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Don't ask me why but when I was younger, cauliflower in sour cream was always a treat. Mum would serve her sour cream cauliflower with a piece of roasted meat, potatoes and oh my, that cauliflower would always just melt in your mouth (we called it karfiol). This recipe is from He Needs Food and I love it because it's actually a full meal all in one baking dish! And the photos speak for themselves, the wonderful warm cream and cheese oozing out of the cauliflower and the crispy ham and breadcrumbs make this recipe absolutely delicious. And if you're a vegetarian, just take out the meat. Without further ado, here it is... karfiol sa kiselim vrhnjem! Let me know if you tried this absolutely delicious cauliflower recipe and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

I found this recipe in a 1970s Croatian dessert cookbook and as soon as I turned the page and saw it, I thought "Oh my God, I HAVE to give that a go!" Never before had I made a grand cake or dessert like this and I feel it was a triumph (even though it's slightly too sweet for me). It's the filled central layer and the decoration (however you choose to do it) that makes it 'grand.' The baked cake is super easy to prepare and consisting of really simple ingredients you can decorate it (or not) however much or little, you like. Another thing that I had no idea about is what the difference is between a cake and a torte? According to the internet, a traditional cake is made with ingredients mainly consisting of sugar, eggs, butter and flour. A torte calls for little to no flour and the use of ground nuts or breadcrumbs instead. These ingredients make the torte much heavier in both texture and taste. Well, praise to another flourless Croatian recipe especially in these coronavirus times where flour is possibly a bit harder to find. And thanks to those Austro-Hungarian bakers for bringing their expertise to Croatia. So now I know the difference between a cake and a torte, here is this classic Croatian recipe. Let me know if you tried this magnificent torte and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

I never thought that I'd love a combination of leek and chestnuts but here I am loving it! This is another Croatian recipe from Heneedsfood, it's originally made with ham (šunka) but because I had some lovely pork medallions (and feel like I should add some pork to my diet) I made it with these instead. And it worked great, and I think I can say this is one of the best sauces I have ever tried. Honestly! Next time I make this though, I will use frozen chestnuts. Using fresh, by the time you cut the crosses into them, boil, wait for them to cool, peel, get splinters stuck under your nails...Ha! It can all get a bit too much, so next time it's frozen for me. The combination of soft leek, chestnuts, red wine and balsamic is sublime and a real explosion of those rich autumn, winter flavours. Serve it with asparagus spears to cut through the richness and warm crusty bread. Let me know if you tried this absolutely delicious chestnut and pork recipe and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

I am four years old and sitting at the wooden table in my grandmother's kitchen in Slavonia, northern Croatia. I'm on holiday there from Australia with my mum. My legs are zig-zagging under the table from excitement because I know that I'm about to be served my absolute favourite dish - chocolate pudding with red currants - and not the packet stuff, this is the real thing. My gran puts the ceramic dish in front of me, the sprig of red currants from her garden laid across the silken chocolate top. I don't wait long. My spoon dives in, careful to get one red currant into the spoonful of pudding so that the currant erupts in my mouth. The pudding is smooth, cool, rich and just perfect. And here's the recipe, I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. Any kind of tart, berry fruit works well as a topping and because I couldn't find red currants I used raspberries and freeze-dried strawberries. Let me know if you tried this chocolatey treat and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

Risotto for me never seems to have much flavour, or enough flavour. I don't know but they always seem kinda bland, possibly boring. But this one, with the prawns, chilli and saffron is different. This was the first time I've made this recipe (from a Croatian cookbook) and I love the little pink pieces of prawn, the mild flavour of the garlic (even though there are six cloves!) and the heat coming through from the chilli (to my mind, next time I will add another chilli - just to spice things up even more). But any sort of risotto, even the Asparagus one I made in a previous post , needs to be treated with care. Anyone who tells you that you can leave it to bubble away on the stove top without stirring etc. has never made one. This dish is an investment in time, your time. You can't leave it to make a phone call, you can't leave it to throw a load of laundry on, you can't leave it to watch five minutes of The Bold and the Beautiful. You have to be there stirring constantly, monitoring for when to add more water, and did I mention stirring constantly? Keep calm and stir your risotto, non-stop! Here it is...enjoy! Let me know if you tried this seafood and rice delight and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

This is my all time favourite sauce. It reminds me of both my grandmother who made it, and my father who loved eating it, and then my mum who would then make it for our family here in Australia. The only 'trick' (if there is one) is a good stock, and really you can use any kind of chicken, beef, or vegetable stock, as long as it's flavourful. If you don't have a good stock, then you can use water, but swap the unsalted butter for a salted butter. Another trick for this beauty is that you can serve it with almost everything. Here I've served it with chicken schnitzel, but it works just as good with a roast, or barbecued chicken, any kind of veal, or beef recipe and even wonderful with fish. Dill really lends itself it everything. And if you want to use more than I have listed, by all means. Let me know if you tried this herb hero sauce and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

Another simple Dalmatian soup for any time of the year. Served hot (as I prefer it) it's wonderful with some croutons and fresh herbs sprinkled on top, or in the warmer months serve it cold, straight out of the fridge with said herbs. While the recipe ingredients come in grams, I changed my numbers to use one carrot, one capsicum and one eggplant, which left too much eggplant in the recipe, but rather than throwing out half an eggplant I used it in the soup. There were no problems with taste. Like I've put down in the method, when the onions go in at step one, immediately start on step two so that you're not waiting around too long for the capsicum and eggplant to sauté. And if served a day after making, those flavours really develop and it's even more sensational. Let me know if you tried this vegetable soup and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

