici and raznjici add ajvar top off with kiseli kupus ( coleslaw but not the dodgy mayo kind ) and enjoy with ice cold beer. Some of the best čevapčici I have had were at the Zagreb railway station that my cousin Dario took me to basically the menu consisted of čevapčici and that's it, they served them on a paper plate with a side of RAW sliced onion and a little pile of salt and a sourdough type roll, to fit in with the locals the technique was to dip raw onion slice in salt ,eat and then take a bite of čevap and wash down with beer.. lovely. Now you can buy pre packaged but why bother when I am going to give you the recipe.


750 grams of  beef ( try rump ) 
750 grams of  pork neck ( if anybody tells you that you don't need pork for this recipe they don't know what they are talking about )
2 finely chopped cloves of garlic
tsp salt 
tsp pepper
4 tbsp sparkling mineral water or soda water
olive oil 
2 brown onions finely chopped


Add  water,garlic , salt, and pepper and meat put through mincer ( if mincing at home mince meat on finest setting you have ) if you have bought mince and its not fine enough you can put it in a plastic bag and gently beat with a meat tenderizer and then mix ingredients, and also make sure that the garlic is really finely chopped as it wont be going through the mincer if you have bought mince.
Once you have combined the ingredients either by putting through mincer or mixing by hand add mineral water and mix by hand for 10 min.
Put covered bowl in fridge and leave for 1hr.
After 1 hr mix meat for another 5min
Get a soup spoon and scoop out some of meat mixture say size of a ping pong ball and place in the palm of your hand and  roll into a cigar shape.
Arrange on a flat plate I like to drizzle a little olive oil on the plate beforehand to stop them sticking.
Rest for 30min

Cook on medium to high BBQ or grill pan for about 10 min turning over at 5 min mark.


Serve with ajvar, onion, bread and if you must..... tomato sauce.

C is for Crni Rizot

Now this is a dish that you will find up and down the adriatic coast particularly in Croatia to various degrees of sucess, i have had some that were a bit heavy on the salt but others so smooth and silky the black ink giving you that mouth feel like nothing else, this dish originates from Venice a legacy of the 400 or so years of Venetian rule and h.as been in my opinion refined and improved over those years. The photo attached is from our wedding banquet in the old walled city of Zadar showing the black rizot and a tomato paprika spiced version on the left, also note my cousin Sabina's Marlborough lights, trust me nobody asks permission to light up they just go right ahead ( I swear i almost took up smoking ). This recipe will feed a fair few so i would suggest have a few people over.

1KG Cuttlefish ( I have found that the vietnamese fishmongers of Abbotsford and Springvale  have it quite often.

200g School prawns ( or the smallest prawns you can buy )
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp finely chopped parsley ( Not the curly kind, ...do people still use that ? )
3 tbsp passata ( pasta sauce )
3 cups of arborio rice
2/3 cup dry white wine
1 cup of sherry ( here in oz I would suggest getting your hands on a half bottle of Manzanilla )
2 or 3 sprigs of thyme
1.5 ltr of fish stock

salt and pepper


Rinse the cuttle fish in cold water, removing the innards and bone being careful to not rupture the ink sack which you will put aside.
Separate legs and cut up main part into 1.5cm by 1.5 cm approx pieces.
Gently heat olive oil in heavy based pot.
Add tentacles and pieces fry for approx 10min on a medium flame add chopped garlic,parsley, passata,pepper to taste. for another 2 min
Add white wine, sherry and 2 cups of the fish stock cooking it until the cuttle fish has a bit of bite to it but not too much ( sort of al dente )
Add rice and  more stock,salt to taste, thyme and a sack of the black ink ( the darker you want it the more ink you add but TASTE after you add the sac so you know when enough is enough ) keep adding stock till you are happy with the rice add the cleaned prawns about 5min in, this all should take 12 to 15 min stirring constantly.
Remove from heat
Cover and let rest for 10min before serving with a crusty sourdough and a glass of John Kosovich Chardonnay from Swan Valley W.A

