Saint Martin's feast (Martinova pojedina)

 

Ingredients:

Roast duck:

  • duck
  • flake salt,
  • 5 fresh carrots,
  • filling

Duck filling:

  • 3 pieces of diced white bread,
  • a dash of milk,
  • 1 tablespoon butter,
  • 1-2 finely chopped onions,
  • 1 large handful of finely,
  • mashed boiled chestnuts,
  • 1 fresh pear, finely grated
  • salt and pepper to taste,
  • some chopped fresh parsley,
  • 2 eggs,
  • 1 teaspoon Viljamovka pear brandy,
  • 1 teaspoon honey.

 

Preparation:

Stuffed duck

First wash and clean the duck, dry it slightly with a cloth and rub it with coarse salt. Then start preparing the filling. The chestnuts are cooked, peeled, and crushed. Dice the bread, moisten them with milk. Fry the finely chopped onion in butter until translucent. Chop the parsley and grate the fresh pear. Then combine all the ingredients for the filling according to the recipe and mix well. Stuff the duck with the prepared filling, close the opening where the filling was stuffed with toothpicks or a skewer and place it on a baking tray sided with carrots.

Roasting duck: 

Start roasting at 200 ° C for 25 minutes on each side. Then reduce the temperature to 140 ° C, baste the duck with its own juice, then cover and roast for another 1 hour. Then remove the foil and raise the temperature to 170 ° C, baste with the roasting juice, brush with honey and roast for another 20-30 minutes until it nicely golden. In the meantime, baste several times with its own juice.  

 

Braised red cabbage:

  • a dash of butter or oil,
  • 2 finely chopped onions,
  • 1 small head of red cabbage cut into noodles,
  • 1 tablespoon of vinegar,
  • 1 peeled apple finely grated,
  • a juice of 1 fresh lemon,
  • home-made vegetable stock powder to taste,
  • a pinch of herb salt,
  • a smidgen of ground pepper,
  • a pinch of ground cumin,
  • if necessary some red wine (Modra Frankinja) for stewing.

Preparation: 

Peel and finely chop the onion. Wash the cabbage leaves, remove the main veins, and julienne them.

Heat the butter in a pan and fry the chopped onions until brown. Add the sugar and stir until it caramelises, then add the chopped cabbage in the pan, adding a little vinegar to keep its beautiful red colour. Fry everything together, stirring, for another 1 to 2 minutes, then add the herb salt, the grated apples, and a little lemon juice. Season to taste with ground cumin and pepper, then braise it. Then pour in the red wine and stock.

Cover the pan and braise the cabbage slowly over a moderate heat for about 45 minutes. Add a little more liquid (water, wine, stock) if necessary, during the braising. When the cabbage has softened, taste it and season further with salt, pepper, and a little wine vinegar if necessary.

Mlinci - home made pasta tatters with eggs

  • 500 g flour (half soft and half hard),
  • 1 egg,
  • 2 tbsp (olive) oil,
  • 1,5 dl lukewarm water (approx.),
  • salt

Sift the flour into a bowl, season with salt and make a well in the centre, then break in the egg, pour the oil and a little water. Mix and begin to knead, gradually adding water as needed during the kneading. Knead for about 10 minutes to obtain a slightly firmer dough, like that for noodles. Form the dough into a ball, cover and leave to rest for about 10 minutes.
On a floured surface, roll out the dough evenly to the size of the baking tray. It should not be too thin, but at least 2 millimetres thick (as thick as the back of a knife). Place the rolled-out dough on the baking tray, without greasing it first, and bake in an oven preheated to 220 degrees. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the pasta trotters are golden brown and the surface is blistered.
Put the cooled pasta tatters (tear them into larger chunks) in a bowl and pour the stock over them. Allow them to soak up the liquid for a few minutes, soften and swell. Drain off any excess liquid. If desired, baste some gravy or roasting juices over the prepared pasta and serve.