It’s certainly been
an odd start to October. I think every day this month, it has felt like it was
July. I believe the news reported that we haven’t had this many 80-degree days
in a row in October in 140 years. I did buy some apple cider, hoping it would
push autumn along. And it worked: the weather will start acting appropriately
later this week. I mean, this is my birthday month – I want to wear my scarves
and jackets already!
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| So soft. So beautiful. |
But in the
meantime, I’m making food from Slovenia. This is one of those meals where I
split it between two days. Mostly because I got a late start, we were hungry,
and I’m not stressing about it. So, the first thing I made was Krompirjev Kruh,
or potato bread. I started out with peeling and dicing a potato and boiling it
with 1 ½ c water. When it was tender, I mashed it well in the water. Then I
added in a cup of buttermilk, a little sugar and salt, a little butter, and a ¼
c of water, and mixed it until the butter melted. In a large bowl, I measured
out 2 c of flour and one yeast packet, creating a well in the center. I poured
the potato-buttermilk mixture in the center and mixed everything until it was
smooth. Then, a cup at a time, I mixed in 3 more cups of flour. (You might even
need another cup, but 3 seemed to work for me.) Once it was smooth, I rubbed a
little oil on the outside, covered it, and let it rest for about 45 minutes.
Luckily, mine puffed up, so I punched it down and divided it into two parts.
After kneading each half for a minute or so, I let it rest for 10 minutes
before putting them each into loaf pans. Using my hands, I formed it to the pan
a little, letting it rest for another half hour. After this, I sprinkled a
little flour on top and put them in a 375ºF oven for about 35 minutes, just as
it was turning a nice brown color on top. These turned out really well. They
were very soft on the inside, and the crumb was nice and large. I really loved
everything about this bread.
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| Good only on the first day. |
The main dish I made tonight was Djuveč.
This ratatouille-like dish turned out better than I thought it was going to be,
but not so much with my finicky son. I started with browning some cubed pork
cutlets (I used just cubed pork instead of a mixture of pork and lamb). Then I
added in some onions, green bell peppers, and orange bell peppers to sauté
along with the pork, before adding in the diced eggplant. I let it cook down a
little with the lid on. Then in a rectangle glass casserole dish, I put a layer
of the pork-veggie mix on the bottom, a layer of sliced potatoes, a little salt
and pepper, an 1/8 c of uncooked rice, a little parsley and repeated the layers
again. On top, I put a few tomato slices (with a touch of salt), drizzled it
with olive oil, and topped with some breadcrumbs. Just before I put it in the 350ºF
oven, I added a little water to it and filled it halfway or so. I was so afraid
of it boiling out and burning it, that I checked it every 15 minutes. However,
the rice on top seemed like it didn’t get down into the water, so it was still
hard when I was going to take it out after about an hour. I smashed everything
down into the liquid, topped it with some parmesan cheese, and put it in for
another 10-15 minutes. It turned out really good, the flavors really melded
together, and I thought it went really well with the bread. However, the next
day, the eggplants were really mushy in the casserole and gave it faint smell
of seafood. Hm.
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| Surprise of the day! |
Now comes Part 2: that time I made Štruklji.
I made the dough first by mixing a little hot water in a bowl and added in the
butter to melt it. Then I used a fork to mix in the egg and salt and set it off
to the side. I put my flour in a larger bowl, making a well in the center and
poured in the liquids. I stirred everything until it came together as a dough,
covering it and letting it rest for a half hour. While that was resting, I made
the filling by melting butter in a saucepan and then sautéing some breadcrumbs
until they were browned. I took it off the heat and stirred in some eggs until
they were scrambled. Then I mixed in some sour cream, cottage cheese, tarragon,
and salt. By this time, the dough should be ready (or almost). I took my dough
and rolled it out into a rectangle about 12”x18” (or as close as I could get
it). I spread the filling out over the dough, leaving a slight gap at the
edges. Then I started rolling it up from the long side as tight as I could. I folded
a cheesecloth (or you can use a towel) around the roll and used string to tie
the ends together (and I added some in the middle). Then I took the whole roll
and coiled it so it would fit in my pot of boiling water, letting it boil for
nearly 40 minutes. When it was done, I carefully fished it out of a pot, like I
was fishing in a hot spring. I unwrapped it carefully and cut it into 2”
section and topped with more buttered crumbs. This was actually pretty tasty,
even though I thought I had browned the breadcrumbs that topped it a little too
much. But the flavor was good, but you could hardly taste the tarragon.
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| Overall, it wasn't too bad. It was very hearty, just in time for fall. If it ever gets here. |
I had all the best
intentions of making kremsnita, which is a vanilla and custard crème cake. I
bought all of the ingredients and everything (even down to the puff pastry!).
But, I just ran out of time. I might try to make it later this week. (If I do,
I’ll post a PS to this post.) I guess sometimes that’s how it goes. My stomach
is bigger than my schedule.
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