Despite the success of our yoga and sound healing retreat the other weekend, it's not all vegan raw food experiences at Villa Miela! Sometimes, you have to swing in the opposite direction and embrace the best dish to come out of the Balkans – peka - or sač as we call it in Montenegro. Ever since we bought our second home on Vis island and spent time with the legend that is Oliver Roki, we've loved a good peka. It's an ancient cuisine that sees you placing your ingredients into a deep dish with a cast iron lid, and then slow-cooking the contents with hot embers above and below the pot for 3 to 4 hours. The ultimate slow food! Montenegrin cooking also has a version of this dish, but here it's called pod sač, which I've sampled many times. Pod sač uses meat, potatoes, plentiful oil and vegeta (a catch-all, ubiquitous Balkan herb blend) and when done well is melt-in-your-mouth delicious – but Montenegrins prefer their food stripped back and simple. Peka on the other hand, takes this basic concept and adds generous levels of Mediterranean flavours. The Croatian version includes plentiful vegetables, natural herbs and wine - it's food as a luxury, something to fuss over and get exactly right, where every detail has to be just so as a matter of personal pride. That's the kind of cooking I identify with! Online tutorials and recipes can only get you so far and with Oliver sadly too far away to give me a Croatian cooking lesson, we enlisted instead our lovely friends Damir and Vanda, who as proud Croatians living in Montenegro were only too happy to pass on their tips for making the perfect peka. Slow Food Recipe for 'Peka' or 'Pod Sač' If you'd like to
Despite the success of our yoga and sound healing retreat the other weekend, it’s not all vegan raw food experiences at Villa Miela! Sometimes, you have to swing in the opposite direction and embrace the best dish to come out of the Balkans – peka – or sač as we call it in Montenegro. Ever
