Slovenian Recipes

Menu Bograč (Slovenian Goulash Soup) Crostini Green Salad (dandelion greens with cabbage, tomatoes, and zucchini) Goulash soup was the very first thing I tasted on my trip to Eastern Europe. My husband and I, along with my in-laws, had just arrived in Vienna, after seventeen hours of flying. Our guide pointed us in the direction of an airport café, where we had an hour to pass while she waited for a few more members of the tour group to arrive. We had departed from San Francisco at seven in the morning, changed planes in New York and Paris, and arrived in Vienna at what felt like midnight. It was just past ten in the morning, local time. I was excited, disoriented, exhausted. And hungry. But what to eat? The waiter was a young guy with a shaved head and a forbidding stare. He took one look at us, slapped an English language menu down on the table, and stalked off. It turned out we were in a genuine little bistro, a sort of all-hours workingman...

A confession:  I have never used rosemary much in cooking.  The pungent herb just wasn't on my radar screen.   But now I have discovered that rosemary is right up my alley.  You could even say it's in my own backyard.   Literally.  My husband laughed at me when I brought back a few sprigs of fresh rosemary from the market.  He led me out the door and pointed to a big thicket of piney-looking shrubs. Rosemary. Enough for a small army.  So now I have set myself a new challenge: How it use this assertive, savory herb in my Slovenian cooking adventures. In Slovenian cooking, rosemary ("rosmarin")  is most often used to enhance meat dishes, like the tasty bograč, or goulash soup, I made recently. It is also used in a variety of natural herbal preparations. In fact, a Slovenian company is the largest producer of rosemary extract in Europe. These rosemary biscotti are not a traditional ethnic dish.  But I would c...

Menu Polenta with Crimini Mushrooms Smoked Paprika Chicken Breasts Dandelion Salad with Marinated Mushrooms       I built this dinner around a layered polenta-and-mushroom recipe I found in one of my vintage cookbooks, Woman's Glory: The Kitchen.  I just needed a simple entree that would complement this rich but slightly heavy side dish.  I discovered the perfect solution: An easy chicken breast dish with a paprika flavor that would fit in well. To round out the meal, I created a green salad in the Slovenian spirit. So the dinner was a real mixed bag: traditional, contemporary, and Slovenian-inspired. And I also rediscovered an old-fashioned cooking technique I first learned from my mother, pounding meat into thin cutlets. Polenta with Crimini Mushrooms 1 c. corn grits or polenta, cooked in boiling salted water as directed 1 c. brown crimini mushrooms, sliced 6 T. nonfat Greek yogurt  (or cream) 4 T (or more)  grated smoked gouda...