​A Croatian peka is a large metal baking dish with a bell shaped dome lid. It is used to cook food in an open fireplace, with hot embers placed on top of the dome for even, slow cooking. Meat, poultry, fish and vegetables can all be cooked in this way. 

Now I don't have a peka, I have a large round Turkish electric oven, so I have worked out how to make a 'peka', without having a peka. If you are looking for a traditional recipe, just click the link above the recipe, it can be found there.

​This is a great way to cook octopus. The flavour of the octopus intensifies, and when you have a bite of octopus with the potato and it all has been coated in the delicious sauce that is in the pan, you get one extremely tasty bite of octopus and potato.

My husband added the olives, which we love, but if you don't like them, don't add them.

This is easy to make and looks amazing at the dinner table.

​Recipe adapted from www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/octopus-peka 

1 x ​2 kg octopus
4 garlic cloves, crushed
250ml light extra-virgin olive oil
1.5kg potatoes, peeled and quartered
​Vegeta, to taste
10 French shallots
4 large carrots, quartered lengthwise
1 lemon, juiced
6 small rosemary sprigs
8 large olives, optional
1/2 lemon, cut into wedges, optional
250ml dry white wine
​

To clean the octopus, use a small knife to carefully cut between the head and tentacles of the octopus, just below the eyes. Grasp the body of the octopus and push the beak out and up through the centre of the tentacles with your finger. Cut the eyes from the head of the octopus by slicing a small disc off with a sharp knife. Discard the eye section. To clean the octopus head, carefully slit through one side and scrape out any gut from inside. Rinse under running water to remove any remaining grit.

Once cleaned, use some tongs to lower the octopus into a pot of barely boiling water, simmer for approximately 20–25 minutes. Remove, drain and cut into quarters. (Simmering helps with the tenderisation process and also removes water from the body of the octopus. If you do not remove the latent water in the octopus, the dish will become more like a stew.

Preheat your turkish oven to 300C.
​
​Combine the garlic with 150 ml of the oil and set aside.

Line the bottom of the peka pan with the potatoes, sprinkle with a little vegeta, to taste and drizzle with the remaining oil. Add the French shallots, carrots, olives, lemon wedges and octopus. Season liberally with about 1½ tablespoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper, and drizzle over the garlic oil. Squeeze over the juice of a ½ lemon and garnish with rosemary sprigs.​

​Cover the pan with aluminium foil. Place in your turkish oven and bake for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, pull out the peka, remove the foil and turn over the octopus, potatoes, carrots, garlic and shallots with a large spoon. Pour over the white wine and return the pan, uncovered, back into the oven.

Cook for a further 30 minutes. If you find that the liquid in the peka has evaporated more than you like, add a little more oil and white wine to remoisten.

Remove the peka from the oven and squeeze over the remaining lemon juice before serving.

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/croatian-octopus-peka.html 
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​​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

Recipe adapted from www.newideafood.com.au/

Serves 2-4 (depends on your glass size)
500g piece seedless watermelon, rind removed
½ cup lime cordial
1/3 cup vodka
6 cups ice cubes
4 thin slices fresh lime


Cut watermelon flesh into 3cm pieces. Place in a blender. Add cordial, vodka and half the ice cubes. Blend until combined. Add remaining ice cubes. Blend until smooth.

Pour into serving glasses. Decorate with lime slices. Serve immediately. ​

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/vodka-watermelon-and-lime-slushie.html
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​​​​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​Our Eating Around the World Adventure has taken us to Italy, and I had to make lasagna.

The lasagne we know best is the version from Emilia-Romagna, with bechamel and bolognese, and that is a lasagne that I make often and I love.  The Calabrians make their lasagna (in the south of Italy lasagna ends with an ‘a’ not an ‘e’, for ages I couldn't figure out which was the right spelling, now I know both are) with layers of mozzarella instead of bechamel, and include layers of chopped boiled egg and ham or mortadella as well as mince. 

Now one of my kids does not like my lasagne with bechamel, but he absolutely loves this bechamel free version. This is a really, really good lasagne. And it is so easy to make. 

The sauce is made up in minutes, and it is a really wet sauce, it needs to be to cook the lasagna sheets, then you just build it up, super fast, super easy. It bakes for about an hour, and you get a truly tasty lasagna.

I just made this for a New Years Day party and it was a really party hit. I even baked it earlier in the day, up to the removing of the baking paper and foil part, then I just put it back in the oven for 20 minutes to heat up when needed, then removed the baking paper and foil and baked for about 20 minutes until browned to my liking.

If you don't love bechamel, like my son, this is a great lasagna to try.

​Recipe adapted from Matt Preston's cookbook 'Yummy Easy Quick Around the World'

Serves 6

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1 brown onion, chopped
1 large carrot, coarsely grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped thyme leaves
1 tablespoon chopped rosemary leaves
500 g pork and veal mince
1 × 700 ml bottle tomato passata
250 ml (1 cup) red wine
500 g (5 cups) coarsely grated mozzarella
70 g (1 cup) finely grated parmesan
12 dried lasagne sheets
80 g thinly sliced ham, cut into 4 cm pieces
80 g sliced mortadella, cut into 4 cm pieces
4 hard-boiled eggs, sliced 
​

​Heat the oil in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole dish over medium–high heat. Add the onion and carrot, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 3–4 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, thyme and rosemary and cook for a further 1 minute or until aromatic.

Add the mince and cook, breaking up any lumps with the back of a wooden spoon, for 4–5 minutes or until well browned. Add the passata, wine and 500 ml (2 cups) water. Bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly. (The mince mixture will have more moisture than a traditional lasagne; as there is no bechamel you need this extra liquid to cook the pasta.)

Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease a 6 cm deep, 30 cm × 22 cm baking dish with a little oil.

Combine the mozzarella and parmesan in a bowl.

Spoon about ½ cup of the mince mixture over the base of the dish and cover with four of the lasagne sheets. Top with one-third of the remaining mince mixture, then one-third of the ham and mortadella, one-third of the egg and one-third of the cheese mixture. Repeat the layering twice, but before the final layer of egg and cheese, drizzle over 60 ml (¼ cup) water.

Cover with a sheet of baking paper and then foil, and bake for 40 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 220°C/200°C fan-forced. Remove the paper and foil and bake for a further 8–10 minutes or until golden. 

To save the recipe to your favourites go www.whatscookingella.com/calabrian-lasagna.html 
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​If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #whatscookingella

​I do love a margarita, and I love making variations of the classic margarita.

This one is refreshing and delicious.

Sometimes I even add the mix into a blender with the ice to make it more like a slushie.

​Recipe adapted from Walter Burns' cocktail book 'The Ultimate Cocktail Encyclopedia'

Makes 1

45ml tequila
30ml cointreau
30ml cranberry juice
20ml lime juice
20ml simple syrup
​

Rim the glass with salt - moisten the glass rim with a piece of lime and place upturned onto a plate of salt.

Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice and shake well.

Strain into a chilled margarita or cocktail glass.

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