Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Zlikrofi is a specialty of Idrija, Slovenia, which is where my family is from. Basically it’s a kind of ravioli where the filling is made from mashed potatoes and chives. It’s served with onion sauce and meat–growing up, that was usually rabbit, though these days good rabbit is hard to come by and was replaced by tender pork or sometimes chicken. Either way, it’s a dish of celebration, because while it’s easy to make, it’s very labor intensive.

It’s special because as a family we would all work together in a kind of fun production line–someone would roll the noodles, someone would create the potato balls (and someone, like me, would steal as many of the little warm balls of goodness as they could get their paws on) and someone would create the little parcels. There would always be a count and a proud announcement of how many–600 to feed an extended family group of ten or so was not uncommon.

For us, the recipe is more of a concept: a thing that’s passed from generation to generation. You get good, after a while, at figuring out how many potatoes for the set number of people. Still, here’s an idea of how it goes:

Noodles:

1/2 kg flour
3 egg yolks
1 dl milk
5 dg oil

Stuffing:

1 kg cooked and mashed potatoes (no lumps!)
Eggs to bind
chopped fresh chives
salt to taste (keep checking and adding: don’t over-salt)

Instructions:

Make the dough (using a mixer), form into a brick and leave to “set”
Mix the potato mix (this can be done manually)
Roll out the dough wafer-thin, using flour to prevent it sticking
Roll the potato mix into little 1/2″ balls
Place the balls along the dough in neat rows with space on all sides
Use a sharp knife to cut strips beneath each row
Use the knife to cut a divider between each ball, so it now sits on its own little rectangle
By hand, fold the rectangle over the ball, and then pinch the edges together. Ever seen an individually wrapped hard candy? It looks a bit like that.

Boil the zlikrofi at a fast boil: when they float to the surface they are done. Serve and eat immediately: they go cold very fast. Serve with sauce and meat of your choice.

Just a few random posts

• Morning Coffee: Makiko Sugino just keeps going (4)
• Black Butte (0)
• Blog Review: One man’s travel blog (2)
• 15th July - Goldwell Open Air Museum (0)
• We flock, even in the rain (0)

Comments