Real treat for today. Great recipe for homemade pastmajlija, according to me from  Stip. It takes more time, but the result is fantastic.
Stip is a town in central Macedonia famous for this kind of pizza delight.Enjoy

First prepare the meat. It's best to prepare it one day before, so that the meat can soak up the spices and soften it.
And prepare the dough first mix the yeast with lukewarm water and sugar. When activated, put in all the ingredients in a deep bowl. Mix medium soft dough and allow it to reach about an hour.

Get the pork and cut it into cubes.
Season the pork with cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt to taste.
Press the meat into the center of the dough, leaving 2-inch border.
Put dabs of the rest of the all-vegetable shortening on top of the meat.
Fold border, with the fold touching, but not covering the meat.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until meat is done.
In the meantime, break the egg into a small bowl and whisk it. Continue to whisk the egg until it is smooth and no strings cling to the fork.
Take out the pizza and brush the tops of the crust with the egg. Pour the rest of the egg on top of the meat, evenly across.
Put the pizza back into the oven for another 5 to 7 minutes, or until the egg is cooked.
Let pizza cool on a wire rack.

TurliTava- A vegetable and beef stew from Macedonia

Hello there friends of The Savory place, its been a few months since i uploaded a new traditional recipe from my country, so im going to hit it off with a great delicacy some might say similar to the french Ratatouille but with a Balkan twist and a whole lot more of spices that represent the cuisine of the Balkans and Macedonian countryside in all its comfort food glory :)
Macedonian cuisine is a mix of Greek, Serbian, Albanian and Turkish influences, and each one has taken the best of it.
So i said it was similar to Ratatouille because it has the same combination of vegetables but with a lot more spicy meats in the stew.
So lets warm up your hearts this upcoming winter with some real down and heavy stew indigenous to my country and this southern part of Europe.

Preparation:


Grill the meat into cubes (2x2cm), clean the vegetables and chop them into cubes (or pieces), spice, mix and place in an earthenware bowl (can also be metal, but the earth is the best), add the meat to a little oil. Lightly mix, squeeze with a little water, cover and bake for about two hours at 200oC.

Turli Tava is best prepared in a earthenware bowl but its recomended that u prepare it in kind of metal bowl over which heated coal is placed so it cooks evenly (its a well kept secret of preparing this dish in my country:) )and you can reduce or increase the amount of meat depending on your eating habits (it is only necessary to feel the smell of meat) .

Enjoy the delicious taste of Turli Tava witsh some Macedonian red wine from the Tikves region, especialy the Vranec dark wine.

Bon apetit friends

Pasta with Tzatziki dressing

A little twist to the world famous tzatziki salad, which i just looooove when i go on vacation do Greece. Its a simple, savory and really healthy fast to make salad that the greek people use on almost anything, whether its a dip for crisps, a side dish that goes with every kind of fish or just to add a little freshness to the Gyro ( a kind of tortilla like dish), which i will capture in the next blog on
The Savory Place.
First of all i would like to point out that i am momentarily on my vacation in Greece and that`s why i had the idea to combine the famous Tzatziki salad with some homemade pasta for today`s savory recipe. We are in the little shore village of Parga that`s about 2 hours drive and 2 hours ferry ride from the beautiful island of Corfu.
Greek-style tzatziki sauce is served with allmost evertyhing  or may be served as a mezze alongside other mezzes, dishes and ouzo. Tzatziki is made of strained yogurt (usually from sheep or goat milk) mixed with cucumbers, garlic, salt, olive oil, and sometimes lemon juice, and dill or mint or parsley.
That`s the whole gist of it :D
But ill be doing it with some homemade pasta as i said, an not everyday use of this beautiful and healthy salad.
I`m not going to get in with the whole making of the pasta (that will be another post) but concentrate on the tzatziki dressing.

Ingridients:

1. 400 ml solid Greek yogurt
2. 3 Cucumbers
3. 2 tablespoons of olive oil
4. half a lemon
5. Salt and pepper by taste
6. Little dill to give it a nice kick

And that`s all there is to it :D
Chill the Tzatziki in the fridge for half an hour while boiling the Pappardelle ( a kind of sting pasta ) , which is one of my most beloved kinds of pasta.
After you extract the water from the pasta thru a strainer, throw a piece of butter ( 50 grams) in the same pan the pasta was boiling and return the Pappardelle mixing it with the melted butter.
Add a few spoons of the tzatziki dressing in a before prepared bowl of pasta, throw a bit of olive oil and some dill.
The next time you go to Greece, sit in a little tavern while having Ouzo and some tzatziki, let your thoughts fly to the masters that perfected this easy recipe , close your eyes and enjoy the taste of the Mediterranean.

