Terrace overlooking the hills of Zagorje and the slopes of Medvednica in the distance. Colorful plates on the table with a glass of quality Croatian wine. Kind and smiling waiters, professional and imaginative chefs. What more could a person want from a restaurant?

Villa Magdalena has a restaurant open to all fine food lovers 365 days a year.

Whether you are looking for a light meal or planning a dinner to celebrate an important date in life, the door to our restaurant is always open.

The combination of traditional and modern cuisine led by world chef Mislav Božić rarely leaves anyone indifferent. With choosing the right ingredients, we are bringing you imaginative creations with blended flavors, giving you your own personal Zagorje fairly tale.

For this reason we have won in the past 10 years numerous awards and prizes: Gault Millau (two caps), The 100 best restaurants Gastronaut, Večernjakova stars, and many others.

The restaurant is also the only Croatian member of the international association “Vegan Welcome” with a special offer of vegetarian and vegan dishes.

To give you a closer look at the creations of our kitchen, below we are sharing a recipe for an autumn cream soup of our Chef’s choice. It is a creamy parsnip soup which is part of the of a healthy diet.

Parsnip is a herbaceous root plant that is used as a carrot, but has a slightly sweeter taste and different health benefits.

It is rich in soluble fiber that lowers blood cholesterol levels, helps regulate blood pressure, and has very few calories, so it helps with weight loss. It is rich in vitamins B, C and E and minerals that help the body to defend itself against harmful substances and infections.

Although it is most often prepared in a stew or as a risotto, we decided to use it in a delicious cream soup to beat this autumn weather..

We hope you will try our recipe, and if you are unsure or have any questions about the preparation itself, I suggest you book your table at our restaurant and ask Chef Mislav for any additional advice and recommendation.

Creamy parsnip soup with walnut oil

Ingredients:

• 500 g parsnip
• 100 g onions
• 50 g oil or butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1.5 l vegetable or chicken stock
• 100 ml of cooking cream
• 1 tablespoon of walnut oil
• Parsley
• Dill

The soup can be prepared for a vegan diet without the addition of dairy products.

Fry the onions in the oil, add cleaned and chopped parsnip. Add the base and other spices. Cook for 25 minutes and blend. Add cooking cream or sour cream as desired in the soup. When serving, add a few drops of walnut oil.

* Instead of walnut oil, we can put fresh herbs, parsley, thyme and dill, or fried bread cubes on butter or fried bacon.

Bon appetit!