Serbia: Cevapcici and Pecenje Paprike {CATWWC}

Thanks for a (gentle) nudge from the Enthusiastic Kitchen Elf, we are getting back on track in our Cooking Around the World Adventure for the summer. So, here we are at Serbia.

On the Map

Serbia is country located in the Balkans, sharing its borders with Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, and Albania. It is landlocked, although access to the Adriatic is available through Montenegro, and the Danube River provides shipping access to inland Europe and the Black Sea.

from LonelyPlanet.com

A Few Fun Facts

• Most Serbian last names end with the letters “ić”. The five most common are: Jovanović, Petrović, Nikolić, Marković, and Đorđević.
• In 274 AD, Constantine the Great, the Roman Emperor, was born in the Serbian city of Nis.
• Between the 3rd and 4th centuries, a total of eighteen emperors, accounting for twenty percent of all Roman rulers, were born in what is modern day Serbia.
• The only Serbian word that is used around the world is “vampire”.
• The clock-making industry in Serbia is even older than the world-famous Swiss one. The Serbs began making clocks almost 600 years before the Swiss did.

Note: these recipes are my interpretation of traditional recipes. I do not intend to offend anyone if your grandmother doesn't make these like this. But if you'd like to share a family recipe with me, I'd be happy to give it another shot.

Cevapcici Ingredients

• 1 lb each lean ground beef and ground turkey * (traditionally this is made with beef, pork, and lamb)
• 1 egg white
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 t baking soda
• freshly ground salt
• freshly ground pepper
• 1 t paprika
• dash of cayenne pepper

Procedure

Preheat a grill or barbeque. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients.. Mix well using your hands, and form into 5" to 6" long sausages about 1 to 1-1/2" thick. Lightly oil the grilling surface. Grill sausages until cooked through, turning as needed, about 30 to 40  minutes.

Pecenje Paprike Ingredients

• 8 peppers
• olive oil, to drizzle

Procedure

Preheat a barbecue or grill. Place pepper on grill and cook, turning, until skins blister and blacken. To eat, peel off skins and discard. Drizzle with olive oil  to serve.

I served the Cevapcici with a side of fresh kraut. And, though we all loved this dinner, R did start calling it 'gorilla poop.' Not so appetizing...but he is a pre-teen boy! So, maybe that scatalogical humor is to be expected.

And that's a wrap on our Serbia tabletop travel. Stay tuned as we head to the Seychelles next!