Stuffed Adriatic Squid

This post is dedicated to my very dear friend Maja, who lives in Brooklyn. Maja is real nomad, she lived all around Europe and America. We met working on some film production and we developed one great friendship.

In fact, Maja was one of the two person to who I firstly "discovered" my blog. From the moment she discovered I have a food blog she is tampering me to write about my "stuffed squids".

Well, this recipe that I use is certainly not mine. It is traditional dalmatian recipe and according to great tradition of Dalmatian Cuisine it very simple, healthy and tasty!

Few days ago my brother visited Zagreb and I decide to prepare Stuffed Squids for lunch. Off course, since my brother is great gourmet and great cook he jointed me in kitchen and we prepared lunch together.

Stuffed Adriatic Squid

Ingredients:

9 mid size Adriatic Squids*
3 large potatoes
1 carrot
1 spoon of breadcrumbs
olive oil
1 cup red or white wine
1 onion
garlic
parsley
bay leafs
salt
pepper

Separate the tentacles from the body of the squids. Clean the body cavity and carefully remove the backbone without damaging the body of the squid. Wash the squids and the tentacles. Drain and set aside.


Finely chop the tentacles.


Mix chopped tentacles with chopped garlic, parsley and breadcrumbs. Add salt and pepper according to your personal taste. Add some olive oil to make the mixture moist.

You can get creative with this staffing and you can add different ingredients like Parmesan or ricotta cheese, various herbs and spices, pine nuts or even raisins...

I must admit I prefer the simplest combination: only tentacles, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and superb Dalmatian Olive Oli.

Stuff the squid sacs with the mixture using...


... a very small spoon...


... or your fingers


Seal opening with skewers or toothpicks. Be aware that the stuffing will "grow" so do not overload the sacs or it will break.


Place the stuffed sacs in a baking-serving dish over the already seasoned vegetables: potato, carrot, onion...


Add few bey leafs. If any of the stuffing has been left, just sprinkle it over the vegetables.


Pour over some good quality red or white wine, according to taste.


Cover the dish and cook for about 1 hour, then uncover it and cook for additional 15 minutes.


Stuffed squids cooked in traditional way, "ispod peke" are especially delicious but oven baked squid are quite tasty too.

* NOTE: Adriatic squid (lat. Loligo vulgaris; hr. Lignja) is belonging to the family Loliginidae, and it is preferred in Dalmatian cuisine. Since I couldn't fined any squids in fish market that day I bought Totani or Flaying Squid (lat. Illex coindeti; hr. Totanj or Lignjuni) which resemble to common squid but it's less appreciated since its meet is more rigid. Nevertheless some people prefer Totani over Squids.

Jota - the Comfort Food Queen

If you ask me, when we talk about comfort food, nothing can beat Jota - thick bean and sauerkraut soup. It's one of those ancient dishes that no one can really tell where and when was prepared for the first time. It is topical staple food in Dalmatia, Istria, Slovenia and part of northmen Italy (around Trieste). Each region has its own variant, but two main ingredients beans and sauerkraut are the basics! If you are interested to learn more about history of this meal, original recipes... read the article about it.

I'm bringing you the recipe that I use. I do make variations with meat that I use. This time I used sausages but any other smoked meat like the knuckle of prosciutto, or pork ribs will do just fine if not even better.

Jota - bean and sauerkraut soup

250 gram beans

500 gram sauerkraut

sausages or other smoked meat according preference

100 gram fine-cut bacon

1 onion, fine-cut

2 cloves of garlic

carrot, according preference (I like to use lots of carrot)

parsley and celery root

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper to taste

0.5 dl olive oil

veal stock

Soak the beans overnight. I didn't have to do this since I had young beans that didn't needed soaking and long cooking. Instead I precook it for 1 hour.

Heath the olive oil in the large pot, add bacon and fry for 2-3 minutes on medium heath.


Add onion and brown it.

Add sliced carrot, parsley and celery root. This is not the part of the original recipe but I prefer it this way.

Add the sausages and let them burn a bit just to add the taste of sausage to the aromats.

Pour in the stock, bay leaf, salt, paper to taste. Add beans and cook until beans are almost completely soft.

Add sauerkraut. Pour more stock if needed.


Cook until beans and sauerkraut are completely tender.

