Nonina kanavaca

Na svoju veliku žalost, u Istri nikada nisam bila. Možda sam baš zato za prvi recept po kojem ću kopati odabrala onaj istarski. Nonina kanavaca. Znam tko je nona, pojma nemam što je kanavaca. Ajmo krenut od toga. Kanavaca dolazi od talijanske riječi canavaccio koja u prijevodu znači platno. Naime, vidjet ćete kroz recept, "savijača" se kuha umotana u kuhinjsku krpu, odnosno platno.

Odradili smo naziv. Ajmo na recept po kojem sam ja radila.

To my great despair, I have never been to Istria. Maybe that’s why I chose an Istrian recipe as my first endeavor. Nona’s kanavaca. I had no idea who “nona” was, and I had no clue what “kanavaca” was, either. So let’s start from there. Kanavaca comes from the Italian word canavaccio, which means cloth. As you’ll see further on in the recipe, the “strudel” is cooked wrapped in a kitchen cloth.

Tijesto:
300 grama glatkog brašna
3 jaja
sol

Nadjev:

500 grama mljevene junetine (koristila sam junetinu i svinjetinu)
350 grama špinata
3 jaja
100 grama sira (mislim da sam ga stavila ipak malo više, nikad dosta sira)
4 češnja češnjaka
50 grama pršuta (kojeg nisam imala pa sam koristila domaću slaninu)
sol, papar, ulje, maslinovo ulje

Umak od rajčice:

500 grama rajčice narezane na kockice
1 glavica luka
2 češnja češnjaka
vode po potrebi
sol, papar, svježi bosiljak, peršin, origano, ulje

Najbitniji sastojak: čista kuhinjska krpa.

Znači, pojma nemam šta radim no nakon što sam nekoliko puta pročitala recept, neke stvari su sjele u glavu.
Prvo se radi nadjev jer se mora prohladiti, taman dok zamijesim tijesto. Očišćeni špinat kratko prokuhati, ocijediti i narezati. Nek čeka svoj red.

Dough:
300 grams pastry flour
3 eggs
salt

Filling:
500 grams ground beef
350 grams spinach
3 eggs
100 grams of cheese (I may have used slightly more because you can never have enough cheese)
4 cloves of garlic
50 grams of prosciutto (which I didn’t have so I used bacon)
salt, pepper, sunflower oil and olive oil

Tomato sauce:
500 grams tomato, chopped
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
water as needed
salt, pepper, fresh basil, parsley, oregano, oil

And the most important ingredient of all: a clean kitchen cloth

So, I have no idea what I’m doing, but after reading through the recipe several times, some things started to make sense. The filling is made first because it has to cool – just in time as I prepare the dough. The spinach should be washed and chopped and wait its turn. 

Pomiješala sam malo maslinovog ulja sa hladno prešanim suncoketovim uljem i na tome prodinstala mljeveno meso. Za vrijeme dinstanja mesa, nasjeckala sam slaninu na sitno, i protisnula češnjak.

In a pan, I combined a little olive oil with some cold-pressed sunflower oil and added the meat. While that cooked, I chopped up the bacon and garlic.

Kad je meso omekšalo, dodala sam slaninu i češnjak i pustila da još malo prokuha. Dodati špinat.
U mom slučaju, izvaditi dio smjese prije špinata jer imam dečka koji ne voli zeleno. Tako da je dio "savijače" bio bez zločestog zelenog. Djeco, vi ipak morate jesti svoje povrće.
Dodati špinat. Gledati kako je lijepo, udisati mirise istarske sreće.
Dakle, nadjev je napola gotov i dok čekamo da se hladi, mijesimo.

I added that to the meat and let it simmer. Add the spinach. Or, in my case, take out part of the filling before adding the spinach because you have a boyfriend that doesn’t like greens. So one part of the “strudel” is without the bad green stuff. But you, kids, you need to eat your vegetables. 

Add the spinach. Look at how beautiful it is and breathe in the scent of Istrian joy. The filling is now halfway done and while we wait for it to cool – we knead.

 

Tjestenine do sad nisam nikad radila svježe. Jer ima dobrih za kupit. I nisam dobra sa tijestima. Eto prilike da se pomirim sa terminom "zamijesiti tijesto".

Volim kad ljudi naprave one "vulkane" brašna i onda ostale sastojke i mijese. Morala sam to danas napraviti. Moj prvi vulkanček. U njega ubaciti jaja i sol. Krenuti mijesiti. Dodavati mrvicu po mrvicu vode da ne zeznem i da ne bude premekano. Ili pretvrdo. Navodno mora bit mekše od tijesta za rezance. Što je super objašnjenje kad znaš koliko je tvrdo tijesto za rezance. Pošto ja nemam pojma o tome, bilo je odokativno. Mijesiš dok ne bude glatko. A to znači jako dugo.

I’ve never made my own pasta before – there are plenty of great kinds at the shop. And I’m just not good with dough. But, I do love when people make flour volcanoes to add put other ingredients in to. I just had to make one myself. My first little volcano.

