Serves 4 people

Ingredients:

300g pork
300g beef
150 g onion
150 g red pepper
300 g tomatoes
300 g mushrooms.
Fresh chopped parsley
50 g garlic
2 dcl white cooking wine

How to prepare:

First, lightly fry the meat in cooking oil (preferably olive oil) at a low heat. Stir constantly for 10 minutes.

Then add the onion. After the onion is softened, add fresh pepper and constantly stir it so that it doesn’t burn. After the pepper is soft add the mushrooms. The poaching time cannot be specified and the dish needs to be constantly checked. After the mushrooms, add tomatoes so that the whole dish becomes more succulent.

After the mixture has been simmering for 5 mins, add the traditional local spices, bukovka (which is prepared from dried red peppers, either hot or sweet), ground red pepper and Vegeta, a regional food seasoning containing several types of dried vegetables. We add 2 deciliters of white wine, the same amount of water and we leave it to simmer.

At the end we add fresh parsley and chopped garlic. We leave for about 10 minutes so that it can be fully infused with all the necessary flavours.
At the end we place the food in a clay pot, which is called a Grne. It should be closed hermetically with pastry, shaped in the form of braid so that the flavour stays inside the pot. Put the dish in an oven and cook it for about 10 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees. After that the Grne is ready to be served.

Recipe provided courtesy of chef Ognen Mitevski from Oreov Lad restaurant.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients:

500g of white navy beans
1 large onion
1 red pepper
Cooking oil
2-3 dry chili peppers
Salt, pepper, plain flour, parsley, mint

How to prepare:

Wash the beans and leave them to soak overnight in a cooking pot filled with water. After the beans have been soaked, place the pot containing the beans on the stove and bring the water to a boil. When the water starts to boil, drain the beans and place them in another pot of boiling water. Chop the onion and add half of it to the beans along with the dried chili peppers. Continue to cook until the beans are soft but whole. Once the beans are ready, drain the water.

Fry the rest of the chopped onion and the red pepper in cooking oil with one spoon of plain flour then add to the drained beans. Put everything into a ceramic baking dish and then sprinkle with parsley, mint, pepper and salt to taste. Put the baking dish in the oven for about 15-20 minutes. Check during the baking process that the beans do not become too dry.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients:

one 3 kilo leg of young spring lamb
2 to 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
4 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
20 small potatoes, peeled
2 tablespoons tomato paste, diluted in 1/4 cup water
2 cups hot water

How to prepare:

Preheat oven to 230 degrees.

Wash leg of lamb. Slit with a sharp knife in various places on both sides of lamb. Insert garlic slices in slits. Season with salt, pepper, add 1/2 tablespoon oregano, and brush with olive oil. Pour lemon juice over lamb and place in roasting pan, fat side up. Roast for about 1/2 hour.

While lamb is browning, combine salt, tomato paste, and water and pour over potatoes. Add to roasting pan; sprinkle with remaining oregano. Lower oven temperature to 180°C. Roast for 1 1/2 hours, turning and basting the potatoes occasionally. Remove to a hot serving platter; slice and serve meat surrounded by potatoes.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

1 kg of flour
600g pork meat
200g lard
4 eggs
1 yeast

How to prepare:

Soak the yeast and after a while add it to the flour. Divide the newly created dough into 4 equal pieces. Use a rolling pin to make each of these pieces thin and flat. Chop the meat. Add salt. Put the meat on top of each piece of dough and spread it. Put lard on the meat and if you prefer add pepper also. Put the pastrmajlii (prepared like this) in the oven. Bake at 250 degrees. Before they are ready, crack an egg over each and finish the baking. Serve hot.