Pašike Restaurant reveals you our three delicious traditional recipes for a genuine family Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve and Christmas are the peak of the Advent events, and in Dalmatia they are celebrated in a special, festive mood, with family and loved ones gathering around the Christmas tree and the table. Homes are decorated appropriately and meals prepared according to traditional recipes are served.

The menu on Christmas Eve, the day before Christmas, a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ, is characterized by fat-free meals and pastries. Traditional Dalmatian lunch on Christmas Eve in Dalmatia consists of fish, mostly cod, and potato doughnuts (fritule) are served for dessert. Of course, each house has its favourite, special recipe that is passed from one generation to other and never changes.

Pašike restaurant also likes preparing home-made, traditional food, and for this Advent we will present you our three autochthonous and traditional recipes to give you an inspiration for your lunch and/or dinner at Christmas Eve.

Old ‘popara’

OLD ‘POPARA’

• cuttlefish
• squids
• cooked octopus
• onion
• garlic
• parsley
• cuttlefish ink
• salt
• pepper
• white wine
• concentrated tomatoes

Fry onion, add cuttlefish cut into small pieces, squids cut into ring and fry until it softens, occasionally add fish soup or water. Then add octopus and all other ingredients and cook until all flavours are blended. Serve with home-made dumplings.

Codfish with chickpeas

CODFISH WITH CHICKPEAS

• codfish
• garlic
• olive oil
• parsley
• salt
• pepper corns
• white pepper
• white wine
• onion
• leek
• bay leaves
• concentrated tomatoes

In the evening, cut codfish in half and soak it in warm water. If it hasn’t soaked enough until the morning, leave it in the water for one more day. It is important to change the water regularly! After it has softened, put it in the water and cook it. Leave the codfish from the water when the meat begins to separate from the bones, leave it to cool for a while, and then remove the bones and the fin.

Chickpeas – Put chickpeas to soak in the water a night before. Put 1 kg of shredded onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 4 bay leaves, 20 pepper corns, 2 dcl of olive oils and salt per 1 kg of chickpeas. Add water and cook until the chickpeas soften.

Add olive oil in a pan, fry onion and leek, add garlic, parsley and the cooked codfish that you separated into flat pieces using your fingers, add some water in which you cooked the codfish, 2 bay leaves, concentrated tomatoes t the top of a spoon, salt, white pepper, a little of white wine and cooked chickpeas. Cook until all the flavours blend and the sauce thickens.

POTATO DOUGHNUTS (FRITULE)

• 1 kg of floury potatoes
• flour, salt
• ¼ l of milk or water
• 2 eggs
• 60 g of sugar
• 1 lemon
• 1 orange
• 3 apples
• 1 small cup of rum, schnapps or maraschino
• cinnamon and ground nutmeg
• vanilla sugar
• oil (sunflower, vegetable)

Boil 1 kg of floury potatoes in a saucepan, peel them while they are hot, squeeze them, add some salt and pepper and add ¼ l of boiling milk or water and stir well. Add enough flour to achieve medium thickness of the dough. Then add 2 whole eggs, approximately 60 grams of sugar, zests of 1 orange and 1 lemon, 3 grated apples, a small cup of rum, schnapps or maraschino, cinnamon and ground nutmeg. Knead the dough for about half an hour and place it aside to rest. Then deep fry small balls of dough, and sprinkle them with vanilla sugar after you remove them from the pan.

We wish all our guests, business partners and friends a merry Christmas and may this holiday bring you peace, serenity, happiness and well-being. Enjoy the feast!