Balkan Platter with Cevapcici and Shashlik

Ingredients

• 0.5 cucumber
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 Lollo Bianco lettuce
• 2 red onions
• 200 g Feta Cheese
• 4 tbsp pitted black olives
• 300 g long-grain rice
• 500 g pork tenderloin
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 2 shallots
• Salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)
• 2 tbsp Vegetable oil
• 1 onion
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp butter
• 500 g mixed ground meat
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp chopped parsley
• 0.5 tsp cumin
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon
• fat for greasing the baking sheet
• 5 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 tsp hot paprika powder
• 4 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash and slice the cucumber into rounds. Wash the tomatoes, remove the stem ends, and slice them. Rinse the lettuce leaves, dry them with a towel, tear them into bite-sized pieces.

2. 2.

   Peel the onions and cut them into rings. Drain the feta cheese and crumble it. Arrange salad bowls with lettuce, then top with tomato and cucumber slices, sprinkling feta, olives, and onion rings. Preheat the oven to 225°C (425°F).

3. 3.

   Cook the rice in 600 ml boiling salted water for 20-25 minutes. For the shashlik skewers, wash, pat dry, trim, and cut pork into bite-sized pieces. Wash bell peppers, deseed, and cut into 2 cm cubes. Quarter shallots. Alternate meat and pepper on four skewers, adding a quarter of a shallot at each end. Season with salt and pepper, then brush with oil.

4. 4.

   For the cevapcici, peel and finely chop onion and garlic; sauté in hot butter until translucent. Remove from heat and cool. Mix ground meat with the onion-garlic mixture, egg yolk, parsley, salt, pepper, cumin, and cinnamon. Shape 60 g portions into about 3 cm thick logs. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, turning once.

5. 5.

   Pan-fry the shashlik skewers in hot oil (2 tbsp) for 10-15 minutes until golden brown on all sides. Meanwhile, wash, halve, deseed, and dice bell peppers. Heat 3 tbsp oil in another pan and sauté pepper cubes; add rose pepper and cook briefly.

6. 6.

   Add cooked rice to the pan with peppers and mix. Briefly stir through, season with salt. Plate the paprika rice on a warmed platter and top with shashlik skewers and cevapcici. Sprinkle salad with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and serve alongside the rice plate.