croatia

Wild Boar (Or Beef Shank) with Dirty Macaroni (Šporki Makaruli)

You are surely asking yourself, why is this macaroni dirty?

When serving ‘Dirty Macaroni,’ we follow the principle: “The early bird catches the worm.” This means that the one who gets served the last of the macaroni is left without meat and only gets the macaroni that is barely covered with the remnants of the sauce at the bottom of the pot –hence the name – dirty macaroni.

This well-known Dubrovnik meal is traditionally served at the Feast of Sv Vlaho (St. Blaise), the patron saint of the city. It is a rather filling meal that satisfies big appetites and big families. It is also very practical, because the sauce can be made a day or two in advance, giving the flavour an extra kick.

This sauce is a carefully balanced combination of onion, garlic, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, red wine, prunes, and parsley. For a good sauce, we need a good cut of meat – usually beef shank.

Bucatini pasta is a must (thick spaghetti-like pasta with a hole running through the center), as it holds on to a bit of the pasta water.

For the most fulfilling experience, grate hard sheep or goat cheese over it when serving.

Who can resist this delicious meal, even if you do only get the dirty macaroni from the bottom of the pot?

Traditionally in Dubrovnik we use beef shank. For the FRONTIERS theme of this magazine, we substitute with Wild boar meat, which is intense, sweet and nutty in flavour, which will “build” well with nutmeg, cinnamon, prunes, wine …

To me, cooking represents a trip into a world of imagination, a journey to another dimension where time doesn’t exist. Almost like a game, I harmonize flavours and aromas, colours and textures - balancing, improvising, going overboard, breaking rules ... It’s a step away from everyday life. A process that changes minute by minute. A world away from my main profession as an economist. All that cooking raises levels of oxytocin, the love hormone. How can I resist? I was born in Karlovac (northern Croatian) and studied Economics at the University of Zagreb. Love led me to Split and freed up a new energy from within, as with every one of the many travels I have been on with my husband and children where I got to try new flavours and aromas, learn new recipes and integrate them into my own everyday cooking.

— Tatjana Kezic, Cookbook Author, Culinary Teacher & Recipe Blogger

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