As everywhere else, Easter is also celebrated in Croatia! And of course they also have their own traditional recipes and dishes especially for Easter day.
At Easter breakfast the following usually appears on the table
- coloured boiled eggs
- cooked or smoked slices of ham along with a spicy sauce of grated horseradish
- “French” salad (more on this later)
During the Easter lunch
- clear chicken soup
- oven-baked chicken or turkey oven-baked potatoes and ‘mlinci‘
‘Mlinci‘ are large thin sheets of baked dough, made from flour with water, or egg. The dough sheet is then hard baked in the oven and there, one who will break into pieces and then boiled in water.
- pastry of a sort of sweet bread filled with walnuts or poppy seeds
Now about this ‘French’ salad that every Croatian knows about, but nowhere else in the world is this called ‘French’ salad. I have asked around, but nobody knows how this salad got it’s name. It mostly resembles what is called a Russian salad, but just a bit different. The recipe is not from France, but the cook that made the Russian salad was Lucien Olivier, head chef at the then renowned restaurant “Hermitage” in Moscow (1860s). He’s got a French name, maybe it is derived from that, but who knows.
Anyway this salad in often made in Croatia for new year’s day and Easter. I have written down my version of the recipe, but there are many variation to it, so just experiment with the ingredients to your own taste!
