Scampi in tomato (buzara style) sauce Istrian Recipe

August 07, 2025 by tina oblak in Adriatic Recipe, All year round recipe, Appetizers, casserole, Celebratory dish, comfort, dinner, entrée course, family friendly dish, family friendly meal, festive dish, first course, first course meal, Fish & Seefood, fish starter, Healthy, healthy mael, Istrian cuisine, Istrian dish, Istrian gastronomy, light fish course, light meal, main course, main dish, main fish course, main fish meal, make ahead, one pot meal, one post fish recipe, Rustic dish, shellfish, simple recipe, Slovenian cuisine, Slovenian food, Slovenian gastronomy, Starters, stew, supper, weekend

Scampi/langoustines in buzara (busara) sauce is a one pot main fish course, and a recipe that proofs that cooking fish can be incredibly easy.

This is a very simple, flavourful and delicious dish that makes seafood lovers very happy indeed.

The dish is kind of a super tasty stew where the scampi are cooked in a simple tomato sauce, known as red buzara sauce (as supposed to white buzara sauce without the addition of tomatoes traditionally used to cook the mussels).

During the cooking process the langoustines release their juices and together with the rest of the ingredients make the most delicious sauce.

You will need plenty of fresh rustic crunchy bread or polenta to soak up all the sauce. It is a very informal dish as it it traditionally eaten with hands.

Great for dinner parties and kids have great fun unpeeling the langoustine tails. They feel a bit special and grown up, and it is a great way to get them familiar with the seafood from a very early age.

This special dish is very much loved and typically found and enjoyed in Dalmatia (Croatia), along the coast of Istria (In Croatia and Slovenia), in the town of Trieste and in the regions of Friuli Venezia Giulia and Veneto in Italy. The meaning and the origin of the term busara or buzara is still unclear.

It is not surprising that this dish is so popular in this areas as scampi found ideal conditions in the Kvarner Bay, offering the perfect environment for the scampi, being renowned to be the best in the world.

Along the Slovenian coast this dish is normally prepared and cooked in the households to mark a special occasion, as the langoustines, although readily available, could be a bit pricey. It can also be found on the menu in almost every seafood based restaurant as Škampi na buzaro.

My dad used to make the best one. On Saturday morning he would go to the local fish market and come back with full bag of fresh langoustines. Keeping the quantities small when it came to food was surely not his strength. We all knew there would be a feast in the evening with friends coming over. When my father cooked langoustines our family friends never minded a last minute invitation.

I am sharing here the family recipe for this simple yet wonderful and successful dish.

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4

5 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 onion (about 70g), peeled and finely chopped
1kg langoustines, fresh or frozen (can use prawns instead) If using frozen langoustines or prawns make sure they are defrosted safely beforehand.
400g tin good quality chopped tomatoes or plum tomatoes, chopped (you can use fresh tomatoes if you prefer, but make sure they are well ripen and sweet, remove the skin and chop them)
100ml white wine
1-2 Tbsp dry breadcrumbs
fresh flat leaf parsley, a handful (about 10g), finely chopped, plus some extra for garnishing, optional
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
sea salt, to taste

Wash the langoustines under cold running water and place them into a colander.

Take a pair of kitchen scissors and one individual langoustine in your hand, turn it upside down, facing the soft shell side of the tail towards you. Insert the scissors at the bottom of it and cut through along the length of the entire tail.

This is quite an essential part as the juices will go out of the langoustines and give a sauce a rich taste, but it will also really help you to remove the tails once cooked.

Put extra virgin olive oil in a large skillet or saucepan, big enough to accommodate all the langoustines, preferably in one layer, they can overlap a bit.

Add finely chopped onions and cook on a medium-law heat until the onions are translucent and soft. Add crushed garlic and cook together with the onions for a minute or so stirring constantly in order to avoid garlic burning.

Place the langoustines in a pan and cook for about 10 minutes giving a pan a good shake now and again.

Pour white wine, deglaze the pan and let it evaporate.

Add chopped tomatoes, dry breadcrumbs, finely chopped parsley, 400ml of water and a pinch of sea salt.

