Pašticada is a traditional Dalmatian specialty of marinated beef in a rich sauce made with wine, vegetables, and dried fruit. It’s served with homemade gnocchi as a festive dish.

Ingredients:

1 kg of beef thigh
3 carrots
2 onions
5 cloves of garlic
a couple of tablespoons of lard
2 dl of wine vinegar
3 dl of red wine
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
2 teaspoons of sugar
a piece of celery root
parsley and celery leaves
dried fruit (usually prunes or dried figs) 
a couple of bay leaves and a sprig of rosemary
cloves and nutmeg
salt and pepper

Preparation:

Marinade should be prepared the night before. The meat is washed, dried, pricked on the surface so that pieces of garlic, dry bacon (pancetta) and cloves can be stuck into it. Put it in a large, wide bowl and immerse it in a mixture of homemade wine vinegar and red wine, add carrots, onions, garlic, celery and parsley. The bowl should be covered and left overnight.
The next day, the meat is removed from the marinade and fried well in lard on all sides. After the meat is browned on all sides, water is added slowly and it is sautéed a bit more in that sauce. Then the meat is placed in a wide bowl, with 2 coarsely chopped onions, 2 carrots cut into larger pieces, garlic, a piece of celery root, a couple of sprigs of parsley and celery leaves, and a few prunes and figs. Everything is salted, then add a little nutmeg and 2 dl of red wine in which a tablespoon of tomato paste and 2 teaspoons of sugar have been diluted. Put it to cook on a medium-high heat and when the liquid boils, add another 1 dl of wine mixed with water to cover the meat. When it boils, it is cooked on low heat for at least 3 hours. After the meat is cooked, it is removed from the bowl and cut into slices. The vegetables are taken out and pureed well to create a thick mixture that should be dark brown in color. Then the meat and the vegetable sauce are returned to the bowl and cooked for another half hour on very low heat. Towards the end, add 3 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley. Gnocchi is kneaded from potatoes, flour, eggs, salt and lard (or oil). Cut it into small pieces the size of half a thumb and cook in salted water. They are done when they float to the surface.