I added the eggs and salt and started kneading. Add the water, little by little, to make sure I don’t mess it up and get it too soft. Or too hard. Supposedly, it’s supposed to be softer than a noodle dough. Which is a great explanation f you know how firm noodle dough should be. Seeing that I have no clue, I had to wing it. Knead until smooth. Which is a long time.  

 Razvaljaš. Pošto je trenutno +40 u hladu, iznojiš iz sebe nekoliko kilica dok se boriš s valjkom i moliš muško kraj sebe da ti pomogne. Tijesto se čarobno razvalja u muškim rukama. Diviš se kako su istarske nonice bile jake. No dobro.
Pretpostavimo da se za to vrijeme nadjev ohladio. Dodala sam u njega naribani sir i izmućena jaja.
Pomiješati, poravnati po tijestu. Ne preblizu rubu da bi se rubovi tokom kuhanja mogli zalijepiti i da nam se savijača ne raspadne.

Roll it out. Doing this at the height of a heat wave will have you sweating out a couple of kilos and begging the nearest man to help. The dough magically rolls out under male arms. You are in awe of how strong Istrian nonas were. But anyway…

The filling should have cooled down by now. Add the shredded cheese and beaten eggs. Mix well and spread evenly over the dough. Not too close to the borders, though. We need those clear so the dough will seal while it cooks and avoid the “strudel” falling apart.

Zarolati savijaču i zamotati je u "puža". Ok, puža treba preseliti u krpu. Zavezati krpu. Zakačiti na kuhaču koja će držati puža u vodi. Najveći problem mi je bio dovoljno kratko zavezati čvor da ne bi u najdubljem loncu koji sam našla puž u krpi dirao dno. Nakon par pokušaja sam uspjela. Kuhati na laganoj vatri 40-45 minuta.

Roll up the dough lengthwise and twist it into a “snail” shape. Ok. Now, the snail needs to be put onto the kitchen towel. Tie up the ends. Hang it from a wooden spoon that will hold it up in the water. My biggest issue was making a knot that would ensure the bottom of the snail wouldn’t touch the bottom of the pot. Simmer on low heat for about 40-45 minutes.

Dok se puž u krpi kuha, pripremiti umak od rajčice.
Prodinstati luk, češnjak, dodati nasjeckanu rajčicu. Kažu da treba skinuti koru ali srce bi mi puklo da sam sa svježe domaće rajčice išla skidati tu prekrasnu koru pa sam taj dio preskočila. Dodala sam malo vode i kuhala. Dodala bosiljak, svježi najsvježiji bosiljak. I kuhala. Znam da nonice nisu imale tu privilegiju no eto, ja sam to malo prošla sa štapnim mikserom. Možda je gnječilo za krumpir dobra zamjena za mikser ako želimo biti baš jako autentični. Nakon toga začinila, i dodala još svježeg bosiljka. Neka ga je.

As the snail simmers away in the towel, prepare the tomato sauce. Sautee the onion and garlic, add the chopped tomatoes. The recipe says to peel the tomato skins, but if you can get homegrown, organic ones, then you can skip this step as I did. Add a little water and let simmer. Then I added basil, as fresh as I could get it – and simmered some more. I know the nona surely didn’t have this luxury, but I went ahead and lightly put a hand blender through. Perhaps you could use a potato masher to keep the whole experience more authentic. I added the spices as well as more basil. More is more with basil.

 

I puž u krpi je kuhan. Trenutak istine. Krpa je vrela. Svi su se opekli da bi izvadili, nadamo se cijelog, puža iz krpe. Puž je cijeli. Nije baš više puž. Više izgleda kao ogroman mozak. Možda je trebalo malo jače razvaljati tijesto, da bude duže i da se bolje može smotati puž. No nema veze. Nigdje nadjev nije izletio van i nadamo se da je fino.

And now the snail in the towel should be cooked. The moment of truth. The towel is steaming hot and it took a few people to help take it out and hopefully keep it whole. The snail was whole. But, it now more resembled an enormous brain. Maybe I should have rolled the dough out more for length and a better roll. None of the filling had escaped, though, and now we have our fingers crossed that it will taste good. 

Kako sam ja to dragim ljudima poslužila? Na dno tanjura usipala umak od rajčice, na to narezanu savijaču i posipala lagano naribanim sirom. I bosiljak za dekoraciju. Jer dekoracije mora biti.

How did I serve this to my dear friends? I added some of the sauce onto the plate and placed slices of the snail/strudel on top and grated cheese. And basil on top for decoration. Because that’s a must.

Znači, nonice su znale što rade. Za prvi pokušaj, jako sam zadovoljna. Ne mogu reći da je baš najjednostavnije jelo koje sam ikad napravila ali je zasigurno jedno od meni najfinijih.
Hvala nonicama, i hvala Istri, uskoro se kuhamo opet!

The nonas knew what they were doing. For my first try, I am quite satisfied. It’s far from the simplest dish I’ve ever made, but it is definitely one of the tastiest.
Thank you nonas, and thank you Istria! Until we cook again!

Translation/prijevod: Anna Kosir