Croatian authentic gastronomy in the 18th century was a poor and simple. They ate žganci (something like mush), beans and prežgana soup (which is basically water with toasted flour and salt).  Pura z mlinci is a meal that can be singled out form this poverty. It is a dish that consists of roasted turkey and mlinci (a kind of pasta) as a side dish. The dish was prepared among the nobles of Northern Croatia. Today it is considered a classic of the Zagreb cuisine. It is traditionally prepared for Christmas.  The ingredients have remained unchanged for centuries and they are all locally produced.

Ingredients:  1 turkey

                        2 apples   

                        1 tablespoon of  honey

                        1 dl of chicken stock 

                         mlinci         

 

Preparation: the day before you leave the turkey in salted water. The next day, we take it out of the water, wipe it down and put some salt on it. We stuff it with apples. We put some honey on the skin and put it in the oven.

Mlinci should be put in boiling chicken stock, left for a few minutes and then drained. Then we add them to the roasted turkey, so they can soak up some of the grease and get flavour. Finally, we serve the turkey and mlinci on the same tray.

Leonarda Ričko 7.r