"Amphitrite's recipes" Croatia Travelogue by KristaB

Along Adriatic coast of Croatia, one will encounter various versions of this dish, some of them would include chopped onions, that would provoke outrage with another chef, some use tomatoes. This dish is simple enough for cooking dummies, too! Use only fresh scampi and/or clams - before cooking, discard all those clamps that have opened, before you eat, discard all the clamps that are still closed! Fish market in the morning is one special experience.

Basic recipe for 4 servings, use saute pan with a lid.

4 cloves of garlic + handful of parsley, finely chopped - put onto 4 tbl spoons of quality olive oil, stir for a few seconds, add 2 tbl spoons of breadcrumbs, stir once and add 1,5 kg of scampi and /or clams.
For red Buzara, add some chopped and drained tomato immediately after the breadcrumbs have sunk into the oil and saute for 5 minutes, and then add scampi and/or clams.

After adding the main ingredient, no more stirring, you should only shake the pan in circular motion! Put the lid on and leave a few minutes for ingredients to get hot, pour 1 dl of dry white wine, leave open for 2 minutes, put the lid back on and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes. If preparing larger quantities, you should also prolong the time of cooking. And shake that thing often!

Best enjoyed with fresh white bread and wine - the one you used for cooking.

While snorkeling, you may get a chance to catch an octopus bare handed. For this recipe you need small octopus, max 0,5 kg. No, they can't hurt you.
Only fresh ones can be used, caught max 12 hrs ago.
Kill it swiftly by cutting off the head. Clean any remaining yucky stuff, and give it a good Massage. This means sitting on a folded towel on a rock with your feet in the water and rubbing the octopus on rough stone as long as it foams. Rinse and rub, rinse and rub ... it took me 15 minutes.
Cut it into small pieces, place on a plate and pour juice of 1 lemon on top, 2 drops (no more) of fine olive oil and some black pepper, mix and leave in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

My guests were slightly reserved, but since they were my guests, they had to be polite and try it.
And I hardly managed to steal a bite or two for myself. This is not food, but delicacy, something to boost your appetite in different areas of life. Eat slowly, try to recognize specific yet gentle aroma, and do not flush it too soon with wine, no matter how good it is.

Octopus roast

Traditional way of preparing this dish is under "peka" - iron cylinder covered with hot ashes. But your oven will do just fine.
Octopus (2 to make 1,5 kg) is softer if frozen for a couple of days. Leave it to partly defrost, cut into pieces, place into a roasting pan with a lid, add peeled and halved smaller potatoes (1 kg), 1 peeled onion, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 tomato ? no chopping! Season with bay leave and whole pepper grains. Sprinkle over with 1 dl of mixture 50/50 olive and regular oil.
Place in a pre-heated oven (200'C). Check after 15 minutes to turn potatoes and add some hot water if too much had evaporated - depends of the lid. The liquid should cover half the height of the contents. Next check 15 minutes later, taste the sauce and only now decide how much salt to sprinkle over! Now you can also add some chopped parsley and garlic, and leave it to finish without the lid for another 10 to15 minutes.

Dobar tek!
(Bon Appetite)

Clean and wash the squids, cut the tentacles and Prsut (air-dried ham) to small pieces, add chopped garlic and parsley, pinch of salt (ham is salty!), mix together and add a little olive oil.
Put one small spoon of the mixture into each squid (fingers are the best tool for this), close the opening with toothpick, press the squids flat, spread some olive oil over the surface of each squid, grill for 2-3 minutes. Put them on a warm plate, sprinkle wit olive oil and some lemon juice and serve immediately with fresh bread

Grilled mussels

IMPORTANT: Buy only fresh, use the same day, discard mussels that are opened before cooking, then those that haven't opened during cooking. If you don't have many left - you need a better supplier!

2 servings - 1 kg of mussels
Prepare 1 large or two small finely chopped tomatoes (halved, seeds and watery stuff discarded), 1 garlic clove finely chopped (mix it with tomato pieces), 1 table spoon of grounded cheese, 1 spoon of breadcrumbs, 1 spoon of olive oil, finely chopped parsley leaves, pepper, just a pinch of salt.

While the fire is burning, put clean (scrub and pull out the "mustache") mussels into a pan with a lid for a few minutes, after they open take off the upper half of the shell, leaving the meat inside small "plate". Save a few drops of that water - it will bring more aroma to the meal, just don't add more salt! Cut the muscle that holds the meat to the shell. Place horizontally, add tomatoes, then breadcrumbs, then cheese, olive oil, a drop or two of lemon juice. Put on a moderately hot barbecue and cover with lid for max 6 minutes, or place in a roasting pan and bake in the oven. You can sprinkle it with some more olive oil and lemon juice. Eat straight from the shell, sip loudly, wipe your mouth with bread and eat it, flush with red wine. Ok, white is fine, too.