Malidzano- A summer eggplant delight

We in our country usually spend our summers at home or nearby lake Ohrid which is about 120 miles from the capital of Macedonia-Skopje and in those hot summer days no one likes to over eat a lot of
carbs or foods that consist of fats and sugars.

Thats why the great and ingenious peoples
 of the Balkan peninsula have invented a hand full of summer spreads usually consisting of bell peppers, eggplants or regular green peppers that u can combine with some delicious sheep cheese or some beautiful greek feta cheese so u can ease you`re craving and in the same time don`t collapse under the hot summer sun eating calorie rich foods.
My grandma was the expert in making the Malidzano that im going to present today and a master of 

concocting weird summer dishes that her grandma and her grandma created centuries ago.

In the spirit of easy summer dishes and cool summer drinks i present to you one of my favorite comfort foods that i loved growing up in my small town of Skopje. The grandpa of the all famous Ajvar....The Malidzano ( I know it sounds Italian but it isnt )
How to make the perfect Green Ajvar
The quantity given in the recipe is for more jars

Ingredients:

1. 20 pieces of eggplant
2. 4 kg of green bell peppers 
3. 1 liter of sunflower oil 
4. 200 milliliters of wine vinegar
5. 200 grams of sugar
6. 800 grams of ground walnuts 
7. 150 grams of mustard
8. salt by taste

Preparation:
First of all bake the peppers and eggplants
Second , after baking them clean them from the seeds and skin. Third, the cleaned peppers and eggplants get grounded in a meat grinder ( its the easiest way believe me )
Add the liter of oil to a big until it boils and add the cleaned and ground peppers and eggplants.Fry them for an hour and a half.At the very end of the frying add the vinegar, ground walnuts, mustard , sugar and salt
While the Malidzano is still hot, put it in pre prepared and cleaned jars.
The best thing of preparing this easy dip is that u will most possibly have to call to help a few of your friends for the preparation so its not just preparing a common Balkan delight but also the whole day spent with your closest friends and family with a few glasses of wine and a whole lot of love :)

A traditional Sarma (stuffed vineleaf) recipe

Sarmas are a traditional dish and in my family are cooked traditionally in sour cabbage. Of course it's more winter food. When summer comes, we turn to those lighter and more pleasant dishes, and the minced meat ends up in leaves.. In the family where I grew up, however, they were not prepared in the grape list, although the town my dad came from were full of vineyards. The cooked sarmas are quickly finished and extremely easy to eat, just as if they were made for children, and somehow they are, because in this variant it's hard to pass up this savory summer recipe.
There are many variable recipes concerning sarma but this is my favorite and one of the tastiest.
Combine it with some sour cream or Kiselo mleko (sour milk) a kind of cream enjoyed in my country
So lets begin with the first steps in preparing this beautiful recipe

Ingredients

30 grape vine leaves
350 gr/12 oz ground lamb or beef
2 small onions, finely chopped
115 gr/4 oz long grain rice, rinsed and drained
1 bunch fresh dill and flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
5 ml/ 1 teaspoon dried mint
45 ml/ 3 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and ground pepper to taste
8 fl oz/ 1 cup water to cook the stuffed vine leaves
90 ml (or more) / 6 tablespoon plain yogurt to serve

Place the ground beef or lamb in a bowl and combine it with onions and spices.
Put it in a frying pan with hot oil and fry it till it becomes brown 
Boil the rice in water until its the right size and color and move it to the side and dry it off.
When the rice becomes dry and cold add it to the mixture of the fried meat and onions and mixed it all together while rinsing it all together and the whole mixture is well fried.
Put some of the boiled leaves on the bottom of the pan and start with wrapping the cooled mixture in little sausage like pieces.
While wrapping the little sarmas place them in the pan one by one in a circle and after u finish with this step add a glass of water so they can cook through all the way
Cook for 15 minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees Celsius until they get a brownish color
Serve them with some sour cream and minced hot chili pepper powder all over them

This is one of my favorite recepies that my mom and grandma used to prepare all over the year.
I hope u enjoy it and let me know if u have any questions regarding the preparation of this savory goodness :))

Bosnian Burek - Savory Balkan shock of the senses

One of the first things u try when u live in the Balkans is the almighty Burek.
Its the comfort food only the peoples of this little piece of land could have come up with.
A shock to the senses and taste buds its nothing different than other meat filled pastry with the only difference that the Burek is eaten on every occasion in every neighborhood and the ultimate breakfast pastry, that in my opinion is taking over the world of breakfast delights like a storm.
Savory fillings baked in a thin pastry dough are popular throughout southeastern Europe, a legacy of the Ottoman Empire. They go by a variety of names — börek, bourek, böreği, bouréki. The Bosnian version, burek, is an easy ground beef meat pie rolled up into a snail-like form.
All of the countries on the Balkan peninsula that have a tradition in preparing this pastry have their own version of it but the king and the best type of Burek is the one prepared in the capital city of Sarajevo.