Cook with the lid partially uncovered on a gentle heat for about 15-20 minutes.

During the cooking give a pan a little shake now and again. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. If the sauce is too thick just add a splash of water or, on the contrary, if you think the sauce is too thin, add a pinch of breadcrumbs.

Serve the dish with soft cooked or grilled polenta, or simply, how it is traditionally done, with plenty of rustic crunchy bread. Not cutlery needed here, the dish should be enjoyed eaten with your hands.

Just a thought

You can use a bit of dry chilli flakes if you like a bit of a heat in your food and wish to add a bit of a kick to the dish. The langoustines, however, are quite mild and delicate in taste with a sweet note, so try to not over do it with the chilli as you will cover the taste.

Chilled Peaches in White Wine Istrian Recipe

Beans and Sardines

July 24, 2025 by tina oblak in Adriatic Recipe, dessert, Drinks, Easy recipe, Istrian gastronomy, make ahead, Slovenian gastronomy, Sweet Things, weekend

This recipe, if we can call it a recipe, is very popular during the summer months when the peaches are plentiful and at its best, and the desire for baking desserts maybe a bit scarce.

It is easy and simple to prepare with only a few ingredients, a great make ahead dessert for a dinner party and will impress your guests time and time again.

Sliced peaches are sliced and macerated with a bit of sugar and soaked in white wine, left for a few hour for all the flavours to mingle together and do the magic, and you are left with a perfect light dessert to end a summers meal or a barbecue.

On the Istrian coastline, this recipe, that I like to describe as summer party in a glass, it is almost exclusively made in the households and prepared by the stall holders during summer festivals, but not found on the menu in the restaurants.

I am sharing here my family recipe for peaches soaked in wine, scale the quantity of the ingredients up or down by the number of people, and adjust to your taste. What can possibly go wrong?

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 ripe peaches (yellow or white flesh peaches both work well and you can also use nectarines)
40g granulated or caster sugar, or to taste
about 400ml dry white wine, plus extra for topping up (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc to mention just a few will work well for this recipe)
fresh mint leafs for decoration, optional

Method

Wash the peaches under cold running water and pat dry them.

Peel the peaches, optional, and slice them into thin slices or chop them into bite size pieces. You can do a combination of both.

Place sliced or chopped peaches into a medium sized bowl.

Sprinkle the peaches with the sugar and gently stir, so the sugar and the peaches are well mixed together. Let the peaches to macerate for about 15-20 minutes.

Pour the white wine over the peaches and stir gently. The peaches should be fully submerged, if not add more wine. Taste and adjust the sugar, add more if desired.

Cover the bowl with the cling film and place in the fridge for at least an hour or up to a day.

Place the sliced/chopped peaches into wine glasses and pour over the peach-infused wine.

Serve with little spoon so the guests can spoon out the peaches and sip the peachy syrup wine.

Decorate with mint leafs if desired.

Just a thought

If you wish you can also use other types of fruit like strawberries, cherries, grapes or a combination.

Stuffed Artichokes Istrian Style Recipe

Beans and Sardines

June 26, 2025 by tina oblak in Adriatic Recipe, Appetizers, comfort, dinner, Easy recipe, family friendly meal, Istrian dish, light meal, recipe from Northern Ital, Rustic dish, simple recipe, Slovenian cuisine, Slovenian food, Slovenian gastronomy, Starters, stuffed dishes, supper, Vegan, Vegetable side dish, Vegetables, Vegetarian, weekend

If you are looking for a little inspiration for a slightly different appetizer, look no further.

Artichokes are a great garden vegetable, rich in potassium and iron, and low in calories, but somehow ignored and overlooked in the supermarkets or vegetable stalls as the majority of people are not acquainted with this vegetable, not quite sure how to prepare it, clean it and eat it.

This dish is rustic and informal, artichokes are trimmed and stuffed with garlicky breadcrumbs, then cooked in a saucepan until tender.

Each leaf is then individually removed to scoop up a bit of the sauce, and with the top of your teeth you scrape the bottom of the leaf.