I love me a pâté! And possibly every Croat has at one point or another made a meal from a tin of Podravka pâté (whichever flavour you like) and some warm crusty bread. Well, at least I have! But next time you head for the tin of pâté in the back of the pantry why not try this simple recipe courtesy of Croatia's most loved river fish? Back in the day you would have to catch your own trout and smoke it, but nowadays you can grab a packet of smoked trout (near the smoked salmon) at the any supermarket and it's as easy as ripping open the packet. You can make this classic dish well ahead of time, think days, or serve immediately. I added some dill on top of mine, served on mini-toasts but if you don't want any herbs, serve as is. Let me know if you tried this super fish pâté and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

If you don't know what Bacalao is, then let me spell it out for you, it's a salted dried cod. And yes, that doesn’t sound too delicious. If you use a whole salted cod, then you will need to soak it atleast overnight, if not for a few days and it will need several rinses in cool water before it can be used. So you salt it and then you slowly get rid of all the salt? Yes! But you can actually buy salted cod in your local deli that is already cut into pieces so that you don't need to skin and debone a whole fish, but you'll still need to do the water baths to get rid of the salt. This recipe is great for using as a starter if you have a whole fish or packet and don’t want to use the whole thing in a stew. It’s quite a bland mousse, so the addition of horseradish is welcome. Let me know if you tried this super fish mousse and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

Ah, salted cod. I remember various Christmas Eve's where this dish and other fish dishes would be served. The other dishes were ok, but the bakalar was always special because that was the only time throughout the year that we had it, so it was always a kind of wow moment. Even if at the time I didn't think it tasted too good. Now my tastes have changed. Salted cod is eaten all around Christian European countries like Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Nordic countries and then moved over to South America. (Oh, and Croatia!) It was also eaten by Catholic clergy as a kind of cleansing meal before these big feast days of Easter and Christmas. The cod is caught, heavily salted and dried which you can buy as a whole fish or shredded in the freezer section of your deli or fish market. Regardless of whether you buy a whole fish or shredded you will need to soak it in water for atleast 48 hours to get the salt out (and funnily enough you add salt back into the dish when you're cooking). I loved using the shredded version as the bones have all been picked out, so it saves an incredible amount of time, and takes away the fear when eating (no one wants to choke on a cod bone). This is the first in a series of three bakalar recipes. From one fish, or a one kilogram packet of frozen fish you can make all these recipes and they serve four comfortably. And you have six months to prepare for Christmas 2020. Enjoy! Let me know if you tried this super fish dish and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let's live!)

I don't know how a sponge dessert invented in the great state of Queensland made it across the pond to Croatia, but it did. That they made it so far across the world is one thing, but the strangest thing is that these squares of sponge, dipped in a chocolate saucy icing and rolled in coconut have somehow become a staple of the dessert selection in Croatia. Weird. Even Wikipedia's entry under Lamington has this to say about Croatia..."Croatia has the biggest connection with this Australian dessert out of all the countries in the world. The origins and connection are not quite clear, but it has become a staple in Croatian cuisine and a traditional dessert. In Croatia they are called Čupavci. Croatians are possibly the biggest consumers and makers of this dessert." The literal translation of Čupavci in Croatian is "a dishevelled bunch" and I've made these in the "traditional" basic Australian way. No filling and very dishevelled. Whereas, if you google these babies, you can find hundreds of modern, fancy variations on how to make them - cream filled, jam filled, jam AND cream filled, custard filled, fruit filled, matcha flavoured coating sauce, strawberry flavoured coating sauce. It's really up to your own imagination on how you want to improve upon this basic recipe. The world is your oyster! Sorry Lamington! I've used this recipe from the Australian Women's Weekly which is simple. It really is just a few simple ingredients, no need for any baking powder, or vanilla just three types of flour, some eggs and sugar. I think the country women of Queensland who invented this recipe would be pleased with this list of basic ingredients, I assume that's it's as close to the original as you can get. So let's trawl through the back of the pantry for the desiccated coconut, you know there's half a packet rolling around back there, here we go...lamingtons! Let me know if you tried these dishevelled treats and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let’s live!)

I love duck. Penang curry duck, Peking duck, roasted duck, duck risotto. Well, this is another duck recipe from the Dalmatia cookbook by Ino Kuvacic that you (and I) can add to our duck repertoire. If you don't like duck, definitely try this one because it's simple and straight forward. If you don't want to buy a whole duck, then I recommend just buying the duck breasts and making the recipe with those. A duck breast per person with the sauerkraut is the perfect amount of food. And I have to admit a lot easier than cutting up a whole duck as I did. Next time I will make this recipe with just the breasts because it's just so much easier. The cinnamon and nutmeg make this more of a wintery feeling recipe but really you can serve this any time of year when you're hankering for something hearty and delicious, and it's a nice departure from a regular roast chicken. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Let me know if you tried this hearty duck recipe and what you thought? Dobar Tek! Zivjeli! (Bon Appetit! Cheers and let’s live!)