INGREDIENTS

Pastry

• Flour -- 2 cups
• Warm water -- 1/2 cup
• Melted butter or olive oil -- 1/4 cup
• Egg, beaten -- 1
• Salt -- 1 teaspoon

Meat Filling

• Ground beef -- 1 1/2 pounds
• Onions, minced -- 3
• Eggs, beaten -- 2
• Paprika -- 2 tablespoons
• Salt and pepper -- to season
• Melted butter or olive oil -- 1/2 cup

METHOD

1. In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon to mix together the flour, warm water, melted butter or olive oil, egg and salt until it comes together in a doughy mass. Add more water, a tablespoon at a time, as needed to bring the ingredients together.
2. Remove the dough to a floured work surface and knead until smooth and pliable. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rest for at least 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix together the ground beef, onions, eggs, paprika, salt and pepper in a large bowl until smooth and set aside.
4. Remove the rested dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll out into a large rectangle. Place floured fists underneath the dough and gently pull sections of the dough out to form a very thin rectangle about 2 feet by 3 feet (60 cm x 90 cm). Take care not to tear holes in the dough. If you do, pinch them together. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes or so to dry out a little.
5. Brush the pastry dough all over with melted butter or olive oil. Place a row of the meat filling along the longer edge of the rolled out pastry dough, leaving a 1-inch border. Bring the bottom of the pastry up over the meat filling and roll it up into a long sausage-shaped roll.
6. Lay one end of the roll onto the middle of a greased baking pan. Carefully wrap the remainder of the pastry roll around itself to form a snail-shaped pie in the middle of the baking pan. Brush the top of the pastry with melted butter or olive oil.
7. Place in the oven and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until cooked through and golden-brown. Cut into wedges and serve with a large dollop of good yogurt.

Breaded zucchini with a Greek yogurt dip

I know its the summertime and all of us want to expose that great beach body we`ve been working on all year round... on the other hand you really cant say no to this deep fried goodness of a side dish i prepared for today.
Breaded, baked zucchini are a side dish orgasm.
Its fairly easy to prepare so u wont have to steam over the stove to prepare them.
U know that feeling when u get really bored from preparing the same minimal dishes in those hot summer days and u are really in need of some decadence ?
Well thats how i feel about side dishes sometimes. Sure, there is a health benefit to simple vegetables. But there is a deep satisfaction in something decadent.And sometimes you need that satisfaction.

Breaded, Baked zucchini are a side dish delight.
You peel them, cut them salt them and let them sweat. When completely drenched, you dry them dip in flour and eggs and put them in hot boiling oil.

Ingredients

2 zucchinis
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
2 teaspoons seasoned salt
Oil
3 tablespoons parsley
5 tablespoons flour
1/2 litter heavy cream

 Instructions for preparing this dish

1.      Wash and peel zucchini. Cut each in half, and then lengthwise into slices the width of three pennies stacked together. (You'll get about 20-25 slices.) Salt them up generously, and leave aside in a bowl for about 15 minutes to let them sweat out the moisture.

2.      Separately beat two eggs in a soup bowl, and add 1 teaspoon of seasoned salt (or ½ bouillon). Mix well. Take another bowl and pour the flour into it.

3.      Heat up some ooil in a frying pan on the highest setting. Dry each zucchini slice with a paper towel. First dip each in the bowl with flour, then in the bowl with eggs. Place carefully into the frying pan. Fry at the highest setting for a while, and then bring the heat down to medium. As you'll fry two or three batches due to amount of zucchini remember that the first batch will take the longest to fry, or about 3-4 minutes on each side. Each subsequent batch will only take half that. (You'll further bake zucchini so you are not frying them up completely, just until they get the right blushing color.) Heat oven to 390F.

4.      Beat the remaining egg, and mix with heavy cream, parsley and the remaining seasoned salt (or bouillon).

5.      Layer all slices into a pan (approximately 12-14 inch in diameter). You'll have 2-3 levels. Once layered, pour the heavy cream mixture over it evenly. Bake for 25 minutes, turning the pan around midway

     I enjoy this dish with a ton of sour cream and
     Greek yogurt as a dip for the baked zucchinis 

      Enjoy.