This recipe might look complicated to make but despite its elegant appearance there is nothing difficult or intimidating about it.

Artichokes have been hugely popular up and down Italy, and artichokes bottoms are a specifically Venetian delicacy.

Due to geographical proximity there is no surprise that this wonderful vegetable has been prepared and cooked in Slovenian Istria since forever, the area was dominated and gastronomically influenced by the Most Serene Republic of Venice.

In a coastal town of Strunjan, every year, towards the end of May, there is a festival called Dnevi Artičok (Artichoke Days) to honour this humble vegetable that is growing and thriving in this area due to a mild Mediterranean climate.

During the festival you can learn and taste a variety of artichoke dishes. This event values a still little know Istrian Artichokes, smaller than the common artichoke but packed with flavour and therefore greatly appreciated among the gourmets community.

I am sharing here my mum's recipe, I loved cleaning the artichokes with her, and as a child I found pulling the outer leaves such a great fun. I think sometimes I pulled away far too many, but of course, my mother never said anything, and when she cooked this dish it always somehow felt a special treat.

Ingredients

Serves 4 as a starter

4 fresh globe artichokes
dry breadcrumbs, 70g (approximately 6Tbsp)
fresh flat leaf parsley, about a handful (7g roughly), finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil (about 6Tbsp) 4Tbsp for the stuffing and 2Tbsp for the sauce
1 clove of garlic, peeled and pressed
Parmiggiano Reggiano or Grana Padano cheese, about 30g (or to taste), optional, finely grated (can use other types of cheeses to your liking)
water or vegetable stock 200ml (using a good quality instant vegetable stock is perfectly fine)
sea salt, to taste
black pepper, optional, to taste
lemon juice of 1 lemon

Method

Take a big bowl (big enough to accommodate the artichokes), fill it with cold water and add lemon juice of 1 lemon.

Reserve the lemon halves for later use.

Start by cleaning and preparing the artichokes, one at a time.

Trim off the stem of the artichoke so it can stand and sit upright without rolling over. Put the stem in the acidulated water and set aside for later use.

Rub the base of the artichoke with a lemon half, this will prevent from turning it brown.

Tear off the outer toughest leaves, (one or two layers, depending on the artichokes) but leave most of the leaves on.

With the sharp knife cut off the tip of the artichoke, about 2-3cm (1inch).

Take a pair of scissors and trim off the pointed and slightly prickly and spiky tips of the remaining outer leaves.

Place the artichoke on a working surface, and with your hands loose the leaves a bit, so you create little gaps between the leaves.

Rub the artichoke with the cut end of half a lemon and place treated and trimmed artichoke in a bowl with cold acidulated water previously prepared (this stops the artichokes from browning, and discolouring). Carry on with the process with the rest of the artichokes.

While the trimmed artichokes are in the bowl prepare the stuffing.

In a bowl place breadcrumbs, finely chopped parsley, pressed garlic, extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and grated cheese, if using.

Mix well until all the ingredients are well combined, incorporated and amalgamated, set aside.

Place about 2-3Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil in a saucepan, big and large enough to accommodate all 4 artichokes.

Take the artichoke out of the bowl (one at the time), drain it a bit, and with your hands loose the leaves once again if necessary.

Using your hands (or a spoon) stuff the spaces between the leaves of the artichoke and put some filling on the top of the artichoke.

(do not worry if some of the stuffing falls around the artichoke on your working top, scoop it up and put it back on the top of the artichoke, slightly pressing it down).

Place the stuffed artichoke in a saucepan, sitting upright, they should be snuggled together tightly.

Repeat the process until you stuff all the artichokes and they are all in the saucepan.

Take the stems out of the bowl, if using, I highly recommend you do, as it will create a wonderfully delicious sauce.

Peel and finely chop or dice the stems. Scatter them in the saucepan all around the stuffed artichokes.

Carefully pour water or vegetable stock, cover with the lid and bring to the boil.

Lower the heat and gently cook and simmer for about 45 minutes. It can take up to 1 hour, this will depend on the age and the size of the artichokes.

