Albania

 Welcome to Albania!  Albania is considered a Balkin country, even though it is independent.  They are known to be relatively bad drivers, since most cars didn't come into the country until the early 1990s.  They also serve coffee that is very thick - like Turkish coffee!  The pictures look beautiful - maybe somewhere to check out in the future!  According to Google, the population of Albania is 2.55 million people and the capital is Tirana.  Their national dish is...

Tavë Kosi!

It's a soured milk casserole.  Sounds appetizing, right?  I will apologize ahead of time that the recipe is in grams and milliliters - I didn't convert it to metric when I cooked it, so this is true to the original recipe.  To go with the Tavë Kosi, we made Byrek, which is a filo dough-stuffed finger food.  This one was going to be tricky, because I could not find gluten free filo dough anywhere.  So, what's a girl to do but make her own!  I used this recipe (I'm not going to write it out).  This was a fragrant meal to make, even though there weren't many spices, which was strange.  Here's what we did:

TAVE KOSI

Lamb

600g Diced Lamb 

20g Butter

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

70g Rice

2 Tsp Oregano

450ml Boiling Water

2 Cloves Diced Garlic

Salt

Pepper

Roux

50g Butter

2 Tbsp Flour

Yogurt

750g Sour cream

6 Eggs

Salt

Pepper

1. 1.  In a large pan, melt the butter and olive oil together then add the diced lamb. 
2. 2.  Brown the lamb on a medium heat, this will take around 5 minutes.
3. 3.  Add the garlic, oregano, 300ml of water and season with salt and pepper. 
4. 4.  Mix well before covering with a lid. 
5. 5.  Leave to simmer for 50 minutes mixing a couple of times ensuring the lamb doesn’t start to burn.
6. 6.  Add the rice.  The juices should have nearly all boiled away so another 150ml of water should be added along with the rice. 
7. 7.  Mix altogether, bring to a boil, place the lid on and leave for just 10 minutes. It’s advised to check at around 8 minutes – you want the liquid to be evaporated with just a moist coating of oily water left over the lamb and rice.
8. 8.  Place the lamb and rice into a casserole dish, the mixture should fully cover the base and have at least 2 inches spare for the yogurt. 
9. 9.  In a small saucepan melt the butter over a medium heat and then add two tablespoons of flour while continuously stirring for two minutes. 
10. 10.  Pour the roux into a bowl and keep to one side.
11. 11.  In a mixing bowl add the sour cream, eggs, and season with salt and pepper. 
12. 12.  Mix together then add the roux continuing to mix fast for a minute to ensure the roux and yogurt are thoroughly combined.
13. 13.  Pour the yogurt mixture over the baked lamb and rice and sprinkle on a little oregano.
14. 14.  Place on the bottom shelf of the oven on 356 degrees for 35 minutes then move it up to the middle for a further 10 minutes. 
15. 15.  The Tavë kosi is ready when the yogurt has risen up high and a golden crust formed.
16. 16.  Leave to cool for 5 – 10 minutes before serving.
17. 17.  Enjoy!

(Source: Tave Kosi)

BYREK

1 lb frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed

1 tbsp avocado oil

4 green onions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, grated

7 oz feta (the block in brine, not pre-crumbled)

1 C full-fat cottage cheese

1/2 C sour cream 

2 small eggs

Salt and pepper, to taste

Phyllo

1 packet filo dough

4-5 tbsp oil, for brushing the dough

1. 1.  Defrost the spinach and squeeze out the excess moisture.
2. 2.  Preheat the oven to 400°F. 
3. 3.  Line the baking sheet with parchment paper.
4. 4.  Sauté green onions: Finely chop them. Heat the oil and sauté the onion for a couple of minutes until slightly softer.
5. 5.  Mix the green onions, spinach, grated garlic, crumbled feta, cottage cheese, sour cream, and eggs thoroughly and season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. 6.  Place one sheet of filo pastry on the working surface and brush it with oil. 
7. 7.  Layer two more sheets on top, brushing each with oil. 
8. 8.  Cut the filo sheets into 16 rectangles 6x7 inches.
9. 9.  Place a heaping tablespoon of filling on the bottom of each rectangle. 
10. 10.  Fold the long sides of the filo over the filling, then fold the bottom edge over it as well.
11. 11.  Roll up the pastry starting from the bottom. 
12. 12.  Place the rolls seam-side down on the prepared baking sheet. 
13. 13.  Brush them with the remaining oil.
14. 14.  Bake the rolls for 30 minutes or until golden brown. 
15. 15.  Let them cool slightly (5-10 minutes) before serving. You can also serve them at room temperature.
16. 16.  Enjoy!

(Source: Byrek)

The verdict?  The Tave Kosi was really good!  It took a few bites for us to decide if we liked it, since the textures were very strange.  But we all agreed that this was a delicious meal.  The Nifty Niece and Nephew really enjoyed the lamb, which turned out to be AMAZINGLY tender, but not the rice or yogurt souffle.  The Super Sister loved the souffle part. And the rice part was very flavorful, but there wasn't very much of it.  We decided that we needed to make this meal again, but next time we would add more rice, and maybe see how beef stew meat is instead of lamb.  We would probably add more meat too, to make it chunkier.  The byrek was a disappointment.  I think part of that was because of the homemade filo dough - it wasn't super.  They were really hard to fold, and it didn't seem like enough of the filling in each byrek.  It also made a TON of extra filling.  We're going to try making them with rice paper wrappers with the rest of the filling.  That should be an interesting experiment.  Overall, it was a good main meal, but not a good appetizer.  

   

    

ME

Taste of Tave Kosi (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 8

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Tavi Kosi (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 8

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 8

ME

Taste of Byrek (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 5

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Byrek (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

Hope you enjoyed reading about Albania!  Join us next time in the United Kingdom!