Rucak

I’ve been eating ‘out’ a bit lately –that is to say, I have stepped out of my apartment and across the hall to Branka’s apartment – she has been inviting me to eat rucak (lunch) (with a ‘ch’) with her and the children. The last two meals have been delicious so I thought that I would share them with you. (Be aware that my recipe style is a bit chaotic, hit and miss with amounts – it’s a family thing – ask Danica).

I have no idea what they are called, so this first one is going to be The Cabbage One.
Obviously you need cabbage (kupus) – you also need carrots (mrkve) and an onion (luk) and some garlic (cesnjak – with a ‘ch’ and a ‘sh’) and some tomatoes (pomodora) - cut them all finely. Heat up some olive oil, do the frying thing with the garlic and the onion, and then add the rest of the ingredients and let it simmer away. Oh, I forgot, you need to add some finely chopped pancetta – that gives the whole meal a lovely smokey flavor. Add a bit of salt and pepper and serve in a soup bowl when it is all cooked.

The next one (yesterday’s meal) we will call Stuffed Capsicums because that’s what it was. I’m going to try and make this myself today. You need capsicums (paprika), onions, garlic, tomatoes, pancetta (again!), rice and mince meat. There was a bit of discussion that went like this – (me) could you use red capsicums? (Branka – with a blank look) we use the light green ones. (So don’t get tricky and try and do anything different). I’m going to throw caution to the wind and cook two – one light green and one red (sharp intake of breath!). Will report back.

Do the thing with the olive oil, the onion and the garlic – add a bit of mince meat (there was a discussion about that too – cow or pig? Your choice.) Add the finely chopped pancetta (SUCH a lovely smokey flavor). The rice needs to be cooked but not too sloppy- add the meat etc to the rice – bit of sol & papir – and then you stuff the capsicums with the mixture. Stand the capsicums in water (cover them enough so that the pan won’t burn dry) in a pot on the stove, and throw the chopped tomatoes (maybe four big home grown ones - or a can of tomatoes for those of you in NZ who are just thinking about building an ark or are snowed in for the winter) into the water – it will simmer down into a sauce that you can thicken slightly with a bit of flour or cornflour – or just leave it as it is. The capsicums will be cooked when they are tender. There was another discussion about what else you could add to the rice (you know, a bit of parmesan, pine nuts – again with the look that said ‘that’s not the way it’s done..’).

So that’s your dinner organized for a few nights. We had a talk about the whole dinner thing and both agreed that the most difficult thing about cooking is deciding what to make so I’m making it easy for you! Oh, and making children eat vegetables was on the list of hard things too. Maybe cooked cabbage and capsicum are for adult tastebuds. Go on, give these a try!
Final word – walked along kalalarga this morning on my way to my run (no, I don’t run through the main street, there are limits) and it isn’t marble as I said in the recent posting! We will say that it is a patched amalgam of pavings – concrete, marble, asphalt. I’m trying to keep this blog real. My apologies.