Croatia: Land of love and food babies
Making the most of our vacation days - no long weekends or stay-cations for us - we threw it all in for a trip to Croatia!
Dyl and I went to Croatia for the wedding of the first friend we made in D.C… and it was so amazing to be a part of the wedding! Being a bridesmaid for a friend that we made in our new life in America– it seems to legitimize our lives here, it’s a landmark for belonging. Got some real warm and fuzzies being part of the family for that time, and even if it wasn’t our South African family, being enfolded briefly into a community of people who love each other, flying from all corners of the world to lavish love on family is really special.
Anyway, being there for a wedding means we ate lots of good food, and got to experience a lot of cultural representation, yes, lucky me once again! Towards the end of the trip (she guiltily admits), I did the research on what things you “have to try” while in Croatia and was happy to find that we had been lucky enough to sample a whole lot of them!
There is a lot of heritage and homely culture in Croatian food. Recipes passed down in families and adapted, lovingly craved as each new seasons draw near, ushering in new favorites. I have created recipes for two of the most popular dishes there, and although I did my best not to adulterate the recipes, I ended up doing my usual thing and leveling up on improvements I felt would ad extra zing. I’ve made it clear which ingredients I subbed - so if you want to be a little more puristic you can sub back!
One of the must try dishes (although do your research on a restaurant that does it well – the recipe varies a lot!) is Pašticada -slow cooked beef in a rich gravy with dates and vegetables pureed in. We happened to have the best version of this at a place called “Pousson” in old town Dubrovnik. I wish I could find a website link for them... The version I have created is with a deboned lamb leg as I found the beef could be very dry – and the deep flavor of the gravy is so important (you can easily sub back to chuck steak in the recipe for a more authentic version). Serve this with gnocchi and don’t feel bad about it, there are lots of veggies in the sauce. I also cheated here and served it with oven baked fries to make a poutine-like creation which adds a pit of texture to the the overall dish.
Pašticada in the making..
Marinated overnight in wine and studded with garlic, rosemary and prosciutto. To the recipe!!
One of the other famous and delicious dish typical of Croatia is black rice – risotto cooked in squid ink: Crni rižot. The reason I really liked this dish was its delicacy and simplicity of flavor – it goes against my natural instinct to load up on flavor, cheese, garlic and cream to get some dimension into what, at the end of the day is a bowl of rice pudding. The squid ink has a lovely delicate flavor if you leave it alone to sing on its own. I tried to do that, but gave in to my baser instincts with the addition of this green onion vinaigrette- so tasty, a decision I do not regret! If you want to be a purist, dont make the vinaigrette, just lavish the top with liberal gratings of some aged parm. Like I said - the delicate flavor of the ink does sing for itself!
This Bobby flay recipe that I adapted - really good. Although don’t try to sing after you have eaten it – your tongue and mouth will be black too..
Crni rižot
With Calamari, prawns and Bobby Flay's green onion vinaigrette. To the recipe!
We stayed on for a week after the wedding, Dyl and I. We were so lucky to be able to take a bit of time off together, it’s the first time we had really had some good solid vacation time since we had moved 4 years ago, can you believe it? All of our vacation time has been split up with family and other trips. We walked miles together, got grumpy sweaty and hot together, acted the fool and ran around like kids together and got accidentally drunk and missed tours together. Its amazing what breaking some old habits and creating some new memories can to make home seem more special too. Especially easy Access to air-conditioning. Croatia was damn hot…
"I'm a merman, take a photo!"