So you wanna make burek well here's the recipe

1 packet of bought filo pastry ( if you want to make your own go right ahead )
1kg         ricotta cheese
200g       sour cream
1/2tsp      salt
3             egg yolks
3             egg whites stiffly beaten till they peak of your whisk ( teach them whose boss )
160ml     light flavoured olive oil

FILLING
Beat the cheese, salt egg yolks and sour cream in a bowl making sure they are well combined and then fold in the stiffened egg whites

Preheat oven to 180c

Cut the pastry to fit a 30cm or so baking tin that has been lightly greased with oil or butter
Brush two sheets and place in bottom of tin, next spread a thin layer of the cheese mix on the pastry, and basically you alternate between layers of cheese and pastry until you have used up whichever first, making sure you have two or three layers of filo left over to cover the top, brush the top with oil poke a few holes with a fork and sprinkle on some salt flakes or good quality ground salt bake for 30min.

Serve with a dollop of yoghurt on the side and an ice cold beer (Karlovacko) to be authentic, you can experiment with the filling some suggestions would be,

Grated walnuts and sweet ricotta, spinach and mushroom although if you are going to do a sweet version substitute sugar for the salt in above recipe

Dobar Tek ( enjoy, eat well etc etc ....)

B is for Burek

Burek is that flaky pastry fast food of the balkans, wherever you go you are sure to find a burek stand, my favourite is just inside the walls of the old city of Zadar selling slices of multiple layers of filo pastry with a filling of meat usually lamb spiced with cinnamon, and rosemary, also popular are the sheeps cheese  varieties with a side of yogurt. Burek is to the nightlife of the balkans, of what the Macdonalds drive thru or the Hot Dog van outside the nightclub is to Australia, an absolute necessity !!! Anyway whilst I lived in Sydney I spotted a sign stating "BEST BUREK IN SYDNEY" after talking to the guy inside he told me he was a 3rd generation burek maker his grandfather opened a burek stand in Zagreb the capital of Croatia just after the second world war, They were in Rockdale next door to the Bunnings hardware store, in Melbourne check out

Balkan Fresh Burek

Ph: (03) 9470 2433 ; 351 High St, PRESTON 3072

Kings Fresh Burek 58 Kings Road, St Albans VIC 3021

From Ajvar to Žganci

Ideas come to us in many different ways, this particular idea came to me last night whilst nestling a glass of sljivovica ( plum brandy, and NO not all of it is rocket fuel ) How about a culinary journey through the Croatian alphabet, a bit like "Julie and Julia" but actually more like "Slavko and Zlatko" now the Croatian alphabet has 30 letters some of whom you will recognize some of whom you wont and some of whom wont be there at all, like the letter Q so here goes

A is for Ajvar

Now this delicous relish of eggplant, red capsicum, garlic and chilli is enjoyed all over the region, from breakfast where it is smeared on toast, to  it accompanying your favourite cold meats in a roll or as a side to cevapcici, ajvar is very popular I will go so far as stating that its Balkan Vegemite. Ajvar making season is about now, with my mum forever commenting on the various qualities of capsicums and so forth, recipes are closely guarded which wont stop me posting one as soon as i can pry one out of the relatives so keep a look out, as for the shop bought stuff I have seen the PODRAVKA brand for sale at Coles and Woolworth's usually in the international section ( very quaint ), or you should find it in most delis with a eastern european bent.

Ziveli

Karlovacko Pivo

Ahhhhh  Karlovacko to be sitting in a cafe on one of the islands in the Adriatic drinking this finely crafted beer, brewed in Karlovac Croatia since the middle of the 19th century, the brewery sits on the confluence of five rivers ( got a be a good sign ) a clean full flavoured beer and at 5.4% a decent level, is now available in Melbourne via Dan Murphys and can be enjoyed  at the following fine establishments.

Australian Croatian Association
72 Whitehall  st Yarraville

Dalmatino
280 Bay st Port Melbourne

Atticus Finch
129 Lygon st Brunswick East