Mixed Up Vowels.

Tonight's meal could have easily been a bust. I was bombarded with three kids and their tales of the day. Take a number, people. My brain can only handle so much. Between trying to coordinate doctors appts for the girls (since I missed their physical date last Friday), and discussing what classes Hannah has going to drop/change, I wasn't exactly ready to focus on dinner. We also hit the 2nd day of school blues, tired Katy created a little drama during my prepping. Lets just say, I nearly threw in the towel after burning my onions, creating a mess of a pot. I thought, it's just an onion. I took a deep breath and forged on. And enjoyed a little tear from the onions...bonus.

I fed the girls traditional broiled Tilapia, knowing there was no way they would eat this meal. Hannah claimed tonight, "whatever you're making smells real bad. It's making our eyes burn." Must be the Serrano Pepper I added in the end of the meal prep. I must admit, I'm a little nervous to try it. I will await Andy's arrival into the kitchen before I sample it. Ok, it was a bit fishy, but I guess I should have expected it, coming from the fresh river waters of Slavonia.  Interesting. It sounded like our country...

Oh no, complete jinx failure. I found the recipe and mixed up my vowels! Apparently, Slavonia isn't my country after all. Icing on the cake! Slovenia is where we are...at least so I thought. Now it's completely too late to throw in the towel since the meal has been prepared. So I will cross-cover our neighbor, Croatia where Slavonia slumbers. Crazy times. Just call it a day trip, really. A few hundred miles away. Europe's not that big:)

The Paprikash style comes from the neighboring country of Hungary. The recipe comes from the Osijek area in Slavonia, which has freshwater rivers. You see, this isn't a normal Paprikash dish, it a Fish Paprikash. And fishy it twas. I didn't serve it with warm crusty bread which would have added a lot to the meal. All and all, it was flavorful for the combination of spices involved. I'm glad we tried it. It was adventuresome. It's really a lesson in geography at the end of the day which makes this year of travel so awakening for me. Would I ever have thought of discussing these countries a year ago? I guess we can all use a little back to school days to our advantage.

Slavonian Fish Paprikash
Serves 5 (I halved the recipe for Andy and I and there was still  a lot of leftover)

2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 onions, minced
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon hot paprika
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 pounds various freshwater fish (such as trout, pike and catfish), cleaned and cut in large pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup white wine
1 to 2 small hot peppers
1 package (16 ounces) wide egg noodles, cooked

Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add the onions and sauté. When soft, sprinkle in both the sweet and hot paprika, stir and then add the tomato paste. Pour in 8 cups of water, add the salt and put the fish in the stockpot.
Simmer over medium heat for about 45 minutes and then add the wine and hot peppers. Simmer for another 15 minutes. Add noodles (homemade or fresh noodles are the best choice).

You say Slovenia, I say Slavonia... tomato, tomoto.. potato, pototo. Happy is.