I love to cook. I work from home, which leaves me a lot of time for cooking. Most of my dishes are influenced by the traditional Croatian cuisine. This is where I’ll share some of my favorite recipes with you.


Pašticada
My friend Milda and I have decided to write you a recipe for Pasticada.
Although we spent a lot of time looking for the "right" pasticada we gave up and here we are giving you one of the possible recipes of the Dalmatian specialties.
Milda is from Hvar (who for love moved to Newport News, Virginia) and she gave us her original recipe from the island.

Feel free to attach your comments, or better yet, recipes and advice.
Ingredients required for Pasticada:
• piece of beef frikandoa (approximately 3 kg)
• beautiful piece of meaty bacon (about 30 grams)
• 2 heads of garlic (about 7-8 slices)
• 1.2 kg of carrots
• 4-5 onions
• 1 celery root
• 1 parsley root
• 2 dl Prosecco
• 1 liter of red wine
• 4-5 dried figs (or plum)
• 1 teaspoon tomato paste
• salt, pepper, cloves, nutmeg, bay leaf
• tablespoon of lard
• sunflower oil
• vinegar

How to prepare:
Theories about the "right" pastizzada started already with the choice of meat. Most agreed that it is of utmost importance to get for pasticada beef frikandoa (the hardest pieces of beef) and no other piece of meat. Then there was not easy to get any consensus whether to make pockets for cutting vertically stroking the fibers of meat, or with fiber. Long story short, frinakdo nicely drill in with bacon, garlic (for example, a clove in half in height in two parts), and cloves, and some recipes say you can and carrots (carrots we put only the TOC).
Marinada Meat
So filled piece of meat soak in the marinade and marinade made from wine (according to one theory) or from the local wine vinegar which dilute with plain water (another theory) in which burn roots with which they will later cook meat, I like it better with wine but if there is no wine, vinegar is always handy in my kitchen. Marinate Meat  at least overnight, and some argue to this day and a half.
Just before baking, remove meat from marinate,  drain (you can soak up as much liquid with paper towels), and then in pan brown well meat on all sides in lard. Experienced housewives in Dalmatia claim that this is the most important. Of course, if there is no fat, you can brown in the oil. When the meat is  became nicely brown on all sides, remove the meat to a plate on a side. To the used lard or oil, where meat was browned add if necessary oil and glaze onions and add other root vegetables, stear fry all and return the meat in a baking dish, pour the wine (and those who advocate sherry, pour it in). Cook over low heat for a long time (at least two to three hours, depending on the weight of meat) as long as the piece of meat has no more blood, take meat out of the pan and cut into steaks before you serve.
The secret of aromatic sauce
We now come to the stage where the recipes for marinating differ, and that is the secret of a typical aromatic sauce (hail). First,  you should all root vegetables  mashed into a fine sauce and for taste add spices. In some recipes (for what proud cooks claim in their centuries-old family secrets) in the sauce do not put tomatoes but in most recipes tomatoes are whole canned tomato or spoon of concentrate (or how will you say in Dalmatia "Canned") - the decision is yours.
If it is too acidic or taste of wine is too strong, you should  add dried figs to neutralize the taste. In addition to laurel, in various recipes are mentioned  rosemary, thyme, marjoram ... you select spice to your taste, but with caution especially if you cook pasticada the first time.
Pasticada is usually served with potato gnocchi.



Gnocchi
The best side dish to Pasticada is gnocchi. Do you make good homemade potato gnocchi?  We have the perfect recipe for you.

Ingredients:
750 g potatoes
¾ teaspoon salt
2 egg yolks
1 ½ to 2 cups multi-purpose flour

Preparation
In salted water boil  potatoes in the shell until tender. Rinse and allow to cool slightly. Peel and mash them, do not use an electric mixer. Place the  potatoes in lightly floured surface. In the middle make a dip and add 2 egg yolks and 125 grams of flour. Knead it in soft dough. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour - the required amount depends on the type of potatoes you use. Sprinkle  hands with flour and divide the dough into 8 equal parts. Shape the rolls 3 cm thick and a 22 cm long. Cut the dough into 1 cm tubes and with the tines of the floured fork press against a dough. Cook the dumplings in a large pot with plenty of salted water. Dumplings are cooked when they float to the surface.

If it seems that the amount of made gnocchi  is too large for one meal, gnocchi can be frozen. Freeze them first on a floured or lined tray, then once frozen you can put them into a freezer bag for more easy storage. To cook, just put the frozen gnocchi into the simmering water for the next step. Use them within 6 weeks.