How to make Dalmatian Pasticada

Ingredients for Pasticada

Beef meat (Fricando) – app. 1,5kg

50g celery root

Parsley root – 30g

One bigger onion

6 cloves of garlic

Bacon Pancetta 4 strips

3 bigger carrots

a bit of rosemary, bay leaf and thyme

7-8 dried plums

250 ml red wine

250 ml of water

3 tablespoons of wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Olive or cooking oil

600ml of water

50 g of tomato paste

200ml of Prosek.

Recipe for Pasticada

Take about 1,5kg of beef meat (this part is called the Fricando or the top round) and leave it in one piece. Then insert the strips of bacon and garlic into the meat. Make several holes in the meat and stuff it inside (like in pockets). The bacon will make the meat soft and garlic will give it a special taste.

Stuffed Meat for Pasticada, photo credit Sasha's kitchen

Place the whole meat in a dish and add some parsley root, carrot, celery root, onion, and garlic. All these vegetables should be sliced to small pieces so they can be cooked later. Then spice the mixture with salt and pepper. Add a bit of rosemary, bay leaf, thyme, and dried plums.

Finally, soak the mixture in red wine and water (about 250 ml) and add 3 tablespoons of wine vinegar.

Marinade for Pasticada

Cover it and leave it in the fridge for 4 hours. Then turn the meat and spice it with salt and pepper again and leave it to marinate overnight.

The second day of making Pasticada

Divide the meat from the vegetables and the liquid. Put some olive or cooking oil in the frying pot just enough to cover the pot. Then fry the meat from all sides shortly in order for it to keep the taste and then take it out and cover it.

Pasticada after the frying process

Add some more oil to the pot and then fry the vegetables, but first take out the thyme. Then add the liquid (in which the meat marinaded overnight). Add the meat and water to cover half of the meat. Add 50g of tomato paste and cook for one hour covered.

The cooking of Pasticada

Turn the meat often to cook evenly from all sides. Add water one more time to cover half of the meat. Cover it and cook for one more hour.

Take out the meat and slice it. Remove the bay leaf from the sauce. Blend the sauce and add salt and pepper (if necessary). Add 2dcl of prošek (Dalmatian sweet dessert wine) and leave to cook for 5 more minutes.

Blending the vegetables into a puree, photo credit: Podravka

Pour the meat with the sauce. As it is made from vegetables the sauce is quite thick. It is best served with home-made gnocchi.

How to make homemade gnocchi?

Ingredients for gnocchi:

900gr of potatoes

300gr of flour

A bit of salt

One to two eggs.

Recipe for home-made gnocchi

Cook potatoes and smash them into pure. Add some flour (about 1/3 of the amount of the potatoes) and a bit of salt and one egg and mix all this together. Then you shape the mixture into gnocchi. After you make gnocchi put them in boiling water and cook them till they come out floating on the surface. You can also freeze them for future usage.

Gnocchi floating on top

Hope you understood how to make Pasticada and that you will be able to cook it successfully. If on the other hand, all this seems to difficult for you there is another way to try the Dalmatian Pasticada. Try it in a restaurant in Croatia.

Where are the best restaurants in Croatia for Pasticada?

List of restaurants:

• Tavern Trs in Trogir
• Tavern Menego on the island of Hvar
• Tavern Bonaca in Dubrovnik
• Tavern Bokuncin in Sutivan on the island of Brac
• Taverns Maslina or Adio Mare on the island of Korcula
• Tavern Kalalarga in Makarska.

In all these destinations we have villas where you can stay during your gastro trip to Croatia. Feel free to check them on our website Villas Croatia.