Hand Made Macaroni with Meat Sauce - speciality of Žrnovo

Žrnovo is small place on Korcula island. There is an 'agrotouristic' restaurant called 'Gera'. They offer only vegetables that they grow in their garden and fish that they catch that day. We had 'kerna' fish (caught that day by diving) with potatoes and 'zeje' - never tasted something fresher; we had to wait for the owner to 'harvest' our dinner from their garden! They also offer local hand made macaroni that are only made in that small village. They're called 'Žrnovski Makaruni'.

Žrnovo

Ingredients:
Macaroni-
500 g flour
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbs olive oil
1 cup water
Meat sauce-
1/3 cup olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 tsp paprika
500 g mince (or finely chopped beef)
1 cup beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
3-4 tbs parsley leaves, chopped
1 tsp oregano leaves, chopped
salt to taste

Method:
Macaroni-
Mix all ingredients and make a stiff dough. Let it rest 15-20 minutes, then cut small pieces. Wrap each piece of dough around a skewer and rub between your palms to form macaroni. Take off and place onto a clean cloth; repeat with remaining dough. When everything used, cook macaroni in salted water  in 3-4 batches (they will come to the surface; boil for a couple of minutes more). Take them out and place onto oiled serving plate.
Meat sauce-
Heat oil, saute onion, then add other vegetables. Mix well and add meat and spices. Cook until meat looses its pink colour. Add broth and canned  tomato paste, season to taste. Cook for 5-10 minutes.
Spoon meat sauce over the macaroni; sprinkle with shaved Parmesan cheese (optional).

Žrnovski Makaruni ('makaroni na iglu')

Navodno, ovakvi makaroni se jos samo prave u Žrnovu.
Specijalitet su u mnogim restoranima seoskog turizma, posebno restorana 'Gera' kojeg smo posjetili. 
Taj restoran nudi samo ono sto sami proizvedu ili ulove toga dana. Jeli smo ribu 'kernu' sa krompirom i 'zejem' - nikad nesto tako svjeze nisam dobila prije u restoranu. Morali smo cekati dok povrce nije bilo ubrano, a riba je tog dana ulovljena. Suvlasnik je sam ronio na dubinu , jer je to jedini nacin da se kerna ulovi.

Potrebno:

Za makarune-
500 gr brasna
1 k soli 
1 jaje
1 K maslinovog ulja
1 solja (240-250ml) vode
Mesni sos / preliv-
1/3 solje maslinovog ulja
1 veci crveni luk, sjeckan
1 mrkva, sjeckana na kockice / rendana
1 stabljika celera, sjeckana
1-2 cena bijelog luka, protisnuta
2-3 k crvene paprike
500 gr sitno sjeckane govedine (ili mljeveno)
1 solja govedje supe / bujona
1 konzerva sjeckanog paradajza
2 K gustog paradajz sosa
1/2 k svjeze mljevenog crnog bibera
3-4 K sjeckanog persuna
1 k origana
so po ukusu

Nacin:

Makaruni-

Pomijesajte sve sastojke  i umijesite tvrdje tijesto. Ostavite odmoriti 15-20 minuta, zatim isjecite na manje komadice. Svaki komadic ovijte oko pletace igle (ili prutici za kebabe) i trljajte izmedju dlanova da se formira makaron. Skinite sa igle i postavite na cistu krpu. Kad zavrsite sa oblikovanjem makarona, skuhajte ih u zasoljenoj vodi u 3-4 maha. Kada isplivaju na povrsinu kuhajte par minuta duze, zatim vadite na nauljenu posudu za serviranje.

Mesni sos / preljev-

Zagrijte ulje, proprzite luk, zatim dodajte sve ostalo povrce. nakon par minuta ubacite i meso Pirjajte dok meso ne izgubi svoju pink boju. Dodajte zacine, supu, paradajz i sos. Kuhajte jos 5-10 minuta. Zasolite prema ukusu.

Pospite sos preko makarona i pospite parmezanom (po zelji).

Korčula

Korčula (Korchula) Island

Remember story about F. and N., both from Korcula, but apart for many years...him in Australia, her in Holand? Well, F. has returned to this beautiful island for good, and we  (my family and me) went to visit her. She was kind to offer her beautiful home for us to stay as long as we wanted, she took us all over the Island and she is responsible for all these awesome photos that I took.
By the way, N. (her darling), sold his house, packed his belongings and is on his way to Korcula,  literally as I'm writing!
Good luck to both of them - I couldn't ask for better friends!

Korcula is very beautiful island. It's got crystal clear waters, rich history and wonderful people.

I couldn't decide what I liked more - all charming little cities on edges of island, or inside the island and it's olive and fig trees, stone protected land parcels and vineyards.
The island was inhabited since pre-historic times and went through Greek, Roman, Venetian, English, Slavic and Austro-Hungarian empires. I would say, Romans left cultural and culinary impact more than others, so we enjoyed pasta, pizza and seafood prepared in Italian way mostly.
Next post -  recipe  from Žrnovo, Handmade Macarons (Zrnovski Makaruni)



           

 Otok Korčula

Sjecate se price o F. i N., oboje sa Korcule, ali razdvojeni mnoge godine- ona u Holandiji a on u Australiji? E pa, F. se vratila na rodnu Korculu, pa smo odlucili da je posjetimo. Bila je jako ljubazna i ponudila nam je svoj dom na raspolaganju onako dugo kako zelimo. Provela nas je preko cijelog otoka i ona je odgovorna za mnostvo divnih fotografija koje sam uspjela uhvatiti.
Jos nesto, N. (njen dragi) je prodao svoju kucu, spakovao svoje stvari i nalazi se na putu prema Korculi - bukvalnou ovom momentu kako ja pisem!
Sretno oboma - ne bih mogla pozeljeti bolje prijatelje!

Korcula je prekrasan otok. Ima kristalno ciste vode. bogatu istoriju i divne ljude. Nisam mogla da odlucim sta mi se vise dopalo - sarmantni mali gradovi na obalama otoka ili unutrasnjost sa maslinama i smokvama, kamenom ogradjena polja i vinogradi.
Otok je nastanjen od pre-istorijskog doba i isao je kroz ruke Grckih, Rimskih, Venecijskih, Engleskih, Slavskih i Austro-Ugarskih vladara. Ipak bih rekla da su Rimljani ostavili najveci pecat na njihovu kulturu i kulinarstvo, tako da smo uzivali u tjestenini, picama i morskim specijalitetima pripremljenim na Italijanski naci u glavnom.
Sljedeci post - Recept za Žrnovske Makarune (rucno napravljene makarone)