Another Great Croatian Recipe

Istria, Croatia has plenty of good foods to choose from, many of which are made with common, familiar ingredients and prepared in such simple ways as to make them virtually indistinguishable from domestic faire. If it’s not a flight of fancy that you’re looking for, but a standard dish with a new combination of flavors to give it that exotic twist, Istrian cuisine is just the ticket.

Now, let’s face it. I’m going to give you a great recipe and you’re going to try it, and you’re going to like it. You’ll make it just the way I say putting in your own personal flair and you’ll think you’ve really come up with something special this time, but it’s just not going to be as good as it could be. You don’t have ingredients fresh from Dalmatia, you don’t have fish from the Istrian coast and you don’t have a little old Croatian grandmother sipping the broth every five minutes to make sure she’s pinched in just enough salt.

To get the real experience you have to stay in Croatia, but for now, your table can fake it.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 kg fish (we used mol, which is hake in English - Thanks, Tea!)
A little olive oil
Salt
A few cloves of garlic, chopped
A bit of celery leaf
Water as necessary
Chopped parsley
1 large or 2 medium carrots, grated (optional)
Garlic
A few handfuls of rice

METHOD:

1. Cut the fish into portions, if you are using big fish. Add olive oil, salt, garlic, celery leaf and add enough water to cover the fish. Don’t add too much water, because it will weaken the flavor. Cover and boil until the fish is cooked. The fish is cooked when the meat becomes soft and white.

2. When the fish is cooked, take it out of the pot and reserve the stock. Leave a little bit of the liquid with the fish.

3. Add fresh chopped parsley, more garlic, carrot (optional) and rice to the stock, and cook until the rice is soft.