Croatian Recipes
Perfectly Paired With
Slanting Towards the Sea
Pašticada
Buzara
Chickpea Stew
Rožata
Pašticada with Gnocchi
Dalmatian pašticada holds almost a mythical place in Croatian rich culinary landscape and is one of the most famous Croatian dishes.
Known for its rich, silky gravy, this traditional dish, typical for the Dalmatian region is a perfect blend of meat, spices, and patient preparation: Dalmatian pašticada is usually made with beef, and the key to its flavor lies in a heavily spiced wine marinade where the meat rests. In addition to the meat, the dish requires red wine, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, dried prunes or figs, and spices such as bay leaves, rosemary, and black pepper. Even though every household has their own spin on how the dish is made, here’s the basic recipe for an authentic pašticada with gnocchi.
Ingredients for pašticada:
900 g (about 2 lbs) beef (fricandeau cut)
400 g (14 oz) root vegetables
50 g (1.75 oz) pancetta
2 carrots
1 piece of celery root (about the size of half a fist)
2 onions
2 large garlic cloves
60 g (2 oz) tomato paste
2 dl (200 ml / ~¾ cup) red wine or prošek (Dalmatian dessert wine)
Beef stock or water
3 bay leaves
6 dried prunes soaked in water for about 10 minutes
Salt, pepper
Preparation:
Marinating the meat:
Marinate the meat in red wine, vegetables, and spices. Dice the carrot, celery root, and pancetta into slim sticks. Clean and dry the meat and cut small slits into it with a knife, and stuff them with pancetta, carrot, celery, and garlic. Chop the root vegetables and place them in a large bowl, adding chopped onion, garlic, cloves, whole peppercorns, and bay leaves. Place the meat on top, then pour over the red wine. Leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours, turning occasionally.Cooking the meat:
Remove the meat from the marinade and pat it dry, salt it, and sear it in a deep pan to develop a rich crust. Set the meat aside. In the same pot, sauté the onion, garlic, and chopped vegetables. Add tomato paste and deglaze with a bit of stock whenever the vegetables start sticking to the pot. Return the meat to the pot, stir, add prošek and more stock. Simmer for 2–3 hours.Finishing the sauce:
Pass the sauce through a strainer or blend it, slice the meat, and return it to the sauce to cook for another 15–20 minutes.
Serving:
Dalmatian pašticada is most commonly served with homemade gnocchi. Alternately, you can serve it with pasta or polenta. Due to its complex and time-consuming preparation, pašticada is a dish served on special occassions, like weddings, New Years’ Eve, and anniversaries, which makes its flavor sown into the collective memory. It is a true piece of cultural heritage.
Buzara
Where pašticada requires patient preparation, the most important rule in preparing the second most iconic Dalmatian dish, which has remained largely unchanged for centuries, is simplicity: buzara should be cooked just long enough to tease out the flavor from the sea delicacies, while allowing the scent and taste of the sea to remain untouched.
Ingredients for Mussel and/or Scampi Buzara:
1 kg (2-2.5 lbs) of mussels or langoustines
1 garlic clove
1 bunch of parsley
Olive oil
150 ml (about ⅔ cup) dry white wine
50 g (1.75 oz) breadcrumbs
200 ml (¾–1 cup) tomato puree
Preparation:
Scrape the mussel shells clean with a knife; wash the langoustines
Sauté finely diced garlic, and parsley in olive oil. Once fragrant, deglaze with white wine.
Add the mussels or shrimp, a bit more wine, and the tomato puree. After a few minutes, sprinkle in the breadcrumbs, cover the pot, and cook briefly until the mussels open. Langoustine need about 10 minutes, mussels about 4-5.
Serve with polenta or bread
* Extra advice: mussels can contain quite a bit of seawater which can make buzara watery and too salty. For this reason I tend to sautee them shortly in a different pot, and then, when around 1/2-2/3 of them are open, I transfer them to the pot with deglazed garlic and parsley.
