There is another flavour chinotto, that I tried, not quite my favourite. But worth a try, you might like it. I think I made this one with bacardi instead.

Now I personally love them with tequila, but you can use vodka or bacardi, whatever you like best.

So if you spot these on sale, this is great for parties, you just put the cans next to the tequila and ice, add a lime wedge, and your guests can make whatever flavour they like. ​

​30-45ml tequila, to taste
1 can San Pellegrino Italian Sparkling Drink
-Clementina (Clementine)
-Limonata (lemonade)
-Aranciata (Orange)
-Aranciata Rossa (Blood Orange)
-Pompelmo (Grapefruit)
-Melograno & Arancia (Pomegranate & Orange)
Ice
Lime wedge, optional
​
Add ice to a glass, add tequila, top with your favourite flavour of San Pellegrino Italian Sparkling Drink and add a lime wedge if you like.

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​It's Saturday night, my two older kids are out, my youngest is on playstation and my husband is asleep next to me on the couch.

What does one do, one makes a cocktail.

So so good. Amazing flavour.

If you served it in traditional 180ml old fashioned glass, you would get two serves.

For the watermelon, from a quarter of a watermelon, I used 4 x 1-2cm slices, quite chunky.

If you don't want watermelon bits in your drink, you can remove the lime wedges after they have been crushed and blitz the drink. I don't, but you can.

This would be great on a sunny afternoon out on the deck.

Serves 1-2

1 lime, cut into 8 wedges
1 teaspoon caster sugar
10ml sugar syrup
4 x 1-2cm slices ​watermelon, from 1/4 of a watermelon
45ml vodka
15ml watermelon liqueur
ice
​
Place 6 lime wedges, the sugar, sugar syrup and watermelon in a small jug. Using a muddler or rolling pin, crush all the ingredients together. You won't get the watermelon perfectly smooth, that's ok. 

Add the vodka and watermelon liqueur, stir.

Place ice in your glass. Pour over your watermelon mixture, remove the crushed lime wedges, but do not strain. Add remaining fresh lime wedges.

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​Burek is usually just made with meat, let me get that out of the way before I get criticism on this issue. But when I was making this, I decided to add potato as I do it in my mince and potato pita, and as we like it there,  I thought why not add it here. We love it with potato, so the potato stays, and we are still calling it burek, as it is burek to us.

Now burek is truly one of our favourite things to eat. Normally my husband would head out to Rockdale and buys a meat burek, with either a cheese or a cheese and spinach burek also. They go so quickly. That homemade pastry with their fillings. Delicious.

But recently I ventured out to visit my parents and near to where they live is Ivan's Butcher in Chester Hill, I found homemade filo dough, so I grabbed two packets not knowing how to even make cook with them, but I knew I was going to try.

Well this worked out perfectly, the end result is just like a bought one. 

Now I have combined two recipes here, my mince and potato filling I found years ago on coolinarka, but I didn't want the topping I put on my pita. Then I found the water-oil mixture idea from one of my Dobar Tek cookbooks Savijace i Gibanice od vucenog tijesta. 

Now the first time I made it, I doubled the filling, as I had no idea how much I would need. It turned out more like a pie. Now my boys loved it, but I found it wasn't like burek, there was a lot of filling, but the pastry got lost. So the next time, I made it as per this recipe and it was perfect. For me although I love filling, you need to taste the pastry. 

Now my daughter recently went to Croatia and learnt how to make the dough from her baka.

​So one day soon I will post one with homemade dough.

The baking tray I use is the biggest one that fits in my oven, use whatever tray size you have.

In the original recipe it says to boil the water, oil and salt, then cool. Not sure why, but I don't do it. But you can if you want to.

Try as best as you can to divide the filling evenly between the layers of pastry.

But for now this store bought dough is amazing and is definitely something I will be buying again and again. And burek making will be something we will be making again and again. Can't wait to try different fillings also.

