Tour of Europe: Albania's meal

 

This week’s meal is from the country of Albania.  The cuisine in Albania is Mediterranean, influenced by many including Greek, Italian and Turkish cooking.  It is characterized by the use of Mediterranean herbs such as oregano, mint, basil, rosemary and more in cooking meat and fish, but also chili pepper and garlic. Vegetables are used in almost every dish.  In Greece, a popular dish is spanakopita, made by laying phyllo dough with spinach and baking it, and I found an Albanian recipe that is the same thing as spanakopita, but called byrek me spinaq.  Byrek can be made with meat or other vegetables, but I opted to make the spinach version. 

Menu:  Byrek me Spinaq (Spinach Pie), Sheqerpare (cookies in syrup)

Outcome:  The byrek me spinaq came out pretty good.  The girls wanted to help, so after Bridget sautéed the spinach, I had her sit down at the table with a little bowl of olive oil, the phyllo dough, and a baking dish.  While I was making the salad, I talked her through how to layer and brush the sheets while Brandi helped to make up the spinach mixture.  When Bridget finished with the first half of the phyllo layering/brushing, she sat back and said, “Whew!  That was tedious!!”  Of course, Brandi reminded her that she was only halfway finished!  haha.  The dish was pretty good, but we agreed that the use of phyllo dough was a bit time-consuming and we’ll probably choose a dish other than spanakopita when we get to making a meal for Greece. 


Bridget also helped make the yummy cookies – they are kind of like a cross between a sugar cookie and a butter cookie.  They came out light and crispy.  The recipe called for hazelnuts, but since both girls don’t care for them, we put whole almonds on the top of the cookies instead.  After we pulled the cookies from the oven, we put them on cooling racks with the parchment paper that was on the cookie sheet placed under the racks to catch any drips from the syrup.  I used a pastry brush and drizzled the sugar syrup over the cookies – it was so cool the way the syrup transformed into very thin threads that cooled instantly!  It reminded me of the cooking shows I’ve seen where they make a croquembouche with the sugar threads binding the tower together.  The crunchy topping was a great addition to the cookies, and we all loved them. 
Next up:    Bill chose Liechtenstein! 

 

Byrek me Spinaq

Ingredients

• 1 cup olive oil
• 1 box frozen phyllo/filo dough
• 2 pounds spinach, chopped (2 bags fresh)
• 1 cup diced feta cheese
• ½ cup ricotta cheese
• 1 bunch chopped green onions
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ tsp salt

Directions

1. Thaw the phyllo dough according to package instructions. 
2. Sauté the spinach with the salt in a skillet with 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Roughly chop if pieces are large.
3. Mix in the feta and ricotta cheeses, ½ cup of the olive oil, green onions, and eggs.
   
   
   
4. Brush a glass baking dish with some of the oil (using a pastry brush), and start laying the phyllo leaves inside. First, lay two leaves, brush with oil, then lay two more leaves, and repeat the procedure until half of the leaves are laid.
   
   
   
5. Add the spinach mixture and spread evenly over the phyllo leaves.
   
   
   
6. Cover the spinach mixture with the rest of the phyllo leaves, repeating the procedure from before and roll any hanging edges of the phyllo leaves over the pie, sprinkle the top with oil, and bake at 350°F for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown.
   
   
   
   

   

   I sprinkled a little parsley and parmesan on top!

   
   
7. Serve with a green salad.

Serves 8. 

Sheqerpare (Cookies in syrup)

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar, divided into two 1-cup amounts
• ¾ cup butter, softened
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 cups flour
• ¼ tsp baking soda
• ¾ cup water
• ¾ tsp vanilla extract
• 3 whole cloves
• Hazelnuts (or almonds, whole)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream together butter and one cup of the sugar until fully incorporated. Add egg yolks, one at a time, until mixture is smooth. Stir in flour and baking soda a little at a time until a soft dough forms.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/3" thick. Cut into 2” circles (using an inverted wine or juice glass) and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  Top with a whole hazelnut or almond. Place in oven and cook for 15-20 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.
4. While the cookies are baking, add the remaining cup of sugar, water and whole cloves to a small saucepan and cook over medium to medium-high heat for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the syrup spins a long thread. Remove from heat. Add vanilla and mix – warning, it will be very, very hot!
5. When cookies are done, remove from oven and place on rack to cool slightly. Pour hot syrup over cookies in a thin drizzle. Serve cookies at room temperature.

Makes about 30 cookies.