Istria is the largest peninsula in the Adriatic Sea, extending from Trieste southward through sections of Slovenia and Croatia. The Quarnero, or Kvarner Gulf, separates the peninsula from the rest of Croatia. Ricette Tradizionali dell’Istria e Quarnero by Anna Vascotto is a collection of recipes from this region.
The book opens with an introduction to Istria and its cuisine. Three large areas of landscape are described: “white” Istria in the north, with its limestone plateau reminiscent of Trieste’s Carso; centrally located “green” Istria, a strip of hilly, fertile terrain; and “red” Istria to the south, similar to the mountainous north but having reddish-colored earth rather than white. With bodies of water on three sides, seafood is naturally quite prevalent on the peninsula. However, one may also find meat from inland sheep and cattle farms, wild game and truffles from Istria’s forests, and agricultural products such as olive oil and wine.
From the same publisher as Le Ricette Tradizionali di Trieste and Le Ricette della Tradizione Friulana (which I’ll be reviewing at a later date), this book shares a similar style, with clear ingredient lists, concise but thorough instructions, and special text blocks on various local attractions and cultural events, such as the mummies of Vodnjan and the Istarske Toplice spa. Like its counterparts above, Ricette Tradizionali dell’Istria contains a mere 80 pages but is packed with 90 recipes, which are organized logically into chapters on antipasti, primi piatti, carne, pesce, contorni, dolci, and liquori.
Since my primary purpose was to conduct research for Flavors of Friuli, I was most interested in those recipes that overlap with the cuisine of Trieste. Naturally, many of these feature seafood from the Adriatic, such as sardoni in savor (marinated sardines), capesante gratinate (scallops baked with a bread crumb topping), and scampi alla busara (langoustines in tomato sauce). Another crossover into Triestine cooking is the dish called cevapcici (grilled sausages), which is so popular throughout Slovenia and Croatia that this book contains two distinct recipes, one prepared with beef and the other with a mixture of beef, pork, veal, and lamb. Among the desserts, I recognized two from my time in Trieste: pinza (sweet Easter bread) and marzapane (marzipan). This version of marzipan is not the widely familiar kind that is molded into fruits and other such shapes but rather a variation that is baked with nuts or dried fruit and then sliced into rectangles. In Trieste, it is called marzapane triestino, and the flavors I came across there were quite colorful and artistic in their presentation.
