I can say, this winter is very much according to my taste. Seeing the nature covered in white, brings joy to my heart. Winter is also time for indulging in comfort foods like stews, soups and whatever else that warms up someone’s body. For a Slovene, there would be no winter without the sausages called pečenica and krvavica (the latter: bloodsausage) along with fermented cabbage – sauerkraut and fermented turnip (also called sauerrüben, I believe).

A few days ago I prepared this typical Slovene winter lunch. Although I’m not a fan of pork meat, I bought one home-made sausage from a trusted source, to accompany with fermented turnips -which I love- and matevž – mashed potatoes and beans. The preparation is quite simple and it doesn’t take much time.

PEČENICA S KISLO REPO IN MATEVŽEM
(Pork sausage with fermented turnips and potato&bean mash)

Fermented turnip is simply boiled a bit in order to soften it, then sometimes we would serve it by stirring in some cooked beans

This is our typical winter-style sausage, called pečenica (peči = to roast/bake). We place the sausage in enough water to half-cover it and let it roast in the oven (180 - 200ºC) for about an hour. If it runs out of water, we add some white wine (which gives it a better taste, too)

I served the fermented turnip and sausage with "matevž" (also a male name, translates as "Matthew") which is a potato and bean mash - very filling but perfect with the combination on this plate