This is fragrant and rustic Dalmatian dish is quickly prepared and so simple— but therein lies its power. There’s a reason why it didn’t change for centuries. It’s a pefect sea bite, every time.
Chickpea Stew (Čičvarda)
This chickpea stew, known in Dalmatia as čičvarda, is a simple and rustic dish that Croatians often prepare on long winter days. Nothing nourishes quite like a hearty, fragrant one-pot dish eaten with a spoon. And when that dish includes delicious, meaty smoked bacon, it becomes everyone’s favorite. Čičvarda stew is aromatic, thick, flavorful, and completely satisfying. It’s the kind of meal you could eat every day. Feel free to toss in a homemade sausage or two as well.
Here is how we make čičvarda in Dalmatia, the Coastal region of Croatia where Slanting Towards the Sea takes place.
Ingredients for čičvarda (chickpea stew):
400 g (14 oz) dried chickpeas
150 g (5 oz) pancetta (dried and smoked bacon)
1 onion
a handful of chopped parsley
2 carrots
2–3 medium potatoes
2–3 garlic cloves
200 ml (¾ cup) tomato purée
1 tbsp tomato concentrate
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp olive oil
Salt, pepper
2 liters (8 cups) water or broth
Preparation of čičvarda:
Prepare the chickpeas:
Soak the chickpeas the night before (at least 12 hours), bring them to a boil, change the water and then cook them in plenty of water for about 2 to 2.5 hours until soft. You can also use canned chickpeas—just drain and rinse them well.Prepare the ingredients:
Slice the onion thinly. Dice the pancetta. Peel and wash the potatoes, and cut them into small cubes.Start cooking:
Heat a deep pot and add the bacon. Let it cook without oil until it releases fat. Then add the olive oil and onion, and sauté until the onion softens.Add vegetables and tomato:
Add finely chopped garlic and sliced carrots. Stir and sauté for a minute or two, then add tomato concentrate and a splash of water. Add the chopped parsley, bay leaf, and the cooked chickpeas. Sauté for another 2–3 minutes, then pour in the tomato purée and mix well.Add potatoes and simmer:
Add the diced potatoes, then cover everything with broth or water. Season with salt and pepper, cover, and simmer on low heat for 30–40 minutes until the potatoes and carrots are tender.Thicken the stew:
Toward the end, take out a few spoonfuls of cooked chickpeas and potatoes, mash them with a fork or blend in a blender, then return to the pot to naturally thicken the stew.
This rustic dish is a warm, comforting embrace in a bowl—simple, satisfying, and full of Dalmatian soul.
Dubrovačka Rozata (Rožata)
This dish is typical for the southernmost region of Dalmatia, where Vlaho is from. I only had it one time—my husband’s family originates from the Dubrovnik region, and when we were living in Zagreb, his father’s cousin’s wife prepared it for us. You either love rozata or you don’t, and while its preparation seems simple, it can be quite tricky; it takes time to “gain a hand” in its preparation, as we would say here.
Ingredients:
6 eggs
½ liter (2 cups) milk
6 tablespoons sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon
½ tablespoon rozolin (rose liqueur) — alternately use rum
For the caramel:
200 g (7 oz) sugar
Preparation:
In a small saucepan over low heat, slowly melt 200 g of sugar to make caramel. Once golden, pour it into a mold and swirl to coat the sides evenly.
Bring the milk to a boil, then stir in 6 tablespoons of sugar and the grated lemon zest. Let it cool.
Once the milk has cooled, add the beaten eggs and rose liqueur. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve to remove any lumps or zest pieces.
Pour the mixture into the caramel-coated mold. Place the mold in a larger baking dish filled with hot water (a bain-marie) and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
The rozata is done when a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Let it cool completely, then refrigerate overnight in the mold.
The next day, place a deep serving plate over the mold and carefully invert the dessert. The caramel will pour out around the custard.
Garnish each slice with a few mint leaves for a refreshing touch.
This traditional Dalmatian dessert is silky, fragrant, and delicately sweet, with the floral hint of rose giving it a signature twist.