Jota lets you be creative so use that. You can make numberless variations in every step of the recipe. You can use meat, but Jota can be great vegetarian dish too. Instead of sauerkraut you can use soured swede (purist will insist it is not Jota anymore, but trust me it is delicious too). Some add sour cream, some like to tick it with pestata...

Be careful with beans. If us "old" beans it will need longer time to cook. I do not cook sauerkraut too long for two reasons. The first is that I like to "feel" the crispy sauerkraut and secondly because Jota is one of those dishes that you prepare to eat for at least two days so you will re-heath it few times and sauerkraut will get very soft at the end.

As you can see, Jota is "flexible" so there are no reason not to do cook it today. Let me know how it worked for you.

Zucchini From My Parents Garden

Last year my parents started small garden in their beck yard. They are complete novice to gardening. While I was with them in Split I wanted them to try to develop bio-dynamical garden and I bought some books on bio-dynamical gardening, but I have to admit that it was all little bit SF for us, city slickers!

I'll try again when I go beck to Split, but I do not have high hopes.

Anyway, they do have small garden but with a help of their neighbor, who is experienced garnered, they do grow some very tasteful vegetable like: zucchinis, paprikas, beans, cabbage, beetroot, melons, tomatoes...

So, here it is, risotto with the zucchini form my parents garden. This summer was their very first harvest! And this zucchini is maybe the last one form this season. All we can do now is wait next spring and new zucchini.

Brown risotto with the zucchini
1 big zucchini
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1 cup of brown rice
3 cups of hot vegetable stock
1 cup f sweet corn
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, to serve
freshly grated parmesan cheese, to serve

Toast brown rice on low heat in fraying pan. Toast rice for about 10 minutes, stirring constantly so that grains do not burn. Rice should turn a medium brown. You will know that it is ready when you smell "bread like" aroma.

Toasting rice will reduce cooking time of rice. Also, I was told that it is good to toast rice in fall and winter because this way rice will give more energy to your meal and keep you warm.

Slice the onion and zucchini. Heat the oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and fry onions over a medium heat until softened. Add the zucchini and fry until zucchini let its fluid. Add a pinch of cinnamon.

Stir in the toasted rice. Pour in the stock and simmer, stirring, until the liquid has been absorbed. Add more stock and simmer until the liquid has been absorbed. Continue adding the stock and simmering until all the liquid has been absorbed and the rice becomes soft as you like it (some people like rice to be "al dente" and some like to be little overcooked).
Add sweet corn and stir into the risotto. Add salt and pepper. Sparkle with some olive oil. Serve with freshly choped parsley and Parmesan cheese.

I'll submit this recipe to this months Grown Your Own blogevent.

Teach a Man to Fish...

...and you have fed him for a lifetime.

There is little hero fish that has fed generations of fisherman and their families for thousands of years. Of course, it is sardine! It is typical staple food of Dalmatia. And it is considered prefect sustainable seafood choice.

Today Sardines are popular as "brain food" thanks to the high level of omega 3 acids and many others nutrition elements like vitamin D, vitamin B, Calcium...

You can enjoy sardine in so many different ways: fried, marinated, pickled, salted, grilled, raw...

I'll send this simple fisherman lunch to blogevent Sustainable Seafood Blog Event organized by Leather District Gourmet.


Fried sardines with "restovani" potatoes


How to prepare fries sardines you can read in my post Fried fish.

"Restovani" potatoes
This is my favorite to eat potatoes. I do not know what would be English name (or in any other language) for this way of preparing potatoes and I'll be more than glad if anyone could inform me about it.

The preparation is quite simple.

Cook the whole potatoes without peeling them.
This way all nutrition elements will be kept in potato and will not dissolve in water.
When potatoes are almost cooked, take them out, peel them and slice into small cubes.

Meanwhile, in the pan heat plenty of oil and fry the onion sliced in tin "moon halves".
When onion has turn gold add potatoes.
Fray the potatoes so that they get golden-brown crust.
Potatoes should "burn" a little. when they are nicely golden-brown, put them on the plate and season with sweet paprika, salt and lots of fresh parsley.

Links:
Buying fresh fish
Fried fish
Grilled fish

"Step by Step" Photo Recipe: Fig Cake - HIB

I was going through same photos from this summer and I realized that I could post step by step photo recipe for fig cake - hib. You can read the recipe in my post that was entry to the September edition for SHF!



