World Cup Dinners

Serbia take place in only their second World Cup finals as an independent nation following the break up of the former Yugoslavia. Although they played with Montenegro at the 1998 tournament, they actually made their solo bow at South Africa 2010.

Their first ever goal scorer at a finals therefore was the wing wizard Milan Jovanovic, who was surprisingly declared ‘one of the best players in the world’ in the Australian soap opera Neighbours! A good winger for sure, but I think one of the Neighbours script writers must have been a big Serbia fanatic!

For my Serbian World Cup Dinner, I must admit I was rather tentative…….the national dish of the young nationa is Pljeskavica which is effectively a burger pattie, accompanied by Prebranac (baked beans) and chips. It had some connotations of an underwhelming childhood midweek dinner!

But as an intrepid World Cup cuisine explorer, I decided to give it my best go…..

Pljeskavica (Burger)

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 150g minced beef
• 150g minced pork
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil for frying.

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix minced beef and pork, salt, paprika, black pepper.
2. Form into patties- try to get them as thin as possible- around 5mm is ideal.
3. Coat with sea salt each side before frying- this will give a nice ‘crust’.
4. Grill or fry your patties for about 3-4 minutes per side til its cooked medium.

Prebranac (Beans)

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 1 white onion roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 cans of haricot beans
• 2 tsp paprika
• 1 cloves of garlic finely chopped.
• 1 bay leaf
• 200ml water.
• Salt & pepper to taste.

Method:

1. Drain and rinse the beans and add to a casserole dish.
2. Top with garlic, onions, paprika, and bay leaf.
3. Pour oil over the mix, and then top up the casserole dish with water, til it reach top of the beans.
4. Bake in oven at 200C for around 45 minutes.
5. Spoon out beans with a slotted spoon.

To Serve:

Serve with chips, and sliced raw onion. I enjoyed this along with a nice green chili sauce as I felt it was a bit ‘bland’. But a nice mayo would be good too.