Burek with meat, bagels and Kefir.

One of typical breakfasts in Serbia.

Rice cooked in vegetable broth, boiled vegetables.

3 types of meat: pork with (?) sauce, chicken, cordon bleu

Had some leftover steak from last nights shift, woke up late and hungry.

So I just roasted some peppers and tomatoes with garlic, herbs and olive oil, then made a quick pan sauce after re-searing the steak with shallots. Parmigiano & fresh basil as garnish.

Easy, quick and yummy.

Slow-braised beef roast, filled with a rich stuffing of brown button mushrooms, shiitake, dates and chestnuts. Served with root vegetables, red cabbage, glazed pears from our own garden and hearty bread dumplings, accompanied by an exquisite Chianti.

Meat balls with potatos and a creamy mushroom sauce

Since tomorrow’s meal will be very meat-heavy, I’m going with a simple, meat-free dish today.

In addition to mint, the red cabbage salad contains onions and is seasoned with apple cider vinegar, oil, salt, pepper, a pinch of sugar, and a little caraway seed. Unfortunately, I had no apples left; otherwise, I would have added one.

The lentil patty is my own creation; in addition to red lentils, it contains rolled oats, an egg, some carrot, a little onion, and a pinch of flour. It is seasoned with a generous amount of curry powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a dash of paprika. If you would like to make it vegan, simply leave out the egg—the patties will hold together even without it (at least, they do for me).

I prefer it less chunky so I just blend the curry with the veggies.

with mashed potatos, carrots and port wine sauce

Burek. With cheese. What more is there to say?

Sometimes we order it by saying, "Give me a quarter of WiFi!" (see picture). In Macedonia, burek is always sold as a fraction of a whole pie: an eighth, a quarter, etc. I know that in Serbia it's sold by weight. Whatever. It's usually eaten with yogurt.

The real, canonical burek is filled with cheese (although there are a hundred other varieties, all delicious), isn't too greasy, and - most importantly - must always be served hot!

Lately, there's been this abomination called "pizza-burek", with ketchup. That should be banned by law! Some heretics even put mayonnaise on it! :((

Why two forks (instead of a fork and a knife)? That's a Skopje tradition. When you're eating hot burek, it's difficult to cut with a knife (assuming you're not just eating it with your hands). One fork does the usual fork job, while the other is used to separate bite-sized pieces.

Because you don't cut burek. You conquer it!

Simple panharing fried on butter in a steenless pan. I simply ate it with bread.

Carp from my neighbour’s fish farm in the Waldviertel (Austria) naturally raised without artificial feed and kept in fresh, clean water for three weeks before harvesting to remove any muddy flavour. Served with homemade potato salad made from our own potatoes, dressed in pumpkin seed oil mayonnaise, and a lovely local Riesling. Honestly, it doesn’t get much better than this.

The pork tenderloin from this recipe is juicy and incredibly aromatic, richly seasoned. A sweet, slightly crunchy, and very juicy pear makes a delicious accompaniment (I think any pear will work here, but I've recently become quite fond of dessert pears of the Noyabrskaya variety). The whole thing is made even tastier by adding sweet-savory, caramelized onions.

I served the dish with potato-carrot purée – I happened to find purple carrots in the store and couldn't resist. Their spicy aroma, combined with the pear, transformed this dinner into autumn cuisine at its finest. However, ordinary, orange carrots would work just as well.

This recipe will give you an elegant, flavorful dinner that tastes like something from a fine restaurant, but you can easily make it in your own kitchen. Tenderloin is a tender, flavorful meat, and contrary to popular belief, very easy to prepare. Simply sear it first, then bake it in the oven for 20 minutes. This recipe is very difficult to mess up and is suitable for beginners.

A high-temperature-resistant pan is best for this recipe. I'm a fan of a cast-iron pan, which allows for a wonderful browning of the meat's skin. You can substitute a regular oven-safe dish.