When we were in Croatia a couple of weeks ago, we would ask each restaurant if they had a specialty. Almost all would say that Pasticada was their specialty, so we tried several versions. After we got home, I looked online and found several recipes, all quite similar. This is my favorite so far.
Pasticada (Dalmatian Pot Roast)
1,5-2 kg (3-4 lbs.) beef round
5 garlic cloves, sliced longish
100 g (3.5 oz) bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
wine vinegar
½ cup olive oil
3-4 large onions, quartered
2-3 carrots
1 celery root (7 oz), quartered
1 tsp flour
4 cloves
2-3 Tbsp tomato purée
100 ml (4 fl oz) prosecco
1 tsp sugar
½ cup red wine
3 lemon slices
3-4 prunes or figs
salt, pepper
Pierce the meat with a sharp pointed knife at random and insert slivers of garlic and pieces of bacon into the incisions. Place the beef into a non-reactive pan; cover with vinegar and leave it for 1 to 2 hours or overnight.
Remove meat from vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Put in a roasting dish together with olive oil, onions, celery root and carrots. Cover and roast for 45 minutes. Take out of the oven. Take the meat out of the sauce. Purée the vegetables with roast drippings. Add flour, cloves, tomato purée, prosecco, sugar, red wine, lemon slices and prunes. You can also add some vinegar, if you like.
Cut the meat into 1 cm (1/2 inch) thick slices (vertical to fibres), and return back into the sauce. Cook until the meat becomes soft. Serve with potato gnocchi.