​Filling:
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 medium red onion, finely chopped
500g pork and veal mince
3 medium potatoes, peeled, coarsely grated
1/2-1 teaspoon vegeta
Salt and pepper, to taste

Topping:
250ml water
5 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 teaspoons salt
​
​Add a tablespoon of oil into a large frying pan. Add the chopped onion and sauté over a low-medium heat for about 3-4 minutes, or until the onions have started to soften.

Add the mince, salt, pepper and vegeta. Increase the heat to medium-high, sauté, breaking up the mince as you stir, for about 4 minutes or until the mince has browned.

Add the grated potato, sauté for 2 minutes, stirring regularly. Taste for seasoning. Allow to cool for about 30 minutes.

Topping: In a bowl, combine the water, oil and salt.

Grease a 33 x 42cm baking tray with a little oil.

Preheat oven to 200C/180C fan forced.


Place two pastry sheets on the base of your prepared tray, make sure it overhangs over the edges a bit. My tray is large, so I cut another sheet in half and add it to so the entire base is covered with overhang also.

Lightly sprinkle the dough with the topping mixture.

Now sprinkle on some of the mince mixture. You really do just put it on sparingly, the  mince is just scattered over the filo, it does not cover the filo.

Place another single layer of the pastry, no overhang now, again I cut sheets to make up the single layer.

Lightly sprinkle the dough with the topping mixture. 

Now sprinkle on some of the mince mixture. Remember sparingly.

Place another layer of filo on top, dab on the topping mixture, then scatter over the mince, keep layering filo, topping mixture with a scattering of the mince until all the mince has been used up.

Once the mince is used up, place the last two sheets of filo on top to finish, just like on the base. Pull over all your overhanging sides to enclose the burek.

Now generously moisten the pastry with the topping mixture, you don't want it soaking, but you want it wet.

Place in your preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry has browned nicely and is crisp.

​I use scissors, as I don't want to scratch my oven tray to cut them into slices. But you can easily cut it with a knife. Serve hot.

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​If I was to name a childhood salad that I remember eating regularly and that I loved it would be this one. 

This accompanied seafood so often in my house, it really is the perfect side for barbecued fish. My husband on our last trip to Croatia from Pula to Ston, ordered barbecued fish with blitva everywhere we went. I had octopus salad everywhere we went. My kids had the greatest time to, ordering whatever they wanted.

My mum discards the stalk, I don't, as I love them.

You could use butter to fry the garlic, if you like.

Your extra virgin olive oil has to be great, the best you can afford. I honestly watch for 1/2 price sales in supermarkets and stock up, as paying $18 for a litre is crazy expensive.

With the potatoes, if you put too many, it will be like mash, you can figure out if you want to add more or less potatoes, it really is to taste. Sometimes I want it to be like mash.

We grow swiss chard in the garden, but if buying it, look for silverbeet in the shops.

This is simple, but it's delicious.

​2 bunches Swiss chard, about 900g
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled, cut into bite sized pieces
1/3-1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
Salt and white pepper, to taste
​
​Trim the ends from the stems of the chard leaves. Cut off and discard any wilted or yellow parts of the leaves.

Strip the stems from the leaves, and cut the stems into 3-4cm lengths. Wash thoroughly, drain. Set aside.

Using a knife I tear the leaves into 3cm strips, I don't measure, it's just rough strips. Wash thoroughly, drain. Set aside.

​Add potatoes to a large pot filled with cold water, leave about 3-4cm from the top, season water with salt. Bring to the boil, and cook for 8 minutes. Add the stems, and cook for 3 minutes more,  add the leaves and cook for about 5 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked and the swiss chard is tender. Drain well.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil into the pot you cooked the silverbeet, over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute, turn off the heat. Return the Swiss chard and potatoes to the pot, and season lightly with salt and pepper. Add the remaining extra virgin olive oil, slowly, stirring and smashing the potatoes as you go, keep adding oil until you are happy with the flavour. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

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​This recipe is a variation of Gai Pad King. My husband and one of my kids love really saucy stir fries, so I have added water and cornflour to my sauce to make it more saucy for them. If you want a more intense flavoured stir fry, remove the water and cornflour from the recipe.

