Cevapcici on the grill.
Cevapcici is a skinless sausage popular in slightly different versions throughout the Balkans. The secret ingredient that makes it a sausage, not a burger, is the baking soda. A small amount makes the ground meat firm and springy so it doesn’t come apart when grilled and turned. This cevapcici recipe makes about 12 sausages.
Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground lamb*
1/2 c finely chopped onion
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 t paprika (we used a hot smoked variety from Spain)
1 t salt
½ t black pepper
½ t ground cumin
1 t baking soda
½ c chopped parsley (optional)
Olive oil for grilling
Cevapcici and condiments on a flat (pocketless) Greek pita. Next time I’ll make the sausages a little longer to fit the bread better.
Method: combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Rest at least 1 hour so the meat can firm up and the flavors will mix. Form into sausages a little shorter and fatter than a hot dog. Brush the sausages with olive oil (to prevent sticking) and then grill to your preference, turning once. (We like them medium rare.) Serve on pita bread with sour cream, onions and avjar (a mild red pepper sauce).
*We’ve found that the ground lamb sold in stores is extremely fatty so we grind our own from a leg or shoulder cut.
I use this recipe with the addition of half-cooked Basmati Rice to stuff in grape leaves, or cabbage leaves, or even onion layers and steam them slowly with a dollop of fragrant olive oil. When they are ready to eat, I pour over them a mixture of beaten eggs, lemon juice and fresh sprigs of mint leaves. These are Dolmas, a recipe I got from a friend with Greek background. She told me that her mother made them this way. I learned that if I half cooked the Basmati rice, they would be nice and soft when the Dolmas were done cooking. This is something I learned from trial and error. Putting rice in the mixture without cooking them a little bit they could not absorb enough liquid to get soft and delicious. I like to use brown Basmati because of the aroma.
Sounds delicious. We have some grape vines down the street from where I live; when they get nice and leafy in a few weeks I will try them in your prep.