Cheesecake with greek Katiki cheese

One of the best thing`s in going on vacation in Greece are the wonderful deserts that are vast and great big kaleidoscope of tastes of that ancient country.
From the turkish influence with the baklava and eklers to the Lazarakia, a kind of sweer braed.Greece is one of thoese countries that u want to visit over and over again just because of the delicious deserts it offers.

So for today`s desert i offer a little modern twist on the mainstream cheesecake with a little greek zing.Enjoy
This Greek version of cheesecake uses the  tart Greek cheese xinomyzithra and creamy katiki. Garnish with sweet morello cherries or with a sauce made from fresh strawberries (beat in the blender the strawberries with some sugar and a little lemon juice).

Ingredients:

For the cream

• 600 gr katiki
• 600 gr xinomyzithra
• 4 sheets of gelatin
• 300 gr  sugar
• 500 ml cream milk

For the base

• 1 package biscuits (400 g Digestive)
• 80 gr butter, melted

Procedure:

To prepare the base, grate the biscuits in the mixer and combine with the butter then spread over the bottom of the pan.

Soak the gelatin sheets in some cold water.

For the cream, beat the two cheeses in the mixer with the sugar and slowly add the cream milk.

Extract 1/3 cup of the cream and warm it so that we could totally melt the soaked gelatin.

Stir the gelatin with the rest of the cheese mixture and spread over the biscuit base.

Place it in the fridge for 4 to 5 hours, to thicken so it could be easy to serve.

The king of meatballs

The King of meatballs

One of the most common dishes in Macedonia and the whole of the Balkans and one of the most beloved comfort foods in this region of the Mediterranean
His Majesty the Pasha meatball or as we call it Kjofte

If you visit Turkey, you`ll see Kjofte meatballs of ground meat in almost every restaurant on every small street from Istanbul to the smallest village.
Some Kjofte are made with bulgur rice, breadcrumbs others are meat only, mostly lamb but sometimes combination of beef and lamb.
This dish is old , Macedonian, our grandmothers and mothers prepared it. It`s Turkish origin is in its name `Pasha` or `Pasa` represents a higher rank in the Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, generals, dignitaries and others. However, Macedonia was under the rule of the Ottoman Empire for almost 5 centuries and many recipes were inherited from the Turkish cuisine. This dish consists of small meatball in a special sauce prepared from flour which we call `Kasha`

Ingredients:

• 500 g minced beef
• 50 g rice
• 1 egg
• 1 grated onion
• finely chopped parsley
• ground black pepper
• 1/4 tbs salt

For the `Kasha`

• 4 tablespoons of flour
• oil
• 1.5 liters of water
• 2-3 tbs tomato puree
• 1 large carrot 
• 5-6 pieces of garlic
• mixed spices, black pepper,parsley, bay leaf

Preparation

1. First boil rice until half cooked 
2. Mix minced meat with onions.Add dried spices, black pepper, salt and parsley and add cooked rice.Mix well everything, then form balls with a size of a ping pong ball
3. Fry meatballs in hot oil
4. When done, remove meatballs from the pot and align on a kitchen paper
5. In the same pot, add carrots to fry a bit, then add the flour to fry just for a little while until it changes color
6. Then pour water and add chopped garlic, black pepper, mixes dried spices to taste, bay leaf and tomato puree and return meat balls in the pot.Leave to simmer quietly until the rice in the balls is fully cooked (about 10-15 minutes)
7. Serve Warm

The smells and tastes of the south European cuisine

The passion with which i am starting this blog has been within me for all of my life.
The location of my country and the whole of these food-passionate countries and their inhabitants,is in the middle of an explosion of cuisines that combine in the most delicious ways that only the ancient gods of Olympus could have put them together.
The region spans a wide variety of cultures with distinct cuisines most notably the greek, italian, slavic and spanish ways of cooking
The sole impact of the Mediterranean climate on the creation of this type of cuisine mean that they are beyond the core trio of oil, bread, and wine.Mediterranean cuisine encompasses the ways that these and other ingredients, including meat, are dealt with in the kitchen, whether they are health-giving or not.

In my home country of Macedonia these weird combinations of half oriental and half Slavic dishes are the main aorta of the type of diet of its inhabitants. The act of preparing these dishes in my country and all of the mentioned countries summarises the love and depth with which these people and their cuisines are interwoven within the invisible strings of tradition, family and love of food.


My job ... my goal with the creation of this blog will be to bring these ancient traditions of preparing common spanish, italian, turkish, greek and all around Balkan dishes, within the grasp of the intrigued connoisseurs all around the world, 
and maybe just for a slight moment bring a little taste, smell and music of these common household kitchen`s from the passionate food loving countries of Southern Europe.