The sugar snap peas we grow in our garden. So when we have enough for a meal, I pick a recipe to cook with them in mind. This is also an addition to the original recipe and it worked beautifully. You could use snow peas instead.

I like to make a large stir fry as my family love it the next day to for lunch. You can half this recipe if you don't want to cook as much.

I changed the mushrooms to ones that are easy to find in the shops. You can use a mix of shitake and button mushrooms if you prefer.

This is quick, easy and delicious, something I hope you love as much as we do.

​Recipe adapted from www.marionskitchen.com/ 

Serves 6-8

800g chicken thighs, thinly sliced
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, sliced
6 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
5cm piece (about 40g) ginger, grated
300g fresh shitake mushrooms, sliced
450g sugar snap peas
4 spring onions (scallions), cut into batons

Marinade:
2 teaspoons sweet dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon white pepper

Stir-fry sauce:
4 tablespoons oyster sauce
5 teaspoons fish sauce
1-2 teaspoons sugar
​3/4 cup water, optional
1½ teaspoons cornflour, optional

Steamed rice to serve
Fresh coriander leaves, to serve
​
Combine the marinade ingredients with the chicken. Set aside.

Combine the ingredients for the stir-fry sauce.

Heat the vegetable oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the onion, saute for 2 minutes. Add in the garlic and ginger and stir-fry for half a minute.

Add the chicken in slowly, stir, add in more, stir, until all is added, this way it won't stew, stir-fry until almost cooked.

Add the mushrooms and stir-fry for another half a minute. Add in the sugar snap peas and stir fry for a minute. Then add the stir-fry sauce. Stir-fry until just combined and the chicken is cooked. Toss through the spring onions.

Remove from heat and serve with steamed rice and fresh coriander.

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​When my kids were little I made cupcakes all the time. I kind of stayed away from muffins as I never liked store bought ones, I found them boring and dry. I also never liked big muffins, I preferred smaller ones. Over the years I have bought many, many, many cupcake and muffin cases, but I stopped making cupcakes as my kids got older. So now I have told my kids, who are 15, 20 and 21, that they are about to get many new cupcake and muffins to try as I need to use up all the cases I bought. 

Now I say I don't like muffins, however I have found a few recipes that I love over the years, usually there is fresh fruit or chocolate involved. This is a new one, I saw them and I had to make them. They are really easy to make and taste really good.

The original recipe makes 12, I made them a little smaller and got 18 out of the mix. The baking time did not vary with my oven.

Now I also love this recipe as if you prepare and have the ingredients home, these are ready in about 30 minutes. No kidding they are so easy and quick to make. 

They are not too sweet which suits me, as I really don't enjoy crazy sweet desserts.

Muffins are always best eaten the day you make them. But we can't eat 18 muffins in one day. But don't worry next day muffins just need 15 seconds in the microwave to reheat and they taste great again.

Supposedly adding a little butter is great to a cooked muffin just like some do to banana bread. 

The secret to a a great muffin is to not overmix the batter, overmixing results in tough muffins. So don't overmix them.

I love buttermilk, I love cakes that have buttermilk in them, they just taste better. But if you don't have buttermilk at home, just combine 1 cup room temperature whole (not skim) milk + 1 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice. Let stand for 5 minutes until curdled, then use per recipe. If milk is fridge cold, microwave for 30 seconds. 

​So if you want to try making muffins this is great recipe to start with.

​Recipe adapted from www.recipetineats.com/

Makes 12-18

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup buttermilk
60g unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

300g dark chocolate chips
​

Preheat oven to 200°C/180C fan forced. Line a 12 (plus 6 ) hole muffin tin with paper patties.

Whisk the dry ingredients: whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl.

Whisk the wet ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, oil, eggs and vanilla.

