Around the World in Foodventures (Croatia: ZAGORJE ŠTRUKLI)

I admittedly hesitated to make Zagorje Štrukli even though the interwebs told me that it's pretty much the most ubiquitous food in Croatia, because it felt like it was just going to be a basic cheese ravioli.  And it kind of is -- but that's okay because it's also really, really versatile -- which I bet is why Croatians love it.  They eat it in all kinds of savory and sweet ways: for an appetizer, added to soups, starring as the main course, when one needs a quick snack, or even turned into sweet desserts.

Tonight, I decided to cook it two typical ways (baked and boiled), plus tried a couple of basic toppings (crème fraîche, bread crumbs browned in butter, and a sprinkle of brown sugar).  Pictured below are all of those variations, plus some cross-sections so you can see the filling and dough layering. 

The left-hand plate (from top to bottom) contains a boiled Štrukli topped with bread crumb butter
and brown sugar, a Štrukli baked in butter and crème fraîche, and a cross-section of a plain boiled
Štrukli.  The right-hand plate (again from top to bottom) contains the cross-section of a Štrukli baked
in butter and crème fraîche, a boiled Štrukli topped with just bread crumb butter,
and finally, another whole Štrukli baked in butter and crème fraîche.

I referenced two YouTube videos to learn what to do:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVuY3uRtHTs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ycl_yg_LM68

. . . and I have to say, I'm a newly converted fan of rolling and stretching out dough on a piece of cloth.  I had seen people do it before, but never tried it, and I'm here now to tell you that I think it's the best way to prevent sticking and shrink-back.

Anyways, my review of Zagorje Štrukli (at least the ways I prepared it) is boy oh boy is this rich!  Which isn't surprising given that each form is essentially an exercise in different ways to combine eggs, cheese, cream, and butter.  I was surprised that I preferred the boiled version over the baked.  And my favorite of the ways I tried is definitely boiled with bread crumb butter and brown sugar on top.  It occurred to me too late this evening (I had already surpassed my fill) that one of these would probably be lovely with some fruit jam either cooked inside with the cheese or simply spread on top, or maybe (especially on the baked ones) a drizzle of honey.  I plan to test that theory perhaps for breakfast tomorrow.  Yum. 

This post is part of my project: "Around the World in Foodventures" (I decided I want to expand my culinary horizons even further by making the national dish or a popular recipe, or some signature food or traditional meal from every country in the world. Maybe it'll happen alphabetically, or by region, in random order, or something else. I figure if we can't (yet?) travel everywhere, we at least have the luxury of being able to taste it. It’ll be fun and interesting, but obviously, will take a long time to get through -- as I'll only be doing it once a week or so at most. I am chronicling the journey here.)

“If I’m an advocate of anything, it’s to move…Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food.” --Tony Bourdain