Grind figs, walnuts and fennel. Toast the walnuts in advance.




Knead the mixture as a dough.






Add few drops of domestic brandy to help you form the small "scone".




Leave to dry in the sun for ten days, turning it regularly.

The last dry-lend plant - Motar, Rock Samphire or Sea fennel

For a long time Motar was almost forgotten herb in Croatian cuisine. There were only few restaurants and chefs using it and they were mostly situated in islands like Lastovo and Korcula. Luckily, in last few years Motar is rediscovered and it is about to become the star of Croatian coastal cuisine!

All thought I'm happy that I don't have to travel for 5 hours to Augusta Insula restaurant on Island of Lastovo just to enjoy their famous Motar salad, I am little concerned how sudden popularity of Motar could affect the life of this wild green.

Motar (Crithmum maritimum L.), Rock Samphire or Sea fennel grows on rocky Mediterranean shores, it is the last dry-lend plant exposed to strong wind, salt, sea waves, draying sun... it survives extreme weather conditions but uncontrolled exploitation, initiated by growing gastronomic demand could be fatal.

Another danger for Motar menaces from tourism industry that builds hotels on the cost and destroys natural habitat of this plant.

I hope our little heroic plant that defies the wind, sea and sun for centuries will resist all threats of the modern age and that we all will enjoy it, hand-picking it moderately and wisely!

Motar has been used in different ways for centuries, from time of Greeks and Romans, as a food - raw, steamed, boiled or pickled, but it was also used as an medicament due to it's therapeutics and aromatic contents. Even today it is widely used in modern cosmetics perfumery and medicine.

I like to eat it pickled and this summer we (well, my sister did, to be more precise) pickled it ourself for the first time!

Well, Johanna from The Passionate Cook gave me perfect reason to post about it when she decided to host this months WTSIM... with a theme: SAVOURY PRESERVES.

Pickled Sea Fennel (Rock Samphire, Motar...)
Hand pick sea Fennel before it flowers. Pick of the small leaves.
Wash them in sea water (fresh pipe water will do).
Cook it in mixture of water and vinegar (70:30) for 15 min until tender.
Leave it to cool and store it in jars filled with diluted vinegar (half water, half vinegar).

You can use it for seasoning salads, or as a cold relish to round meat or fish dish! Play with it and you will discover wonderful ways to enjoy this extraordinary plant!

Late SHF entry - Fig brad: HIB

As so often in my life, I'm late again, but I hope Cream Puffs in Venice will accept my entry for SHF 35 since it is delicious one.

It is traditional welcoming sweet from island of Vis - HIB. It is purely natural product, full of taste and aroma, hight nutritional value and with such a remarkable history.

Original recipe is dated in pre-Roman period. It was prepared by peasants using only dry figs and natural preservative - fennel. It was further more preserved by dehydration method (sun dried) and for special occasions enhanced with walnuts.
Fig was very popular sweetener in time before sugar was brought to Europe by Arabs in 8th century. That's way so many traditional Mediterranean cakes are made with figs, honey, raisins.

In island of Vis Hib is traditionally served for Christmas together with domestic brandy.

It can be find in other parts of coastal Croatia too, under the name Smokvenjak and it is made with almonds (Mljet), or raisins (Cres)... It can be find in form of salami or small balls too..

In island Cres Smokvenjak is consumed with bread instead of salami and it was traditional food of islands farmers and shepherds who would carried while working in the fields, olive and wine yards or in pastures. It is usually formed into pyramid-like form. It was ideal food which they could keep for days thanks to it natural preservation, and thanks to its hight nutrition value it gave them strength and energy for their hard work.

Ingredients:

dry figs, walnuts, fennel, domestic brandy, sun, rosemary, bay leafs

Originally dry figs were grinded in mortar with pastle but I used electrical processor to grind figs and the walnuts (make it 90:10 ratio).

I toasted the walnuts in advance since they are very oily.

During the grinding add little of fennel now and then so it spreads evenly thru the mixture.

Knead the mixture as a dough, add few drops of domestic brandy to help you form the small "scone".

Leave to dry in the sun for ten days, turning it regularly. Be aware to protect it from flies

After ten days packet it in paper, in box together with herbs: rosemary, bay leafs and fennel to give it more aroma.

You can see step by step photo recipe here.

Eat like Nicky Hilton

Yes, less famous of notorious sisters Hilton visited Croatia and sailed around Dalmatian islands. Big deal. I did too!