Check now and again, give a saucepan a little shake. If the sauce is getting too thick simply add a splash of water or vegetable stock.

When cooked, artichokes should be nice and tender, the leaves should pull easily from the centre, most of the liquid should be evaporated, and you should be left with a sauce that is nor too thin or too thick.

Remove from the heat and serve warm or at room temperature.

Spoon a bit of the sauce around and on the top of cooked artichokes.

Easy Lamb Casserole Istrian Recipe

Beans and Sardines

June 07, 2024 by tina oblak in Adriatic Recipe, All year round recipe, baked dish, casserole, Celebratory dish, child friendly dish, child friendly meal, dinner, Easter, Easter dish, Easter recipes, Easy recipe, family friendly dish, family friendly meal, festive dish, hearty dish, Istrian cuisine, Istrian dish, Istrian food, Istrian gastronomy, main course, main dish, main meat course, Meat, one pot meal, one pot meat recipe, roasted dish, Rustic dish, simple recipe, Slovenian cuisine, Slovenian food, Slovenian gastronomy, supper, make ahead, weekend, slow cook, comfort, batch cooking

This slow-cooked lamb casserole recipe is absolutely amazing, it is incredibly easy to make using cheaper and tougher cuts of lamb that by the end of cooking become so tender they truly melt into your mouth.

It is a simple dish to put together, perfect for a cosy and satisfying meal, and great to make ahead of time as the flavours will have the chance to mingle, develop fully and intensify.

Along the Slovenian coast you might find this dish in more informal and rustic style restaurants called in local dialect Janje or Jančić na rošto or referred to as Pečeno Jagnje in standard Slovenian.

This very popular and much-loved dish is frequently prepared in the households during the weekends, and when the family and friends get together for special celebrations. It is also a recipe that is understandably appropriate for an Easter menu.

I am sharing here my family recipe with you. It only needs a few basic ingredients and you are ready to go.

You will come back to this recipe time and time again, as the best things about this incredibly flavourful lamb casserole is that the oven will take over and do the work for you.

Recipe

Ingredients

Serves 4

1kg diced lamb meat of your choice (I used neck fillet). You can use boneless shoulder or leg of lamb, trimmed of excess fat and diced.
1 medium onion (about 150g), peeled and finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
3 Tbsp olive oil
100 ml white wine, optional
100g ripe and sweet tomatoes of your choice, roughly chopped (I used mini-San Marzano tomatoes)
If you cannot get hold of ripe and sweet tomatoes, you can use high quality tinned chopped tomatoes instead.
a sprig of fresh parsley, finely chopped
leaves from a small sprig of fresh rosemary (about 1 Tsp), very finely chopped or ¼ Tsp of dry rosemary
sea salt
black pepper

Method

Heat the oven to 250°C static or equivalent.

Trim off the excess fat from the diced meat if necessary to avoid the final dish being too greasy and potentially unpleasant to eat.

Put the olive oil in a fairly large flameproof casserole dish or Dutch Oven.

Add finely chopped onions, crushed garlic, a pinch of sea salt, and gently fry until soft and transparent.

Place diced lamb meat in a casserole dish and mix with the onions.

Transfer in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and add chopped tomatoes, the herbs, and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Add white wine, if you are including it, and pour enough water to almost completely cover the meat.

Stir gently so all the ingredients are mixed together.

Turn the heat down to 220ºC.

Transfer the casserole dish back into the oven and cook for about 1 hour or until the meat is very tender.

Check the casserole now and again, giving it a good stir making sure there is always enough liquid.

If the casserole gets too dry, top up with a bit more water.

When the dish is ready you can spoon out any excess oil at the surface of the casserole.

Great served with oven baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, soft cooked polenta, some crusty rustic bread, sautéed peas, and other green vegetables like beans, broccoli, curly kale, and cavolo nero just to mention a few possible vegetables.

Just a thought

This lamb casserole is great for freezing. Once fully cooked, allow it to cool completely, and then freeze for up to three months.