skampi or how I sent my Aunty Boja broke

When you're a guest anywhere in the balkans you are King and I mean that literally, you have never experienced hospitality like it,  family members who will sleep on the couch in their OWN home so you can have the bed, the piles of food and drink, when I'm in Croatia I quite like staying in rooms let by little old "baka's " ( grannies ) who needs a concierge when you have a granny who's only lived oh say 50 years in the medieval sea side town you're visiting, and bakes biscuits and cakes for you in the morning before you hit the town, and has a shot of rakija waiting for you when you come back...anyway many years ago whilst on a visit to Croatia I stayed with my Aunty Boja who is an exceptional cook, and after a few days of catching up and reminiscing, filling her in on her sisters life in faraway Australia she asked me what I wanted for a farewell dinner I don't know if it was the slivovitz but I grinned like an idiot and shouted out "SKAMPI," the room went silent for a moment before my Aunty said " sure of course " so the next day I wandered the well laid out streets, admired the buildings from the Austro-Hungarian era and came across the fish market where I noticed these tasty little mini lobster like crustaceans which Rijeka is famous for, were the equivalent price per kilo of my Aunty Bojas Oh I'd say MONTHLY meagre wage  !!!, now I felt really bad but I knew there was no way she was going to NOT buy some, even if she had to borrow the money from the neighbours. So that night I turned up to dinner with plastic bags full of cartons of Marlboro's, Champagne and Whisky we smoked and drank till dawn and man I tell you those scampi tasted good...this recipe is from my good friend Ino Kuvacic head chef and owner of Dalmatino restaurant here in Melbourne Australia and his great blog.


http://inokuvacic.blogspot.com.au/search?updated-max=2011-11-20T05:37:00-08:00&max-results=7

Sarma saved my life.

I know the title of this blog sounds over the top, but when you are a struggling fine arts student ( what other type is there ) at University and the pantry is bare, your stomach is grumbling so loud it sounds like a plane taking off, and your housemate is holding up two potatoes so way past their prime that they resemble prunes more than potatoes, that he reckons he can turn into a " stew " despair and melancholy set in.... but wait what was that your mother was holding in her hand, last time she came over to visit ( and clean up ) was it a Tupperware container that she put in the freezer, as you waved your hand whilst watching TV and said  "yeah whatever " that's right it was, so you dive at the freezer compartment and there it is under all the ice frosted like that guy they found in the alps perfectly preserved, you chip away at it with a dinner knife until it comes free and like Indiana Jones you are holding the holy grail...4 cabbage rolls and a pair of Kransky sausages starvation is averted, peace rules the world and your housemate Dan is on his knees begging you to share....

Sarma

1 whole head pickled cabbage
800g minced pork neck ( aah the magic meat once again )
1 tbsp chopped parsley
3 tbsp soda water
1 tbsp of salt & pepper
60g rice
2 cloves garlic chopped finely
2 tbsp smoked paprika
800g sauerkraut
2 pairs of Kransky sausages
200g smoked pork hock or kaiserfleisch, ribs etc..
1 onion sliced
1/3 cup of olive oil
2 tbsp flour
stock to cover the rolls ( vegetable or beef stock )

Separate and wash the cabbage leaves in warm water. Cut off the outer ribs without damaging the leaves. Set the aside.

Place the minced pork in a bowl and add parsley, soda water, salt & pepper, rice ,garlic,and half of the paprika. Place enough filling about 2tbsp into the centre of each cabbage leaf and roll it up tucking in the edges. Cut any remaining cabbage leaves into very fine shreds and combine with the sauerkraut toss , wash in cold water and drain. Line the bottom of the pot with some of the sauerkraut mix. Arrange cabbage rolls around the edge of the pot leaving the centre free. fill the centre with the Kransky and smoked meats, cover the top with rest of sauerkraut.

In separate pan fry sliced onion until golden, add flour and fry for 1-2 min add remaining paprika and 1 cup of water, allow to boil stirring to prevent lumps forming, pour the roux over the cabbage rolls and pour enough stock to cover rolls. shake the pot to allow the sauce to combine. cover and allow to boil then reduce heat to low simmer and simmer for 3 hrs shaking pot occasionally NEVER STIRRING serve with mash potatoes ( not the ones mentioned above )

My frien Ino who is the chef and owner of the Croatian restaurant in melbourne DALMATINO has a great regional variation of this recipe on www.inokuvacic.blogspot.com check it out.

Two R's don't make a Q but its the best I could do.

Ok ok so its not going to win any poetry prizes but I thought the title of this post was quite cute, the reason we are skipping the letter Q is because in the various alphabets of the Balkans it doesn't exist, search all you want you won't find it anywhere, so I have included two recipes beginning with R

Number 1........Raznjici

Now followers of this blog may remember an earlier posting about cevapcici where I extolled the virtues of the "pola-pola" you can't have one with out the other, so what exactly are raznjici, well my friends they are bit sized morsels of porky goodness, the recipe is dead easy, the cut to get is pork neck now if you go to the Chinese butchers around town that's what they will have it displayed as, if you venture to a purveyor of fine meats or similar establishment they will have it displayed as "scotch fillet" and priced accordingly.

1/2 kilo pork neck diced and trimmed of excess fat ( I like to leave a little fat on )
1/4 cup of olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 Onion sliced but not into onion rings if you know what I mean.

In a bowl season pork with salt and pepper, add olive oil and smoked paprika add onion and leave in the fridge covered for a few hours.

Heat a BBQ grill plate or pan, seal with a little oil and place meat on the pan turn meat until its browned an all sides serve with bread, kupus, ajvar and a cold beer......lovely.

Next..... Riba ( Fish )

"Picture this if you will ( apologies to Rod Serling and the Twilight Zone ) you are small child no more than ten years old, you are fast asleep dreaming of things ten year olds dream about suddenly you are woken by your father he looks into your half open eyes and says "Its a full moon and tides a metre twenty" it can only mean one thing you're going fishing if you like it or not." I can't begin to tell you how many times this happened to my brother and I, bundled out of bed at 3am car ready with fishing gear to drive 3hrs somewhere to catch fish, but it worked and now I am a full blown fishing tragic, the countless nights spent at middle harbour or the northern beaches in Sydney, or my favourite Sydney spot nestled amongst the millionaire and odd billionaires mansions of Point Piper pulling in leatherjacket. Being from the coastal part of Croatia called Dalmatia fishing and cooking fish is in my blood, now you all know what to look for in fish, should smell of the sea not a fishy smell, nice clear eyes etc etc the following recipe is for snapper just recently I overheard someone saying that they were "over" snapper as its quite a popular fish here in Oz. Well as Samuel Johnson said " Sir if a man tires of snapper, he tires of life " or was he talking about London ? ......whatever.

1 snapper season with salt inside and out.
 very finely chop a cup full of continental parsley drizzle with olive oil, add zest of one lemon and smear inside the fish.
Get the BBQ coals glowing ( fish always tastes better over the coals )

Make a brush of a bunch of rosemary and in a small bowl squeeze the juice of the lemon zest ed earlier and add a dash of olive oil place the fish on the grill and use the brush to baste the fish with the juice/oil mixture. fish is done when the meat starts to fall of the bone. The snapper in the photo accompanied by the scampi cost the princely sum of $40 AU in Split Croatia.