Welcome to Croatia! If I were honest, I didn't know where exactly this country was. I've heard about it, but couldn't tell you where on a map it was. But when I saw pictures, I told Handsome Husband that we needed to visit. It looks STUNNING. Some fun facts about Croatia: the necktie was invented there, Dalmatian dogs are said to have originated there, Nikola Tesla was Croatian, and they have a literacy rate of over 99%! According to Google, the population is 3.8 million people and the capital is Zagreb. Their national dish is...
None!
That's right, they don't have a national dish. Which means, I got to research different recipes that they are known for. So I found Pasticada, which is a braised beef, served on gnocchi. To go with that, we made Cheese Strukli, which is like a white cheese lasagna, and a cherry strudel for dessert. Sounded like a full meal! The problem was the gluten free filo dough for the strudel. Read on to find out what I did about that.
6 garlic cloves, sliced
Red wine to cover the meat
1/4 C avocado oil
1 tbsp bacon fat
3 tbsp cornstarch
2 onions, quartered
3 carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 celery root, peeled and quartered
1 parsnip, halved lengthwise and cut into 2-inch lengths
1 cup beef broth
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/3 C sweet dessert wine
1/2 C red dry wine
1/2 tsp ground allspice
6 prunes
4 dried figs, cut in half
4 dried Medjool dates, pitted
1 lemon, cut into slices
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
Arrowroot slurry (for thickening, if desired)
1 lb gluten free gnocchi
- Pierce the meat with the sharp point of a knife.
- Place the sliced garlic in the bottom of the Zip-Loc bag.
- Combine enough red wine and vinegar using the ratio of 2 tablespoons vinegar per cup of red wine to cover the roast.
- Pour the wine/vinegar mixture over the meat.
- Seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible. The wine/vinegar should cover the meat.
- Place the sealed bag in the fridge for at least 8 hours or up to 48 hours.
- The next day, remove the meat from the wine/vinegar; pat dry.
- Fish the garlic slices out of the marinade and reserve. Discard the marinade.
- Heat a Dutch oven over medium heat.
- Add the bacon fat and olive oil to the Dutch oven.
- Add the meat to the hot fat and do not move the meat for at least 2 minutes to allow it to brown.
- Using a tongs, turn the meat and let it brown, not moving the meat for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove the meat from the pot; set aside on a plate with an edge.
- Add the onions, reserved garlic, ground cloves and allspice to the pot and saute for a few minutes.
- Return the meat to the pot and add broth and bay leaves. Simmer for about 6 to 8 minutes.
- Stir the tomato paste into the dessert wine.
- Add tomato paste and dessert wine, along with the red wine and the dried fruit, to the Dutch oven.
- Simmer for one hour and then add the carrots, celery, parsnip, lemon slices, rosemary and thyme sprigs.
- Continue to simmer, covered, on LOW heat for 3 hours or until the meat is completely tender.
- About 10 minutes before the meat finishes cooking add the ground nutmeg.
- When the meat is tender, remove it to a plate and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices.
- Remove the sprigs of fresh herbs.
- Whisk in enough arrowroot slurry to thicken the mixture.
- Remove the pan from the heat source and stir in the mustard and the balsamic vinegar into the sauce.
- Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve with potato gnocchi and enjoy!
12 oz cottage cheese
3/4 C sour cream
5 oz white cheddar cheese, shredded and divided, more for topping
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3/4 C half-and-half
Salt and pepper, to taste
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and grease an 8x8 baking dish.
- In a bowl, mix the cottage cheese, sour cream, shredded cheese, eggs, thyme, garlic powder, nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper together.
- Line the bottom of the baking dish with a layer of lasagna noodles.
- Spread one-quarter of the cheese mixture over the noodles.
- Repeat with the remaining lasagna noodles and cheese mixture (I made 4 layers).
- Pour half-and-half over the top and sprinkle on the remaining shredded cheese.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes, until the tops are puffy and golden, even in the center of the pan.
- Cut and serve!
(Source: Cheese Strukli)
1 package rice paper wraps
2 tsp cinnamon
Splash of vanilla
150 g brown sugar
25 g gluten free breadcrumbs
75 ml oil
75 ml milk
Powdered sugar, for dusting
- Preheat oven to 356 degrees (can you tell yet that this recipe was converted from the metric system???) and line a rimmed baking tray with parchment paper.
- Place cherries in a bowl and add the vanilla, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon and carefully mix.
- In a pie dish, mix oil and milk and soak the rice paper wrappers, one at a time, until soft and pliable.
- Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the mixture on the rice paper wrapper, then add the cherries.
- Roll the rice paper wrapper and cherry mixture like a burrito, and place on the baking tray.
- Bake for 30 minutes, until slightly crispy.
- Once ready let it cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar on top.
- Enjoy!
(Source: Cherry Strudel)
The verdict? This was an interesting one. The Pasticada was nothing special. It had a sweet taste to it, and it tasted just fine, but there was nothing special about it. This surprised us, because of all the ingredients that were in the dish. It was also weird on the gnocchi. I would recommend eating it with mashed potatoes - I think that would be much tastier. The Cheese Strukli was delicious. It was a little dry, but tasted so good. We think it would be good with some Italian sausage or some kind of meat. This was, by far, our favorite part of the meal. The cherry strudels were not great. Part of that was using rice paper wrappers. I had read that this was a good substitute for filo dough, but it was disappointing. The wrappers didn't crisp up and it wasn't flaky like filo dough should be. The breadcrumbs in the strudel were weird as well. I wouldn't recommend making this one.
