Spicy meat torpedoes (chevups)

This is another recipe from my book The Flesh In My Life, my wife Anne is Croatian and these were very popular in our household. The Mediterranean has been a melting pot of cultures for many, many centuries. So it may not come as a surprise to many Croatians that this recipe that they adopted as their own traces its origins back to the Middle East. Eat and enjoy.

Ingredients for 6

  • 600gm beef mince
  • 300gm lamb mince
  • 100gm pork fat, minced or finely diced
  • 20gm salt
  • 1 x teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 x cup Italian parsley leaves
  • 5 x cloves of garlic, finely chopped

To serve

  • Pita bread rounds
  • 1 x spanish onion, thinly sliced
  • 2 x tomato, thinly sliced
  • Ajvar (red capsicum condiment)

Method

  1. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, kneading very well and then refrigerate overnight.
  2. Next day, prepare your meat by kneading it again and then forming it into little mini skinless sausages to barbecue or panfry to just cooked through. Please don’t overcook!
  3. Reheat the pita bread, then put some onion and tomato down the middle with the cooked sausages on top.
  4. Finish with a teaspoon or two of Ajvar on top of the sausages before serving wrapped or flat. Very yummy!

Ajvar- is a red capsicum sauce (relish), if you can’t find it at continental stores, fry two red capsicums cut into strips in some EVOO with a little salt and pepper till cooked through- then blitz in a  blender with two peeled cloves of garlic and two tablespoons of butter – serve warm – YUM!

Buon appetito