Recipes From My Travels - Paul provides a typical taste from a Slovenian Sunday - The Stratford Observer

Recipes From My Travels - Paul provides a typical taste from a Slovenian Sunday

Stratford Editorial 13th Aug, 2022   0

CHEF and blogger Paul James writes for our paper.

I had this dish called ‘Goveja juha z domacimi rezand’ translated to ‘Beef soup with homemade noodles’ while I was staying in Kranj, Slovenia at the beautiful Guest House Arvaj.

It’s a traditional Slovenian dish, but as all chefs do, I’ve added a couple more ingredients to it. Not that it needed it, the dish I was served was beautifully flavoured anyway.

This clear beef soup is believed to originate from Austria, made by Slovenian peasants, it certainly looks a simple dish, but trust me it takes a lot of preparation to get the flavours nailed.

Slovenian cuisine has its roots in humble peasant fare. In a country where there was little meat and fresh produce, most cooks relied on root vegetables and used browned bread crumbs and pork cracklings to enrich simple porridges and egg dishes.




Foraging is a natural process over in Slovenia, in fact I spent a good hour chatting in broken English (and that was just me) with a gentleman who owned a small shop in Kranj, his pride in telling me that the selected array of vegetable produce he was selling came from his own garden.

I found the close connection between its cuisine and nature itself, this is probably one of the reasons why Slovenia is the European Region of Gastronomy 2021.


In one of the greenest countries in the world, Slovenia brings us nature straight to the plate.

It seems each area has its own specialty product, none more so than the two places I visited – Bled and its famous ‘Bled Cream Cake’ and in Kranj the equally famous ‘Kranjska klobasa’ (sausage)

But let’s crack on with the dish, ‘Goveja juha z domacimi rezand’ usually a traditional Sunday meal cooked from scratch, it evokes true Slovenian family life.

As I said earlier, it looks such a simple dish, but it can’t be rushed.

This will enable the flavours to bounce off your tastebuds.

I hope Klemen and Uros plus all the team at Guest House Arvaj approve of my version.

Enjoy (for a vegetarian option, just simply remove the meat and beef stock cube and replace with mushrooms).

Beef soup with homemade noodles

Ingredients

Selection of vegetables (carrots, celery, onions, Parsnips) washed and roughly chopped.

Selection of fresh herbs (parsley, thyme)

A slice of lean braising steak (No fat)

1 red chilli (optional)

Spring onions (Sliced)

Fresh chives (Finely cut)

300g of strong flour or bread flour

Pinch of salt for noodles and seasoning

100ml of water for noodles (Add more if required)

1 litre of water

1 beef stock cube

1tbsp of oil

Pepper for seasoning

Method

1. On a medium heat place a large stock pot. Once it’s hot add the oil.

2. Then add the vegetables (I always brown the vegetables just to release the flavours)

3. This should only take about five to ten minutes. Sprinkle in the stock cube and stir.

4. Now carefully pour in a litre of boiled water, bring back to the boil.

5. Then add the braising steak and fresh herbs.

6. Reduce the heat to a simmer, cover and slowly cook for up to four hours, checking occasionally – don’t worry if the stock reduces slightly, you are looking for a quantity of 800ml to a litre.

7. To make the noodles add the flour and a pinch of salt to a bowl then gradually add the water to form a dough.

8. Then gently knead for around ten to 15 minutes.

9. Cover for half an hour with a clean tea towel.

10. Then remove from the bowl and knead the dough once more just to release and air pockets that may have formed. Roll into a ball and half the noodle mixture.

11. On a floured surface roll out the dough until it’s about a 2mm thick.

12. Turn the dough over, sprinkle over some flour then fold the dough three to four times.

13. Then with a sharp knife thinly slice the dough into noodles, separating as you go so they don’t stick.

14. After four hours (or longer if you want) remove the braising steak to a plate and strain the stock into another large pot, leaving a clearish stock.

15. Season to taste and bring back to simmer.

16. Shred the beef and add to the stock.

17. Add your noodles and cook gently for a couple of minutes depending on what size you cut them.

18. Then in a warm bowl add the noodles, then the soup.

19. Garnish with spring onions, chives and chilli.

 

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