Combine the wet and the dry: make a well in the flour bowl, pour in egg mixture. Mix until just combine - try not to stir more than 8 times. Some flour lumps in the batter is fine.

Stir through most of the chocolate chips - reserve some for topping.

Divide batter between paper cases. Top with remaining chocolate chips.

Bake for 5 minutes, then turn oven down to 180°C/160°C fan forced.

Bake for a further 13-15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean. You can just gently press them if soft keep baking.

Cool. Remove muffins from the muffin tin immediately onto a cooling rack.

​Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Every Tuesday is Croatian Tuesday in my house. As I love to cook food from all over the world I sometimes forget to cook food that I grew up eating. So to keep my own traditions going and to make sure my kids are exposed to Croatian food, I decided to cook Croatian at least once a week. (Since starting this we as a family have decided it needs to be at least twice a week, it can be more, but the minimum is twice a week).

On Croatian Tuesday I try to cook something old (something I've made before) as well as something new (something I have never tried before). My something old this week was my families favourite Musaka. My something new was this Apple Slice. 

Growing up one of my aunties on her trips to Croatia would always bring my mother back a cookbook. This recipe comes from one of those books, we've had the book for over 30 years now. I have since got it from my mum and have added it to the many cookbooks I've purchased over the years on my travels there. 

This Apple Slice is really, really easy to make, it doesn't take long to put together. The dough is easy to work with and the filling is crazy easy to make.

My family loved this. They could not stop eating it. The pastry as it cools, goes crisp and the filling is so generous, there is so much apple. I added cinnamon to the original recipe as I think cinnamon and apple are a match made in heaven, you can leave it out if you want to. (As I'm typing this I just got hit with the smell of a new recipe for Garlic bread I'm working on, it smells amazing). Speaking of smells when this comes out of the oven, the aromas are amazing.

Now, a lot of older Croatian recipes I have use margarine. I assume if you have a problem with margarine you could use butter, I haven't tried it. As I don't use margarine often I don't personally have an issue with it if used sometimes. If I used butter, I would use the spreadable one here.

I don't add sultanas, as I don't like them. But I might add them in future to a third of the slice, as my husband loves them.

So if you want to try something new, this is a great recipe to try. ​

Recipe adapted from Ambrozic, Mihelcic and Mudric's cookbook Knjiga Kolaca

Serves 15-20 slices

Dough:
500g plain flour
250g margarine
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons sour cream
Grated zest from 1 lemon
pinch salt

Filling:
1.2kg green apples, peeled, coarsely grated
1 x 10g packet vanilla sugar
120g caster sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, to taste
a handful of Sultanas, optional 

​Icing sugar, to serve


Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan forced. Grease and line with baking paper a 23cm x 33cm baking tin.
​
Make the dough. On a work bench place your flour, add on the margarine in chunks. Add the caster sugar, make a well in the centre, add the egg, egg yolk, sour cream, lemon zest and salt. Break up the eggs a bit, then start mixing the dough together, when it is combined, knead for 2-3 minutes to make sure it is mixed well together. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Divide the dough in half. Place one half of the pastry between two large sheets of baking paper. Roll out the pastry into a rectangle shape slightly larger than the size of the base of your baking tin. You can cut and paste this dough, to get the shape you need. I also like to take the baking paper off and place it back on and flip the dough and remove the baking paper and place it back on every now and then. It makes for easier rolling of the dough. The pastry needs to cover the entire base with a little going up the side. Remove the top sheet of baking paper and place the pastry into the greased pie pan, pastry side down. Remove the other sheet of baking paper. Press the pastry into the base and a little up the sides of the baking tin.

Repeat with the second half of the dough. Roll it slightly larger than the size of your baking dish. Set aside until needed.
​
Coarsely grate the peeled apples just before you need them, discard core. Mix together the vanilla sugar and the caster sugar. Evenly spread out the apples over the pastry base. Sprinkle with the combined sugars. Sprinkle over the ground cinnamon, to taste. Scatter over sultanas, if using.
​
Now place the second dough carefully over the filling. Using a fork or pointy knife, poke holes in the dough, to allow the steam from the apples to escape.

