Pohan Piščanec!

Pohan Piščanec or what we might know as simple 'fried chicken' is what's on today's menu!

This recipe is really the basic of the basic. Back in Slovenia this would be something you might have on a lazy Sunday for lunch or a quick and easy dinner! This is a favorite for my husband and I just because of how easy and quick it is to make. Here's what you will need..

Ingredients:

8 pieces of chicken (thigh, breast, etc)

salt

fresh or dried thyme (chopped)

Breading:

Flour

2 eggs

1 tablespoon oil

breadcrumbs

fat or oil for frying

Method:

Prepare the chicken by rinsing it under water. Dry it and cut if needed. Lightly salt.

Next you will need to set up the breading. Whisk your eggs thoroughly and add a spoonful of oil so the breading sticks better. Add the thyme to the egg mixture and stir.

Take your chicken pieces and roll them first into your egg mixture, let the excess drain off.

Now dust the chicken with the flour.

 

Re-dip chicken into the egg mixture and once the excess has dripped off, roll it into the breadcrumbs.

Repeat this with the rest of the chicken.

Once all the pieces have been breaded you can cook it in one of two ways. Either in fat or in the oven. I prefer to cook the chicken in the oven personally but it's up to you. If you are frying, heat up your oil in a pan and cook it for 8-15 minutes on each side depending on the cut. Once its cooked, place it on a paper towel to remove excess oil. If you are baking, place the chicken in a lightly greased pan at 350 degrees until the breading is lightly browned and juice from the chicken comes out clear.

And your done! You can add any side you like and serve!

I hope you enjoyed this recipe, see you next time!

Jabocni Strudel!

Thats right, Apple Strudel!  Another hit from the Slovenian dessert world.  I made this one a couple months ago but somehow forgot about it until now.  This one is pretty similar to the Jabocna Potica (Apple Potica) but with a very different dough.  My dough didn't turn out as flaky as it probably should have.  I believe that this is due to using my power mixer instead of hand kneading.  Basically I think I over did it with the mixer and the dough came out hard, rather than soft and flaky.  That's just a note for any of you who (like me) are lazy about kneading dough. =)

On to the recipe!

Dough:

350g dough (pre-made or homemade)

For homemade dough:

*NOTE: I haven't tried this dough recipe yet, I can't seem to find the recipe I DID use either - so if this one turns out well for you, please do let me know!

300g sifted flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon butter

20 ml hot water

2 eggs

salt to taste

Apple Filling:

1 to 1.5 kg of apples (the more sour the better, I used Granny Smith apples)

lemon rind

1 tablespoon of rum

80g sugar

20 ml sour cream

120g butter

50g bread crumbs

100g raisins (optional)

Method:

Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a bowl.  Dissolve butter using the hot water.  Beat in your eggs.  Add this to the flour and mix.  Place on a floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes or until dough is pliable.  Set aside and let rest for one hour.

Take a table cloth or clean sheet (I did not do this, but it will help you  to roll up your strudel once it's filled).  Make sure the cloth is long enough to hang over the sides.  Now dust it with flour and place the dough in the center.  With a floured rolling pin, roll out the dough to make a circle. Slide your hand below the circle of dough and let the dough rest on the back of your hands with your palms down. Now pull the center gently toward you.  Stretch and pull the dough as you walk around the table. The dough should be as thin as tissue paper or as thin as you can get it.

Now for your filling.  Wash, peel and de-core your apples.   Grate your apples and place them in a bowl.  Add the lemon zest, rum, sugar, sour cream and if desired, raisins.  Set this mixture aside.  Take your butter and fry the breadcrumbs lightly and then add this mixture in with the apples.

Now you can add the mixture onto your spread dough making sure it is even.  Roll up the strudel by gently lifting the cloth from both sides (you may need help) and place your strudel in a well greased baking pan.  Bake it in the oven at 350F for about one hour, or until the dough is lightly browned.

Everyone seems to have a different method of cooking strudel.  I am not sure which is the best, but this is one way.  As I always seem to say, if you find a better recipe please pass it along and I will try it out on the site.

In case you were wondering, I put some left over lemon rinds on top of the dough before baking - not exactly artistic but I didn't want to throw it away haha.

Thanks !!

Jabocna Potica!

Jabocna Potica or the best English translation I can come up with, 'Apple Roll' is a Slovenian treat that is sweet, but not over powering and can be eaten just about anytime! Some people eat it as a dessert, others as an afternoon snack, etc. Potica is usually made with walnuts. When we went to Slovenia I never saw the apple version until I saw it in a recipe book that Sebastian's grandmother gave me and it looked super good!!! This recipe is really relatively easy, the only area I seemed to have trouble in was when it came to baking. That was only because I used the wrong temperature(DOH!). Don't ask how that happened haha. Either way, it still turned out awesome and I will definitely be making this one again!

