In the past 70 years, Industrial Vegetable & Seed Oils have been produced in greater quantities than they ever have been in human history, even when adjusting for changes in manufacturing capacity. This is a phenomenon that must be viewed with a great deal of suspicion.
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Mandarinak is a dipping sauce made from mustard and mandarin oranges. While not uncommon in Dalmatia at dinner parties, it is typically served in higher end restaurants. It pairs best with fresh bread and/or seafood.
This one is my mother’s recipe. It’s not a traditional Croatian recipe by any means, but it is composed of indigenous ingredients found in Croatia.
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Nobody talks about forearm strength these days.
Yesterday, I slammed a bottle of olive oil onto the counter and some of it splashed back into my eye. I forgot to put the lid back on…
Not gonna lie. It stung. Selo, of course, is packed with the antioxidant Oleocanthal, which gives its powerful peppery kick.
Last night I mowed down some seriously tasty Korean fried chicken.
I love spicy food and I can almost never say no to that super hot gochujang chili. I crushed plate after plate of sweet and sour hot wings, but it wasn’t until my bowels were heaving this morning that I stopped to think about what I actually put into my body.
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Knedle are a very popular, quick Croatian dessert. They are basically just fried, potato-based donuts filled with whole pitted plums. We typically eat them at Church luncheons for dessert to go with coffee.
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My Baba doesn’t understand why I’m not married yet.
In fact, Babushkas around the world, from Siberia to Florida, are bewildered by how many of their grandsons are still bachelors.
Why are young men and women, they wonder, not getting hitched these days? Why do they delay marriage and family life until they are rotting in their late 30s?
Babushka, it seems, has lost her once-potent grip on normative youth fertility.
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Last week we played around a little and mixed a bit of everything from the Mediterranean, including bread, cheese and olive oil, into a fusion eggs benedict. This time we’ll go with something a little more authentically Croatian, a Croatian flatbread.
This week’s snack is a simple and extra-flavorful homemade garlic and herb seasoned Croatian flatbread recipe. In Croatia, we call it lepinja. This flatbread is a great appetizer, snack or hors d’oeuvre for a party, and it’s a relatively quick recipe that can be ready in just under 45 minutes
The reason I chose dill for this recipe (it’s called kopar in Croatian) is because of how commonly it is grown in gardens in the old country. I fondly remember picking dill in the summers with my Baba on mornings where she would make fresh flatbread.
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“U pičku materinu. Ubio san njega, jel de?”
“Aj me meni, Mirko, sad si najebo.”
“Ma. Da. Spasio san sve. Vidćeš ti, moj Dragane.”
Mirko did not notice the crimson pooling at his feet. But neither an algal bloom on the shores of Pula, nor memories of Communist uprisings would ever compare to blood he now had on his hands. The man was dead.
Nothing could stop him from doing what he had to do. This was his fucking Selo.
I’ve been posting Selo Oils-inspired snacks on both my Twitter timeline and here on the blog for the last few months.
Going forward, they’ll be available both here and on our mailing list. Make sure to sign up so you don’t miss out. I’ll send you a free snack idea recipe to go with your olive oil every Friday morning.
This week’s snack I dub, “Mediterranean Eggs Benedict.”
This recipe is quick to make and serves one. It contains about 250 calories (when you include the olive oil), about 25-30 grams of protein and about 15 grams of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats.
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