EuroFoodTrails
Croatia · Southeast Europe

Blitva na Lešo (Chard and Potatoes)

Chard and potatoes with garlic and olive oil — every konoba's default side.

Blitva na lešo is the default side in any Croatian konoba: potatoes boiled until nearly done, chard added for the last five minutes, then everything drained, roughly crushed and tossed with sliced raw garlic. A great deal of olive oil goes over at the end. Two ingredients, twenty-five minutes.

25 min Serves 4 easyveganside15-minutes

Ingredients

  • 500g Swiss chard
  • 400g potatoes
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • Olive oil
  • Salt

Method

  1. 1

    Boil the potatoes in salted water until nearly done.

  2. 2

    Add the roughly chopped chard for the last 5 minutes.

  3. 3

    Drain, keeping a little cooking water.

  4. 4

    Crush the potatoes roughly and toss with sliced raw garlic.

  5. 5

    Pour over a lot of good olive oil and season.

Budget note

Two ingredients and olive oil — the cheapest plate on the Adriatic.

The Dalmatian plate

From the guide

Konoba & Kafana

Six Balkan recipes are free here; the guide holds thirteen, set in the country-by-country context the recipe pages leave out — menus, bills, receipts, protected names and market shopping.

Thirteen recipes from seven Western Balkan countries, and the menus, bills and labels that go with them.

  • Thirteen Balkan recipes with metric and US measures
  • Seven-country coverage: Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo
  • How to read a menu, and what tells a konoba from a kafana
  • What your bill and receipt should show, country by country
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