March

Lent, in Christian tradition, is the period of the liturgical year leading up to Easter. Conventionally it is described as being forty days long, though different denominations calculate the forty days differently. The forty days represent the time that, according to the Bible, Jesus spent in the wilderness before the beginning of his public ministry, where he endured temptation by Satan.
In Slovenia, Lent starts on Ash-Wednesday and lasts till Easter. In the past, fasting was very strict mainly because there was shortage of meat.
Today, families avoid eating meat primarily on Ash-Wednesday and three days before Easter. The unwritten rule is that Fridays are to be meatless as well. On that occasions, we eat fish and other dishes without meat.
 

Žlikrofi

Žlikrofi is a specialty of Idrija in the north-west Slovenia.
Basically, it’s a kind of ravioli where the filling is made from mashed potatoes and chives.
It’s served with onion sauce (and meat on non-fasting days).

Noodles:
1/2 kg flour
3 egg yolks
1 dl milk
5 dg oil
Stuffing:
1 kg cooked and mashed potatoes (no lumps!)
Eggs to bind
chopped fresh chives
salt to taste (keep checking and adding: don’t over-salt)
Instructions:
Make the dough (using a mixer), form into a brick and leave to rest. Mash the potato. Roll out the dough wafer-thin, using flour to prevent from sticking. Roll the potato mix into little balls
Place them along the dough in neat rows. Use a sharp knife to cut strips beneath each row, and cut a divider line between each ball, so each ball is in its own little rectangle. By hand, fold the rectangle over the ball, and then pinch the edges together.
Boil the žlikrofi fast: when they float to the surface, they are done.