But I do not see my beautiful butt on the cover of the local newspapers.

Nevertheless, diligent, so called, journalist accompanied by fearless paparazzi followed every step of poor little rich girl so that we, inpatient agitated public, can catch a glimpse of the wonderful life of shamelessly rich heiress.

So, we could read where did she party, when did she pass out, where did she lost her money gambling, and, at last but not least, where and what did she eat!

Luckily, best things in life are free and we all can enjoy our life as much as Nicky Hilton and her kin! All we need is little bit of sun, drop of sea and pinch of talent and one can prepare fast that even both sisters Hilton would die for.

But, let as start with treating ourself with dinner Nicky Hilton had on Island of Korcula (42° 58'N; 17° 08'E).

According to local newspaper on the menu for Nicky and her gang were:
for appetizer prawns and octopus salad; for main dish they enjoined grilled lobsters and they did not take any desert which is pity since Korcula's cookies are delicious.

I'm starting with the recipe for Octopus salad and hope to bring you all recipes as soon as possible!

La Festa al Fresco 2007

I started to write about Spaghetti with Mixed Shellfish, but I was too lazy to write recipe so I gave Photo recipe of the dish. But then I stumbled down on the announcement for La Festa al Fresco 2007 - the blog world’s biggest patio party! And I love patio parties!

To join the party is very simple; you just have to prepare a dish using a fresh, seasonal ingredient. The only rule is «that it must feature a fresh, seasonal ingredient, preferably something that grows in your neck of the woods.»

Well that brings be back to my Spaghetti with Mixed Shellfish which were cooked directly from the sea. What is fresher from that!

So, to prepare Spaghetti with Mixed Shellfish first you have to jump into sea.

For Vongole Veraci * look for sandy sea bottom. Use your flippers to move superficial layer of send and just pick the clams. Murex* and Mussels you will find attached to rocks. Be aware not to pick those that are in shallow water.

Now when you “harvested” enough clams, clean and scrub them well under the running water. Scrape away beards from Mussels with a knife and scrub them; Pull the beard from tip to center. The beard should pull off easily. Do not let clams to sit in a fresh water, as freshwater will kill them.

Fresh clams should be tightly closed in their shells. If a shell is slightly opened, tap it lightly. If it doesn’t snap shut, it is dead and you should not eat it.

Put them in a pot with a small amount of clean sea water. You can leave your clam to soak in clean sea water over the night to purge them of sand. But if you are very hungry you can immediately proceed to cooking them, especially if you plan to serve them without their shells.

Cook the clams in a small amount of sea water because they will discharge their own liquid and clams will be much tasteful when cooking in it. Cook for several minute. Discard any clams that do not open during the cooking process. They are not good to eat.

Carefully pull out the meat of clams from their shells. Extract the meat of the Murex with a toothpick or small knife. You can leave few clams in a shell just for aesthetic, if you like it.

Meanwhile prepare tomato sauce and cook spaghetti.

Mix clams with tomato sauce and cook it for several more minute. Pour over spaghetti and serve warm.

* Since my English is not in best condition, I'm not 100% sure that my translation of the names of the shells is correct, so I'l be more than glad to be corrected if wrong.

SHF: Going local - Bobici

I know it is not that time of the year yet, but when I read about this month SHF hosted by The Passionate cook with the theme “Going local!”, Bobici just jumped in my mind and I desperately wanted to participate!

Well, traditional Dalmatian sweets in general are very tasteful. The main ingredient are local fruit: figs, raisins, almonds, walnuts… honey is often used instead of the sugar…

If you ever visit Dalmatic coast, island or inland you just have to try some of these: Mandulat, Rafioli, Smokvenjak (Hib), Rožata (in Split it is called Rožada), Fritule, Kroštule… and many, many others delicious sweets, cookies, cakes…

But today, I’ll write about Bobici, since their background is so fascinating!

Bobici, meaning “little broad beans” (“broad beans” = “bob” in Croatian), are small cakes that got its name form the old believe that the beans represent some sort of media for the direct communication between the world of dead and the world of living. Because of their ability to bring alive the souls of the dead the beans were present in the funeral ceremony in old Greece, Egypt and Rome, but also in other parts of the world. So baking and sharing the cookies in shape of beans - Bobici represents the symbolic reunion of departed and alive.

