Croatian Recipes: Dalmatian Pašticada
- by croatiaweek
- in Food & Wine
If you visit the Dalmatian coast then you must try this dish as it originates in Dalmatia.
Dalmatinska pašticada, or just pašticada, is a stewed beef dish cooked in a special sauce and served usually with gnocchi or homemade pasta. The long and meticulous preparation, and the range of fascinating ingredients such as roasted bacon, onions, parsley, nutmeg, prunes, and the sweet dessert wine prošek, helps the wonderful flavours come out.
To try it out yourself at home, check out this recipe below:
Ingredients
Beef (silverside) – 2.5 kg
Carrots – 900 g
Celery – 300 g
Parsley root – 200 g
Apple cider vinegar – 200 ml
Red wine – 400 ml
Pancetta – 100 g
Garlic – 6 cloves
Onion – 2
Bay leaf – 2
Rosemary – 1 sprig
Tomato paste – 1 tablespoon
Prunes – 15
Vegetable stock – 1 litre
Honey – 2 tablespoons
Plum jam – 2 tablespoons
Cloves – 1 teaspoon
Olive oil, pepper, salt, prošek
Instructions
1. Slice the garlic lengthways, chop the onions, pancetta, carrots, celery and parsley.
2. Run a sharp knife along the beef opening it up. Insert the garlic and pancetta into the slits. Place in a dish and pour some vinegar and red wine over it, salt and pepper, bay leaf, rosemary, and cover and let marinate overnight in the fridge.
3. Preheat oven at 160C.
4. Put a bit of olive oil in casserole pan over a high heat and brown the beef all over.
5. Once brown add more olive oil, a splash of prošek, onions, the rest of the marinade including the celery and bay leaf. Let it cook in the oven for about 15 minutes then add the vegetable stock, tomato paste, cloves, prunes and then cover and cook on low heat.
6. After about 3 hours of cooking take out the bay leaf, rosemary, and meat. With a mixer ground down the vegetables into a sauce, adding the honey and the jam. Mix well to you get a sauce.
7. Carve the meat into 1 cm thick slices.
8. Place the meat on a plate with the sauce next to it and serve with homemade gnocchi.
