My Croatian Food And Wine Adventures

[instagram-feed]Wherever I travel,  food and culinary traditions always capture my interest as one of the most important and enjoyable things to seek out.  Croatia may not be a sought after culinary destination, such as France, but there are some wonderful foods and terrific wines to enjoy!

You would think that any country with 1,200 islands along their coast would be primarily seafood based, but that is not the case in Croatia. This is partly due to the several previous conquerors of this beautiful country, such as the Austro Hungarians having left their own culinary influences, now integrated as Croatian fare.

The Greeks planted olive trees in Istria, the islands and the lower part of Croatia, referred to as Dalmatia around 360 BC.  There are several varieties which today flourish and the Croatians are justifiably very proud of their various excellent olive oils.

To my eyes, the islands and surrounding coastal landscapes resemble Greece and to some the degree parts of southern France. It was really hot while we were there, even in the shade enough to smudge my eye make up in a few minutes time, but even hotter in Paris!

Another reason to crave lighter fare and salads, like the delicious and refreshing octopus salad above.  I found myself wanting to have my fill of calamari and octopus.  Though readily available in the Paris markets, it is more expensive than here and of course, comes from different waters than the Adriatic.

 

Croatian cuisine is more olive oil based, yet the use of lard is also used in some pastries. An example is the speciality of Trogir,  a turnover type pastry filled with crushed almonds called a Rafioli.

The ones I bought at Dovani pastry boutique had an excellent flavoured filling of almonds and cherry liquor, but the pastry was tasteless.

I have seen Croatian recipes for Rafioli calling for egg yolks and butter in the pastry, which I think would be my choice when I prepare them.

The cakes and pastries there looked pretty, but I refrained from trying any out of fear of being disappointed like I was with the Rafioli.  After living in Paris for almost 20 years, I am definitely spoiled when it comes to pastries!

Another disappointing pastry was a bakery strudel, a Dalmatian take on the Austro Hungarian ones, bought from Bobis, a national chain.   Tried both the cherry and cheese and though the fillings were ok, the enveloping pastry was stale, tough and tasteless.  I ended up giving them to the pigeons.

I am sure that the most delicious pastries are to be found homemade with love and care by Croatian pastry aficionados.  Actually, the best sweets we had were the delicious homemade multilayered birthday cake Josipa, our Airbnb host shared with us.

Though the place we stayed in Split for two nights had a nice kitchen, I decided to have dinner out in restaurants, rather than have to buy supplies and then cart them to Trogir for the rest of the stay.

Our first dinner in Split, I had chosen Delistes , a place near the fish market, hoping to enjoy some seafood.  It was a bad omen when I noticed once seated that the chef-owner was out on the street more than in the kitchen and that we were only one of two tables filled.

Unfortunately, it turned out to be the most disappointing during the whole trip, serving tepid poorly fried fish that I suspect had been prepared in advance, served with frozen shrimp and vegetables.

Their rendition of octopus with fava beans tasted industrial.  The house wine of Posip was good, the only thing I can recommend.

A late lunch at the very popular Bokeria Kitchen & Wine, we revelled in some excellent pršut, the Dalmatian prosciutto and other Croatian charcuteries.  Served with Pag cheese and a marvellous fig paté is was simple fare yet outstanding in quality.

The restaurant Sug on our last night in Split was where I had the most succulent juicy swordfish in my life and an excellent octopus stew with fava beans with a crisp white Posip wine.

It was here that I discovered the coveted sour cherry wine called Višnjevača , brought to me in compensation for having to ask for a newly opened glass of Croatian sparkling when the first glass served barely had bubbles. If in Split don’t miss going to this wonderful restaurant run by talented young chefs and eager to please wait staff!

No visit to Croatia is without going to their colourful outdoor markets.  Since my previous visit was also in June, I looked forward to eating those excellent Croatian cherries again!

France certainly has excellent cherries too, but cherries are a huge crop in Croatia and they have a more sour finish which I much prefer, perhaps a relic from having been a part of the Austrian Hungarian empire, where sour cherries are prized.

One of the reasons I prefer to stay in an apartment rather than a hotel is because I like to take advantage of the local outdoor food markets to prepare meals, rather than be consigned to eat in restaurants exclusively.

