Marko's Home Cooking

  Zagorje is a region in Croatia and this soup could be called a spoonful of Zagorje as it involves all of the ingredients typical for this region - dry bacon, sour cream, porcini mushrooms and wine. In constant hurry and battle with the lack of time, often, and quite often unwillingly people reach out to fast food although they would much rater prefer a spoonful of homemade comfort food. If we stop and think for a moment it becomes clear that even decades ago, there existed something similar to fast food. A fast food kind of meal solution. If offered "Zagorska" soup most of us won't think about fast food at all, but in a way it is exactly that. With ingredients like bacon, potatoes and mushrooms, fast cooking time and the use of most ingredients which are almost always present in the fridge it can be considered a retro kind of fast food. Fragrant smell, delicious taste and warmth of an ideal quick homemade dish. Prep time: 15 min Cook time: 1h Total:  1h 15min Serves 4 I...

  Traditional Russian honey cake with sour cream. In Russia sour cream is less sour so depending on the sourness the quantity of sugar should be adjusted. It is recommended to leave the cake in the fridge until next day so that sugar fully combines with sour cream. Category:  Desert Prep time:  30 mins Cooking time: 10 mins Ingredients: 80g honey 200g powdered sugar 200g butter 3 eggs 1 tsp baking soda Pinch of salt 180-200g flour For the cream: 400g sour cream with 20-25% fat content 3 tbs powdered sugar Method: Heat up the honey in a sauce pan over medium heat then add the baking soda and continue to heat up while constantly stirring until it browns. Stir in the butter. Using an electric mixer mix the eggs with sugar and add a pinch of salt then add in the honey mixture. Add the flour and make the dough for the cake. Put a piece of baking paper on a baking tray then divide the dough mixture into 2 thin layers. Bake each layer in a preheated oven about 6-8 minu...

  There are many ways to make hot sandwiches but this is one of my favorites. Baked in the oven with a mixture of egg and sour cream and spiced with oregano, these sandwiches offer a more interesting twist on a classic dish. Category:  Starters, Baked dishes Prep time: 5 mins Cooking time: 10 mins Serves 2 Ingredients: 4 slices of 2-3 days old bread 100 g ham 100 g Gouda cheese 1 egg 1 tbs sour cream Dried oregano Butter Method: Preheat the oven to 220C. Dice the ham and cheese and put into a bowl. Add egg, a spoon of sour cream and oregano. Mix well. Smear butter on the bread slices and divide the egg mixture equally over the bread slices. Put some baking paper on a baking tray, arrange the sandwiches and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

  Saute Stroganoff has gained it's name by an influential Russian family and dates back to 19th century. Today it is made in a variety of ways, mostly depending on geographical preferences. Probably the most traditional way of preparation consists of beef tenderloin, but veal tenderloin or round can be used as well. The most important thing is to use a type of meat which requires low amount of cooking. Porcini mushrooms are also the most traditionally accurate kind to use but it can also be made using chanterelle or even champignon mushrooms. One of the ingredients which is very common in this recipe is pickled cucumbers but these can be left out depending on personal preference. As a side dish, I would recommend rice or pasta. CAUTION: Be extra careful when flambeing. Always use a long match stick or a kitchen lighter and remove the cooking pan away from yourself as well as the heat source. Shake lightly until the fire extinguishes. Category: Main course Prep time: 10min...

  This is a super simple recipe which my grandmother used to make. All that is needed is three ingredients, and its best to use left over ham. It is also great for kids. Category:  Starters, Main course, Baked dishes, Pasta Prep time: 5mins Cooking time: 30mins Serves 2-3 Ingredients Wide pasta noodles like tagliatelle or fettucine Ham Sour cream Method Cook pasta al dente. Dice the ham. Drain pasta and put into a baking tray with ham and sour cream. Mix everything together well. Bake in a preheated oven 200C for about 30mins.

Despite the name, this dish has no connections with France but is actually a croatian dish. It is important for the ingredients to be home produce, like smoked croatian bacon, sausage and most importantly sour cream which because of its completely different type of texture cannot be replaced by store bought sour cream. Category: Main course, baked dish Prep time: 15min Cooking time: 1h30min Serves 4 Ingredients: 750g white potatoes 4 eggs 150g bacon 150g sausage 300ml sour cream Method: Cook unpeeled potatoes in hot water for about an hour. Hard boil eggs. Slice the bacon and sausage into bite sized pieces. Peel eggs and potatoes and slice them. In a baking tray, layer potatoes then eggs. Pour the sour cream over everything and spread the sliced bacon and sausage on top. Bake in preheated oven 220C for about 30 min until it forms a crust on top and bacon and sausage are roasted.