In Catholic world the Bobici were traditionally served on Day of Dead (or All Souls day) that is always on November 2. It is a Roman Catholic day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away. In Italy there are similar cookies called "Fave dei morti" meaning "Beans of the Dead".

Today in Split Bobici are very popular in everyday life and they are considered Split’s gastronomical souvenir. They are even industrially produced and are the most popular product of Bobis, the oldest pastry industry in Croatia, based in Split.

So if you ever come to Split find Bobis shop and ask for Bobići (Bobichi). You can find them in many others souvenir or delicates shops were you can fined home made Bobici that are for sure more tasteful than those form Bobis which are industrially produced. Or even better, buy local ingredients and bake them yourself!

Bobici

250 g Unbleached and unpeeled almonds
250 g Sugar
1 egg
1 spoon of Maraschino
grated nutmeg
½ lemon zest
1 spoon of biscuit or Savoiardi crumbs
1 spoon of grated dark chocolate

Lightly toast the almonds and let them cool. Half of the almonds grind until they get flour like consistency (if you are doing this in a food processor be careful not to overgrind since almond are quite oily and they can easily get creamy. We do not want that!). Other half chop finely using knife (so that crumbs are size of couscous). Mix both halves back together.

Mix sugar with egg yolk. Grate some lemons zest. Add almonds, maraschino or some other domestic brandy, nutmeg, and beaten egg white (the “snow” from whites should form firm foam. Test it by turning the bowl upside down. Whites should stay in bowl.).

Mix it till you get firm dough and divide it in two halves. For white Bobici add same biscuit crumbs or grated Savoiardi. To the other half add grated dark chocolate.

Damp your hands and roll the dough between them to get long rolls about 1,5 cm thick. Cut them in 2 cm long pieces and then shape them into small balls. Lightly press each ball with finger to make a shallow pit.

Grease the baking dish or paper preferably with natural bee wax but butter or oil will do just fine. Place carefully the balls on it. Dry them in the oven on 50°C for about 3 hours.

This is basic recipe based on recipe form “Dalmatinska kuharica” by Dika Marjanović-Radica. There are lots of variants depending of the place you visit.

The most underrated Dalmatian Island

Our final destination was Island of Šolta, one of the most underrated Dalmatian Islands due to, I believe, its closeness to the mainland so no one take it "seriously". There is even one old traditional song that has verse "You can see Šolta from your window" (very dilettante translation, but I can't help it!)

This year Travel + Leisure’s World’s Best Awards 2007 included Dalmatian island on top 10 Islands list (No.7 in world and No.2 in Europe - not bad?!) but they didn't even mentioned Šolta. That's shame since Šolta is really beautiful island with so many different faces. There is very picturesque and "cultivated" north side of the island with few small villages, than there is island inland with old villages like Gornje selo, Donje selo, Grohote ("capital" of the island) Maslinica... but there is also "wild" souther side with high cliffs and hidden coves... As far as I'm concerned, I'm happy that Šolta is sill not trendy place because there is no crowd so one can really enjoy it's beauty.

Well, we started our visit to Solta form south side. The first few days we had really nice calm weather so it was ideal for "savage" coves without any trace of civilization like electricity, grocery shops, bars ...

After few day of Robinson experience we needed firm ground under our feet and some fresh espresso under our nose so we decided to go to Stomorska, the biggest village on north side of the island whit lot's of coffee bars and some very good restaurants (one of which inspired the name for my blog!).

Of shells and airplanes

After the break we continued our voyage visiting Krknjasi (43o26,3' N - 16o10,6' E), wonderful laguna near the Island of Drvenik with crystal blue sea. It is really stunningly beautiful, but I'm not big fan of it since it is very popular destination for day excursions from Trogir and Split and is always very crowded. Still, we had fun counting the airplanes circling over busy Split Airport.

Thanks to the extraordinary clear and clean sea, and its sandy bottom, Krknjasi are very rich in shells. Well, they used to be, but it seams that the "secret" has been busted and people have overexploited it. We (my father) "hunted" only few "volaka" (murex shell), “Pedoča” (mussels) and “Brbavica” (Venus verrucosa) but it was more than enough for delicious dinner -Spaghetti with Mixed Shellfish (read recipe here, watch recipe here).

Spaghetti with Mixed Shellfish in Tomato Sauce - Photo recipe