Ingredients:

Dough:
500g / 2.2 cups flour
100g / 0.45 cups butter
4.2 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
2.5 tbsp yeast
3 egg yolks
1 flat tsp salt
1 tbsp rum
lemon or orange peel

Filling:
1 kg shredded apple
150g / 0.65 cup sugar
6 tbsp cream
2 eggs
breadcrumbs
cinnamon
lemon peel

Method:

Place your sieved flour somewhere warm in order to heat it. I used the vent on my oven and turned it on low. Put yeast into a small bowl, add 2-3 tbsp of warm flour, 1 tbsp of sugar and 1 tbsp lukewarm milk. You may need a little extra milk or enough to be able to stir everything together. Put this mixture somewhere warm (same place as your flour probably) and let it rise.

In the meantime, beat together the rest of the milk, egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon/orange peel. Then heat up the mixture. Add melted butter and rum. Gradually pour into heated flour. Then add yeast mixture. Make into a dough and knead until dough is no longer sticky.

Cover dough with a towel and keep warm so it will rise. After it rises, roll out the dough. Brush on mixture of cream and 2 egg whites beaten until they are a thicker consistency. Afterwards, pour on a mixture of breadcrumbs, apples, sugar, cinnamon and grated lemon peel. Spread it out evenly leaving room on the edges.

Carefully roll the dough into a cylinder. You might need a hand with this.

Take your pan and make sure it is greased and dusted lightly with breadcrumbs and place your potica inside. Let it rise again in the pan. Put it in the oven to bake for 1 hour at 335f.

That's basically all!! Once it is done, you can flip the pan around and cut it into small slices.
This little 'cake' tastes great and I hope you guys enjoy it also!

Crepes!

Hey guys!
This post is a little late since we made this almost 2 weeks ago but still! I thought I would still put it up. Back when we were in Slovenia, Sebastian's grandmother made us crepes and damn were they ever good! At the time we had Nutella to put inside and really what more do you need? However, for our little 'crepe party' we pulled out all the stops and got as much fruit as we could, ice cream as well as the usual Nutella. There is no real exact recipe for crepes more of a 'guideline'. Like adding a little of this and a little of that until it makes the right consistency. Which is why I won't be giving you a true recipe break down as I usually do. Sorry!!

Basically, the ingredients are these:
Flour
Milk
2 eggs (usually, depending on how big the batch)
Very little sugar, perhaps a tablespoon or two depending on your taste
and maybe a little Vanilla as well

Using a beater or a whisk you can stir everything together until you get a fairly thick batter. Not too thick however. You will get to know what is too thick and what is too thin once you start to make them. If its too thick, add more milk, too thin - add more flour. It's really quite simple.

If you have a crepe pan they are quite easy to make uniform. Usually, I spray some 'Pam' onto the pan after every 2-3 crepes so they won't stick. Again, it all depends on your pan. When I put them in my crepe pan, I use about 1 ladle of mix and spread it around the pan to make it even.

To get an idea of the process, here are some pics that may help! Enjoy your crepe making and don't forget at the very least to have some Nutella on hand ha ha!

Goulash!

Hello Folks!

Well this is the first post of my FANNCYYY NEEWWWW BLOOOGG!!!
I am not sure how often I will be posting recipes and other tidbits but I will try to as often as I can!

On to the food...
Today I decided to try making Goulash, Slovenian style. Or 'Golaž' as they call it. I am currently using a cookbook I bought in Slovenia last year called:

"Zmeraj sestra Vendelina, osnove dobre domače kuhinje"

Which basically translates to something like 'Sister Vendelina's basic's of home cooking'. Any native speakers out there can correct me if I'm wrong however! Sister Vendelina's cookbooks are apparently best sellers over there so I couldn't pass up getting some. The only problem was all her books are totally in Slovene, which can be slightly difficult when I can't figure out the meaning of something and Sebastian isn't here or if good old google translate gives me a gem.

Either way, here's my best translation of the recipe for you folks!

Golaž

1.5 pounds or 3 cups beef shank or neck (low fat)
6 tablespoons oil
1 ⅓ cup or 1 large onion
1 tablespoon butter
1 - 2 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon chopped tomato or vinegar
2 - 3 cups beef stock or boiling water
salt

Prep:

Cut meat into bite size peices.
Place butter, onions, salt and oil and 100 ml of water into sauce pan. Here are some pics along the way. (btw, I just realized now as I post this that I forgot to add the water, which would have helped):

Fry slowly to evaporate liquid and brown onions - SOMETHING like this:

Add salted and cubed meat onto one side of the pan to sear slightly before mixing everything together. Make another space and add flour and 1 tablespoon of butter and fry until brown:

Mix all that together and pull the pan from the flame. Add in paprika, mixed bell peppers (optional), 1 tablespoon of vinegar or chopped tomatoes. I added about a half a red bell pepper, but you can definitely add more or less depending on your taste. Stir quickly, place back on flame and pour in stock or boiling water. You'll notice in the pictures below that I also added potatoes, it doesn't mention anything about it in the recipe - BUT you can always just use a good bread instead.

Cover and simmer for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
You will hopefully get something that looks like this (or better!!) at the end.

There you go! Not the fanciest of pictures for the grand finale but I will try harder next time! It's a pretty easy little recipe but if anyone has any little hints or idea's on how to make this recipe better, let me know!