The World Cup Food Challenge - Day 7, Bosnia (Somun with cevapcici)

Bosnia, is another one of those countries which I have heard a lot - it having been in the news a lot - but about which I actually know very little. My knowledge of Bosnia increased from almost nothing at all to a little bit more than almost nothing at all, funnily enough, when I first started Swedish lessons, where I found myself discussing Swedish grammar and semantics with a Bosnian in German. We also to joke about him being Zlatan Ibrahimovic's cousin. At least, I always assumed it was a joke, but I wonder now if perhaps the class knew something I did not. If my German speaking Bosnian Swedish-classmate is in fact cousins with Zlatan (we, in Sweden, are on first names basis with him) then I am what, three or four degrees separated from a good bunch of world class football players! This is now the second six degrees of separation link I have managed to establish with footballers - no wait, I lie, it is my third! -it is after all nice to know I have a back up connection. One never knows when one might need to contact Steven Gerrard, Lionel Messi or Miroslav Klose as a matter of life and death. Anyway, he left the class not long after and we have barely been in touch since. Nevertheless, when I accepted this World Cup Food Challenge, I of course contacted him to ask about Bosnian food.

The enthusiam in his reply was obvious. I am not sure if was in response to the challenge or the food. Either way, I could not help but chuckle at the number of exclamation marks in his message. His enthusiam though, made me feel bad about my own lack of enthusiam in response. He recommended a meal made of two parts (the meat and the bread), and suggested heading to the frozen section in the supermarket to pick up what I mean. When I say frozen section, I mean ready-made. There is really nothing wrong with that. I know I am a bit of a snob when it comes to preparing food myself, or I behave like one at least. I do not think I am one actually... not very much anyway. I very rarely buy ready made sauces or meals. I know that they can taste quite nice and there are not necessarily unhealthy (depending on what you get, of course). But I do not see the purpose. I am not so busy that I never have time to prepare a meal, and I know quite a few easy to cook quick and tasty meal. I enjoy the process of cooking and being able to tweak the flavours and all that. Although, I admit. I often think that there is something lacking in ready made food. It does not really taste quite as good as when made fresh. Whatever it is, I turned my nose up a bit when I first read that I was supposed to get frozen sausage type meat rolls and frozen bread. But then I thought, well, if I were making bangers and mash or something, I was not likely to be making the sausages from scratch, was I? And I have bought some frozen garlic bread which is some of the best I have had! So what is wrong with this? Absolutely nothing!

Then came the right day for it. I was late from the gym and was dead tired. I was so exhausted, it took all the energy I had left to carry my gym bag around the supermarket in seach of what I needed. So, it worked out well that I had an easy to make meal as part of my World Cup Food Challenge. So there is not recipe this time, only a picture:

Somun with cevapcici



Frozen somun and cevapcici - basically just follow the instructions on the package
Dressing - crème fraîche with diced shallots and cucumber

Verdict: It was all right, but not really to my taste, I have to say. I had the usual problem which I have with pre-prepared (as in pre-flavoured) meats in that it was way too salty for me. Even with the crème fraîche, it was still too salty for me. Then I had the added problem of being too impatient and forgetting to take into account the fact that it was frozen solid when I put it in the oven (or the instructions were not clear), so the meat was still red inside when I deemed it to be ready and started eating the first time around. I had to stick them back in the oven and wait another 10-15 minutes. By then, there were much more cooked, but center of the meat rolls still looked somewhat dubious to me. That kind of put a damper on my enjoyment of the meal. I still have the rest of the pack in the freezer, so I might have that again some point after the 13th of July, but I doubt very much I will be buying it again. If I ever am in Bosnia though, I'd try a local one for sure.