Homemade dishes

Snails are collected on damp fields and meadows from April to July. Once collected, they are placed in a mesh bag in a cool, dry place for about ten days to clean themselves. The best way is to hang the bag on a tree near the house. Cleaned and washed snails are boiled for about 40 minutes. The foam that forms while cooking should be removed with a large spoon. Strain the snails and place a bit of olive oil, vinegar and salt on a small plate. Use a toothpick to remove the snails from their shells and dip them in the salty mixture of oil and vinegar.

Soak three to four handfuls of beans overnight. Briefly boil 20 dg of dried meat, 2 sausages, 20 dg of pancetta, and a bone with prosciutto. Then, in a deep pot with hot water, add one onion, a carrot, a tomato or tomato paste, salt and pepper, and cook for at least an hour. Once the vegetables soften and the meat releases fat, taste and aroma, strain into another pot. Then add the soaked beans and cook for another 20 minutes. Add a handful or two of pasta (subioti). In a pan, sauté finely chopped onion on a bit of oil until it becomes transparent and golden. Add a teaspoon of flour, make a roux, and pour it into the dish to thicken it. When the beans soften and the pasta is cooked, your ćućka is ready. Serve with dried meat, sausage, pancetta, and the bone from the prosciutto with which ćućka was cooked.

Slice 400 g of lamb and 50 g of pancetta, finely chop four onions, one carrot, and chop a peeled tomato into cubes. In a pot, heat some oil, sauté the onion and carrot, then add the lamb and stir. After a few minutes, add the tomato or tomato paste. Sauté, then add salt and pepper to taste, and cook for about 40 minutes over medium heat. Add a little water and peas and cook for half an hour. Peas with lamb is traditionally cooked in every house in Pakoštane for the local feast, celebrated on the Day of the Ascension, also known as Križe.

This old-fashioned dish requires broad beans, beans (brown, white, black), lentils, chickpeas, grass peas (spotted and white), peas and dry corn (frmenta). Soak the legumes overnight. Boil about 80 g of mixed beans for an hour or two until softened. Season with salt, pepper and olive oil. Optionally, add chopped onion or garlic. If serving as a cold dish, add a bit of homemade vinegar. It is perfect when paired with salted sardines or a piece of bacon, and a glass or red wine or bevanda will make it even better.

Sauté one onion sliced into strips in olive oil. In a smaller dish, mix a spoonful of tomato paste with two to three decilitres of water and two spoons of vinegar, then pour over the sautéed onion and let simmer. Carefully place the mixed fish, season with salt and pepper. It is important that the fish is submerged in the cooking liquid to prevent it from falling apart. Brudet is cooked with a little liquid, on low heat. Do not stir, but only occasionally shake the pot to keep the fish intact. Polenta is the best side dish to serve with brudet.

Wild chicory, dandelion, broadleaf plantain, common sowthistle, salsify, golden thistle, common purslane, fennel, goosefoots, keeled garlic, ramsons and wild chives are all edible wild herbs. For this dish, wash a kilo of wild herbs and boil them for 5 minutes in salted water. Separately cook two to three potatoes in their skins, then peel and slice. Sauté the ramsons in olive oil until they soften, then add the drained wild plants and potatoes. Stir, season with salt and pepper, and serve.

First briefly boil a kilo of broad beans. While they are cooking, sauté an onion in olive oil in another pan, add leek, parsley and pancetta. Once the broad beans are done, add them to the sautéed mixture. Season with salt and pepper, add a teaspoon of tomato paste, and pour a bit of the water in which the broad beans were cooked. Cook until the broad beans soften.

Clean and wash freshly picked wild chicory (about half a kilo). Place in boiling water and cook for about 20 minutes together with 4 – 5 eggs. Once cooked, drain the wild chicory, season with olive oil, salt and pepper. Slice the hard-boiled eggs and mix with the greens. Optionally, add a few drops of vinegar (especially if serving cold).

Sauté four onions in olive oil, add 1 kilo of lamb liver and two bay leaves, then stir for about 10 minutes. Add two to three decilitres of red wine, salt, pepper and a teaspoon of tomato paste. Cook on low heat until it thickens and serve with polenta as the perfect side dish.

In a pot, combine a cup of sugar and half a cup of water, and add a cup of almonds. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon. Bubbles will soon form. Continue stirring until the sugar crystallises. On low heat, continue stirring until the almonds become shiny. As you mix, the almonds will gather sugar and form irregular shapes, with a reddish-brown colour, which means that they are done. Place them in a shallow dish and they can be consumed immediately, as well as days later.

Crumble a cube of yeast into some warm milk and sugar to activate it. In a bowl, beat two eggs, add two to three tablespoons of sugar, one vanilla sugar packet, a bit of oil, rum or pear liqueur, then add as much flour as needed and the activated yeast. Mix everything into a thick batter and add raisins. Leave the mixture in a warm place to rise. When it has almost doubled in size, it is ready for frying. Heat oil in a deep pot. The person frying the dough should use one hand to scoop the mixture and hold a spoon in the other hand to form small balls and drop them into the hot oil. Once the dough rises and floats in the oil, it is turned one to two times. When it turns golden, it should be removed from the oil. Sprinkle with powdered sugar or crystal sugar (as desired).

Crumble a cube of yeast in a bowl and add one decilitre of lukewarm water. When the yeast rises, pour it into a bowl with 40 dg of flour. Add a pinch of salt. Gradually add lukewarm water and knead everything until the dough is smooth like bread dough. Once the dough rises, tear off pieces the size of your palm and stretch them as much as possible. Fry the mimci in deep, hot oil. Once they turn golden, remove them and sprinkle with sugar.

Mix two eggs, a tablespoon of sugar, a bit of rakija brandy and four tablespoons of melted fat, then add a pinch of salt and flour until you get dough that is neither too soft nor too hard. Let the dough rest for half an hour. Roll the dough on a floured surface and cut it into strips. Tie the strips into knots. Fry the kroštule briefly in deep oil until they get a slight colour. Remove them from the oil before they darken. While still warm, sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Crumble a cube of yeast in warm milk with a little sugar and let it rise. In a bowl, beat four eggs, vanilla sugar, a little oil, rum and lemon zest. Melt about 15 dg of fat or margarine and add it to the bowl. Add flour as needed, depending on how much the dough absorbs, and a pinch of salt. Add the risen yeast and one glass of milk. Once everything is mixed together and kneaded, wrap the dough in a large cotton cloth and place it in a container with hot water. The dough should double in half an hour. Tear the dough into pieces, roll the pieces into strips between your palms, coat them in sugar, and shape them into knots, strips, or circles. Arrange the shaped dough on parchment paper and place in a preheated oven (at 180 to 200 degrees Celsius) and bake until golden brown.