RAB CAKE
Ingredients: almonds, lemon, sugar, eggs, Maraschino
The recipe for this centuries-old and unique sweet delicacy has been preserved as a valuable item in the tradition of making soft crisp dough with a fragrant filling. The secret recipe dates from 1177 when the cake was first served to Pope Alexander the Third on the occasion of the consecration of the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady on the Island of Rab. As a specialty, Rab cake was served in wealthy mansions of Rab patricians already in the time of the Venetian Republic. It is today a famous desert and a souvenir which can be perfectly complemented by champagne and prosecco.
CHESTNUT CAKE
Ingredients for the cake: 6 egg yolks, 6 egg whites, 20 dkg powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons powdered chocolate, 40 dkg pure puréed chestnuts, 1/2 packet baking powder
Ingredients for the filling: 36 dkg butter, 36 dkg powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons rum, 2 packets vanilla sugar, 50 dkg of pure puréed chestnuts
Preparation: Mix the egg yolks and sugar to get a foamy mixture, add powdered chocolate. Manually mix in the chestnuts and half a packet of baking powder. Finally, add the beaten egg whites. Put the mixture in an oiled pan and bake for one hour at 170°C. When done, turn off the oven but leave the cake inside for a while longer, so that it wouldn't »fall«. Mix all the ingredients together using a blender to make the filling and spread it over the cake when cooled. The amount of the filling is enough for one layer inside the cake and cake decoration.
BUDEL – A GORSKI KOTAR STUFFING
Ingredients for 6 servings: 50 dkg dry-cured pork, 30 dkg dry-cured bacon, 10 eggs, 50 dkg bread, 30 dkg scallions, salt, pepper
Preparation: Cook the meat and the bacon for a while, and then cut into cubes. Cut the onions and bread into cubes as well. Mix all the ingredients together. Fill wide intestine casings with the mixture leaving enough room for it to expand while cooking. Make sure there are no air bubbles. Cook for 30 minutes. Cut into slices when cooled. The mixture can be used to stuff any type of meat.
SMOKVENJAK – DRIED FIG CAKE
Ingredients: 0.4 kg dried figs, 0.10 kg raisins, 0.05 l homemade grape brandy, 0.15 l white wine, cinnamon
Preparation: grind the figs, add the raisins, brandy, wine and cinnamon. Mix well and shape a cone. Leave the cone placed on a fig leaf on a board to dry for a couple of days. Serve cut into slices with homemade brandy enriched with aromatic herbs.
ŠURLICE
Homemade pasta known as šurlice, a specialty of Kvarner cuisine, is an integral part of all celebration menus, from christening to wedding menus. Šurlice are served with scampi or lamb stew.
Ingredients for 6 servings:
1 kg flour, 2-3 eggs, water and salt as required, 20 dkg cottage cheese
Knead a somewhat harder dough from the flour, eggs, salt and water, roll out the dough and cut it into pieces weighing about 1 dkg each. Use the hands and a knitting needle to shape 8-10 cm long šurlice by rolling the dough. Šurlice must be removed from the needle carefully to ensure that they stay hollow inside. Allow them to dry a bit and then cook in salted water until soft.
LAMB BAKED UNDER A BAKING LID
Ingredients: 1.20 dkg leg of lamb or lamb chop, 1 kg potatoes, 20 dkg onions, 1.5 olive oil, 2 rosemary twigs, salt, pepper
Preparation: Put a baking lid over the pan in which you have placed the meat and the potatoes (peka). Place the pan under live coal and bake for 1-2 hours.
PAPRA – A GORSKI KOTAR LIQUOR (HORTUS DIABOLICUS)
A high quality digestif, a blend of 13 herbs and 4 roots from Gorski kotar soaked in the best grape brandy (lozovača) gives a sensational feeling in the mouth.
MEDICA (Honey Brandy) – the tradition of making honey and other bee products in the Kvarner region is long and recognized, and medica, a honey brandy made from grape brandy (lozovača) and three types of honey (chestnut, light, flower), is very popular and a frequent souvenir from this region. It is used both as an aperitif and digestif. Complemented by hot freshly roasted chestnuts in the fall, it ensures an unforgettable experience.
PERSONALIZED ESPRESSO – Opatija's Bevanda Restaurant has pushed the culture of drinking coffee a step further, so that coffee lovers can now enjoy a personalized espresso the taste of which changes in accordance with the time of year. Lovers of high quality coffee will certainly enjoy the popular 'coffee with a story'. A whole team of experts (barman, sommelier, coffee taster and coffee roaster) has participated in the process of creating that perfect cup of coffee, and the result is a coffee made from the finest world varieties. „Different types of coffee from Mexico, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Honduras and Burundi give the blend its perfect character. The accentuated aromas of hazelnuts, chestnuts and honey with remarkable notes of dried plums make this fragrance-filled impression seductive, while the accentuated taste, the perfect harmony of the sweet, bitter and sour, makes the complete experience of drinking this type of espresso a truly memorable pleasure. We are talking about the fall edition which has already been praised by numerous visitors to the restaurant. Your personalized coffee will change in accordance with the time of year. To restaurant guests coffee is served in cups, but all the interested customers also have the possibility to take home a souvenir – a butelja (0.7l bottle) full of beans of the mentioned coffee blend.