Week one: A is for Albania. Why Albania? My sisters boyfriend, Jed, just left this week on a Mormon mission to Albania, and in his honor we had an Albanian feast. I had my sisters over for the dinner and Albania night had mixed reviews. My sisters and I loved it for the most part, my kids were distracted by company and didn't really eat, so I'm not sure if they liked it, and my husband said he fells bad for Jed for having to eat Albanian food food for the next two years.
In my excitement to try the food, I didn't get the best pictures but here is what we had:
Albanian Tossed Salad
Most of us thought the salad was quite good! My hubby didn't like the lemon in the dressing, other than that it get's two thumbs up!
1 head romaine lettuce, rinsed, dried and chopped (can substitute with red leaf lettuce or use mix of both)
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (( like to chop small)
1 (6 ounce) can pitted black olives, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 large Tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup sliced cremini mushroom, sliced (optional)
1 cucumber, chopped
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (or or and sesame seeds, toasted, optional)
Dressing
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon paprika (optional)
1 lemon, juiced
ground black pepper, to taste
1 small red onion, thinly sliced (( like to chop small)
1 (6 ounce) can pitted black olives, sliced
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 large Tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup sliced cremini mushroom, sliced (optional)
1 cucumber, chopped
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (or or and sesame seeds, toasted, optional)
Dressing
6 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon paprika (optional)
1 lemon, juiced
ground black pepper, to taste
Albanian Cornbread
The cornbread had mixed reviews. Some loved it, some...not so much.
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups cornmeal
16 ounces cottage cheese
4 eggs
1 cup chopped scallions, plus 1 Tbsp for garnish
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp thyme
4 ounces feta cheese, chunked
1/4 tsp salt
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease an 8″ square casserole.
2. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients (cornmeal, cottage cheese, eggs, scallions, melted butter, paprika, thyme, feta, and salt.
3. Pour into prepared casserole and spread evenly.
4. Bake at 400F until lightly browned and an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes.
5. Garnish with remaining scallions. Serve warm.
Albanian Style Stewed Green Beans and Potatoes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups of Seitan, cut into bite size pieces (or can substitute beef or chicken)
2 cups of Green Beans, trimmed and cut in half
1 small red potato, cut into bite-size pieces
1 medium onion, sliced thinly
3-4 garlic cloves
1 medium tomato or one half of a large tomato diced
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Pinch of chili flakes (optional)
2 cups vegetable broth or water ( You may need to add more liquid)
3 tablespoons + 1 tablespoons of Olive Oil
1 1/2 teaspoons – 2 teaspoons of liquid smoke (i omitted this)
Smoked salt to taste (Optional, if you don’t have smoked salt feel free to use regular salt)
Heat a medium pot over medium heat with 1 tablespoon of olive oil. When hot enough, add the seitan and saute until golden on all sides about 4-5 minutes. Towards the end at the liquid smoke and Smoked Salt. Remove from pot and set aside.
Now add about 2-3 tablespoons of Olive Oil to the pot. Add the onions and saute for a good 8 minutes until they are translucent and tender. If your pot has burned pieces from the seitan, deglaze it with a bit of vegetable broth. Add the garlic and saute for a minute until fragrant. Now it’s time to add the green beans and potatoes. Saute the green beans and potatoes for about 5 minutes.
Now add the tomato, paprika, oregano, chili flakes and season with salt and pepper. Saute for another two minutes. Add the vegetable broth or water and bring to a boil and then to a simmer. After a couple of minutes add the seitan that you have set aside. Simmer the stew for about 45-50 minutes until the green beans and potatoes are tender. If the stew starts to get dry simply add some more broth. Re-season with salt and pepper to taste if necessary. Remember to not go heavy on the salt because the Smokey Seitan is salt already from the smoked salt. Let the stew sit for 15 minutes or you can eat it has soon has it finished cooking.
Serve these stewed green beans with some rice, bread, and a side salad or vegetable.
For dessert we had Kadaif. It was really yummy! We had some non-nut eaters, so we omitted that but I'm sure its super good with them too. There is a great video to watch how to make it on the link above. The lemon syrup that you use, I could have drank it was SO STINKING GOOD!
Ingredients
- 1 pound shredded phyllo dough
- 1 8-ounce container whipped unsalted butter, melted
- 4 cups sugar
- 4 1/2 cups water
- 1 vanilla sugar packet
- 1/2 cup cold water
- 2 thin slices of lemon
- 2 cups crushed walnuts
Directions
-
Step 1
Open package of shredded phyllo and spread apart onto a big pan. Let dry overnight, and flip over to let other side dry. -
Step 2
Spread phyllo into 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Pour melted butter evenly over top. -
Step 3
Preheat oven to 280 degrees. Bake for 2 hours, until golden. Remove from oven. Let cool. -
Step 4
In a saucepan combine sugar, water, vanilla sugar, cold water, and lemon slices. Bring to a simmer and stir until sugar is dissolved. Simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in additional 1/2 cup cold water to cool down syrup. Remove lemon slices. -
Step 5
When phyllo is cool, pour the cooled syrup on top (I only used about half, It was a LOT of syup). Sprinkle crushed walnuts on top and set aside for about 1 hour to allow syrup to soak in. Cut into squares and serve.
I could not find shredded phyllo dough, but my grocery store has regular frozen fillo dough that I just cut up with my kitchen scissors.
Albania was a little hard to find recipes, but still doable and it ended up a yummy, fun night. It was a great way to kick off our dinners around the world!