Though I would have prefered to stick to just seafood-based cuisine, the fish market in Trogir was being renovated and I did not want to buy fish from a supermarket.

I resolved, therefore, to leave any seafood cookery to restaurant chefs, which were wonderful for the most part.  A sumptuous and huge perfectly grilled seafood platter at Konoba Toma restaurant in Trogir was so large that we took home the large sea bass and one big calamari for next night’s dinner.

Octopus and calamari are extremely popular in Croatian cuisine and they were all excellent prepared, either grilled, fried or marinated in salads.  Vrata O’Grata alongside the harbour of Trogir prepared them as tender as can be for these delicate to cook molluscs.

The balcony of our apartment on the island of Ciovo overlooking the sea was actually where I preferred to have dinner. Of the 5 nights there, we only had dinner out one night.

Cooking in an Airbnb apartment is a challenge due to the limited utensils and equipment but I made do with simple meals using the abundant rosemary growing everywhere; such as rosemary lemon garlic chicken and the aforementioned pork chops superbly grilled by Nenad with rosemary-infused apricots.

I found a large leafy green resembling a variant of swiss chard that was delicious simply sautéed in olive oil with a touch of lemon.  Cherries, raspberries and more cherries galore graced our table each day in all their glory.

As mentioned above, I found most of the Croatian wines tasted to be of good quality and very delicious!  A huge surprise to me was learning that what I thought was an American grape, the Zinfandel was actually an ancient Croatian grape variety brought to American in the 1820’s!

DNA tests have concluded that the zinfandel is indeed the same as the Croatian ak Kaštelanski and Tribidrag, as well as to the Primitivo variety grown in the Apulia region in Italy.

My favourite white wine was Posit, an excellent wine made from grapes indigenous to the area.  Grown mainly on the islands of Korcula and now Brac and Hvar, it is a white wine that has a redolent perfume of white flowers and apricots and citrony flavours on the tongue.  Just sublime!

Plavac, another indigenous grape was the favourite red wine that I drank, which turned out to be an offspring of the original  “Zinfandel”.   Richly purple and full flavoured with a nose of summer berries and cherries, it had a deliciously cherry finish that made me think of the cabernet francs from Chinon and Bourgueil back home.

Our last day we launched on octopus salad on the harbour front of Trogir, aware that returning to Paris we would be engulfed with a severe heatwave.

One of the things I love to do when I return home from a trip is to recreate some of the specialities of the country I tasted or wasn’t able to. In that way, I feel I can preserve and enrich some of the memories experienced.

Soparnik is a national culinary treat that I saw once in the Split outdoor market but was wary of getting due to not knowing how long it had been out in the hot sun.  In retrospect, I am sorry that I didn’t.

It is a very simple pie filled with green chard, spring onions, garlic and olive oil, in a rustic flour dough rolled thin.  Baked till spotted brown, it is brushed with garlic-infused olive oil and sprinkled with some more garlic.

My own recreated version turned out good except I found the crust not as tender as wanted.  The filling was the best part if you like chard as I do, but certainly could not compare at all with the glory of Soparnik made and cooked in a woodburning fire in Croatia!

Before we left Josipa and Nenad plucked a green carob bean from one of their trees.  I had seen brown-black dried ones in the Trogir market.

I haven’t opened the cherry wine I brought back, waiting for one of my cherry or chocolate desserts to go with it.

Nor have I opened the Pršut I bought at the Trogir market, but I have enjoyed nibbling on the Pag sheep’s milk cheese.

Had it been cooler weather or in the autumn, I would have loved to have tried the pasticada, a beef ragout made with many spices and prunes.

Another Croatian food I missed was the Peka, which is an unusual way of cooking meats and seafood under a bell-shaped device where hot coals and cinders are placed on top.

I was told that a lot of Croatians had a special corner in their backyards for the Peka. I imagine that the stews made in this fashion are excellent, but what a production to carry off!  Better left to cold wintry days than the heat of summer!

Then there are the famous white truffles from Istria, in the northern part of Croatia.  The season is from September to January.

All of the Croatian foods that I missed having are of course another great reason to go back in perhaps in the autumn!