Bake for around 50 minutes.

​Cut into slices while hot, as once it cools the pastry crumbles when you try to cut it.

Dust with icing sugar. Serve warm or room temperature.

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​This is delicious. I don't really need to say anything else. I just love this pasta salad.

This pasta salad has so much flavour, I like to make a large bowl of this and pop it in the refrigerator. Then when we want something for lunch, we open the refrigerator and it's there, we get to enjoy it for as long as it lasts, which isn't long in my house.

I love this pasta salad on its own, that's it, this is a great lunch for me, it doesn't need anything else. But if you need it as part of a gathering where you need to feed many, it is also great served as a side with a barbecue.

Any short pasta will work with this recipe including penne, farfalle, fusilli or elbow pasta. My favourite one is the curls pictured above, but use whatever short pasta you love.

If I can't find small mozzarella balls, I just halve or quarter larger ones.

You can make this salad up to 24 hours in advance. Just taste before serving you may need to add a splash of white balsamic vinegar right before serving and toss again. 

This is one of my favourite pasta salads. I love this, hope you do to.

​Recipe adapted from www.smalltownwoman.com/ 

Serves 8-10

500g short pasta like curls, penne, or fusilli
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
2 clove garlic, crushed
450g mozzarella balls (or baby bocconcini)
4 cups grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
½ cup basil, sliced in ribbons


Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Cook the pasta until al dente according to the package directions and drain. Rinse with a little cold water to stop the cooking process and drain well. Add the pasta to a large serving bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil.   Let it cool to room temperature.

In a small jar with a tight fitting lid add the remaining extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic.  Shake well to combine.

Add the mozzarella balls, tomatoes and basil to the bowl with the cooled pasta. Drizzle with the dressing and toss to coat.

If not serving right away, cover and store in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

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​This is a classic dish, is it cooking, no, but it deserves to be here as it's just perfect.

I love it as a light lunch as it is quick and easy to prepare. But it would be great with an antipasto platter to.

For this your ingredients must be fresh. Thick slices of ripe tomatoes (I always have tomatoes sitting on my kitchen counter ripening, as stores never sell them ripe enough), fresh, soft, burrata, fragrant basil leaves preferably home grown, but store bought is okay, and your best bottle of extra-virgin olive oil.

I never put vinegar on it, as I feel it takes away from the flavour of the tomatoes and the cheese. 

You can use mozzarella or bocconcini if you can't find burrata.

This is the perfect light summer dish, but I eat all year round if I'm being honest.

​4-5 large vine ripened tomatoes, sliced 1/2cm thick
1 ball fresh burrata
¼ cup packed fresh basil, washed well and spun dry
3 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt, to taste
white pepper, to taste
​

On a large serving platter arrange tomato slices, tear over the burrata slices and basil leaves.
Drizzle with the oil. Season salad with salt and pepper.
​Serve with crusty Italian bread.

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​Recipe adapted from www.recipetineats.com/

Makes 12-18

Dry Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:
1 cup buttermilk
60g unsalted butter, melted
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly whisked
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

250g fresh blueberries
​
Preheat oven to 200°C/180C fan forced. Line a 12 (plus 6 ) hole muffin tin with paper patties.

Whisk the dry ingredients: whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar and salt in a bowl.

Whisk the wet ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk buttermilk, melted butter, oil, eggs and vanilla.

Combine the wet and the dry: make a well in the flour bowl, pour in egg mixture. Mix until just combine - try not to stir more than 8 times. Some flour lumps in the batter is fine.

Stir through most of the blueberries - reserve some for topping.

Divide batter between paper cases. Top with remaining blueberries.

Bake for 5 minutes, then turn oven down to 180°C/160°C fan forced.

Bake for a further 13-15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the muffin comes out clean. You can just gently press them if soft keep baking.

Cool. Remove muffins from the muffin tin immediately onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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