Recipe - Albanian Bread

There is nothing so awesome as homemade bread.  I probably make bread about twice a week.  I wouldn't call it a lot of work as most of the time is the bread rising.

albaniancuisine.wordpress.com

I doubled this recipe.  Feel free to halve it, but why?  The more bread the merrier!

Bread, Albanian Style

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 2 T dry yeast
• 2 t sugar
• 2 T salt
• 3 T oil
• 9 cups flour, maybe more

Directions:

1. Put the yeast in warm water and let sit for about five minutes.
2. Add in the sugar, salt and oil and mix well with a spoon then let sit another couple of minutes.
3. Add four cups of flour and mix in well then start adding a cup at a time, mixing well.
4. Kneed it!  This activates the gluten.  Get it into a nice ball.  Then let it rise for about 90 minutes, or until doubled in size.
5. Oil two 8 inch circle baking pans or one big cookie sheet.
6. Make into 16 to 18 balls and put into the pan(s).  Let this rise at least a half hour.
7. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes.

Serve as it is, with butter or with a stew.

Reference:

https://albaniancuisine.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/homemade-bread/ 

Recipe - Fasule (Bean Stew)

Anyone heard of Pasta e Fagioli, the bean stew at Olive Garden?  Well, this is not that. It is Fasule.  Note the similar word of this stew and you can see that Albania is pretty close to Italy.  No pasta in this one, though, as it's Albanian!  No garlic in this either, which is another big difference between this and anything from Italy.  :)

Fasule

This is mine!

Ingredients

• 1 lb dried white beans
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 large bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup butter
• 2 T chopped mint (optional)
• 2 T Chopped parsley (optional)
• 4 T tomato paste
• 4 cups Vegetable Stock (or broth)
• Some olive oil 

Directions

1. If using dried beans,soak them overnight.  Reserve 6 T of the soaking water.
2. Saute onion in olive oil for 15 minutes.  Add the bell pepper and carrot and saute another 5 minutes.
3. Add tomato paste, 3 T bean water and parsley and stir for about 10 minutes.
4. Stir the butter until it melts then add the vegetable stock slowly.
5. Add in the beans and vegetable stock and enough water to cover the beans (if needed)
6. Add chopped mint, cover and cook for about 4 hours over low heat.  Check every so often to make sure that the beans are still covered in liquid.  Add water if needed.
7. Serve hot with bread.

References

• https://albaniancuisine.wordpress.com/2015/01/08/beans-gresh-or-fasule/
• http://www.albaniantranslators.com/recipes.html
• http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Bean_Jahni_soup

Recipe - Leek Burek (Leek Pie)

A burek is a savory pie.  This was a great vegetarian main.  You can make the dough or use puff pastry.  If you go the puff pastry route, just make sure it's defrosted and go straight to assembly steps.

I will definitely make it again, but would probably add some garlic and other flavors if I wasn't trying to be authentic!  I cut into mine a bit too early and it was soupy.  Make sure you wait the full hour after it comes out of the oven.  It was still super awesome, though!

Leek Burek

Filling

Ingredients:

• 3 large leeks 
• 16 oz cottage cheese
• 6 eggs
• 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
• 6 oz feta cheese
• 2 T. of melted butter

Directions

1. Strain the cottage cheese in a cheese cloth for 30 minutes.
2. Beat the eggs, yogurt, butter salt together. 
3. Chop leeks into very thin half moons.  Use only the white and light green parts.
4. Combine everything into one bowl

Dough (if not using puff pastry)

Ingredients:

• 5 cups flour
• 1-1/2 t. salt
• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 1/2 lb. butter or melted margarine

Directions:

1. Mix flour, water and salt together.
2. Kneed for about five minutes.
3. Cover and let rest for about 10 minutes
4. Take half the dough and roll it until it's as thin as you think you can get it.  
5. Brush with melted butter.  Fold sides to the center.  Butter and fold in half again.  Keep doing this until it's only about a 5 inch square.
6. Put in the fridge and do the same with the other half of dough.
7. Let rest about 15 minutes in the fridge.

Assembly

1. Roll one dough sheet into a 15 inch circle and place in the bottom of a pie pan.  
2. Add the filling.
3. Roll out the other half to about a 15 inch circle.  If your sheets are most rectangle than circle, when you place this sheet on top, make sure the long parts are not over lapping the long parts on the bottom so that the extra edge dough is more even.
4. Roll the dough around the sides like a pie.
5. Brush the top with butter.
6. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.
7. Let rest about hour before cutting.

References:

• http://frosina.org/albanian-vegetable-pie-no-2-byrek-ose-lakror/
• http://globaltableadventure.com/2010/02/14/recipe-byrek-ose-lakror-leek-pie/

Recipe - Kol Burek mi Spinaq (Mini Spinach Pie)

Burek means pie, but savory pie not a sweet one.  Spinaq means spinach.  Kol referes to the shape of these cute little hand pies.

These were the appetizers.  I got the idea to make them small from this site, but I got the filling from another site.  Whirling these all took over an hour and a half.  Right after I made them I swore that I would never make it again, but after I ate them, I changed my mind.  They were really good.  I've had Greek style spinach pies before which are pretty similar to a standard burek.  The spirals of these made the filo very tender and not crumbly flaky like filo tends to be.

Older kids might enjoy helping to make these.  But they need to have good patience and the abilty to work quickly as filo can be persnickety.  I would say at least 10 and maybe older depending on the kid.  Although, I'm sure even the youngest Master Chef Junior contestant could handle it, so, use your judgement.

There are two things to make, the filling and the egg/milk wash.  You could make the filo too, but working with the crazy thin sheets were a big enough complication.  I can't imagine the time required to make it.  That's saying a lot because I really like making stuff from scratch.

Tips for dealing with filo dough:

1. We want the sheets to stay slightly moist.  Too dry and it rips, too wet and it gums together and the sheets won't separate.
2. Plan ahead and thaw the filo in the fridge the night before you need it.  Otherwise it might get gummy and will be more likely to stick together.
3. Before you open the filo package, have all parts of your assembly ready.  
4. Get a kitchen towel very slightly damp, wring out as much of the water as you can.  Place one beneath the filo and the other on top.  As you use filo, replace the top towel
5. Be quick.  Time is of the essence.

Okay, let's get to the food!

Kol Burek mi Spinaq 

Filling

Ingredients

• 1 lb frozen spinach (I used about 13 oz fresh, but it would have been easier and cheaper to use frozen)
• 8 scallions, white parts, chopped
• 6 eggs
• 1 lb small curd cottage cheese
• 2 T Greek yogurt

Directions:

1. Saute the spinach until wilted or not frozen.  Remove.  
2. Saute the scallions.
3. Beat the eggs, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt.
4. Mix with the scallions and spinach.

Egg/Milk Wash

Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Directions

1. Mix together

Dough

1 1/2 package of filo dough

Assembly

1. Lay down some parchment paper on a cookie sheet (I used my silicone pastry mat).
2. Take two sheets of philo dough and brush the top sheet with some of the wash.
3. Take about 1 T of the filling and spread it very thinly along one of the long ends of the filo sheet.
4. Roll the sheet into a tube, then spiral the tube.  Place on cookie sheet.  I didn't give mine room between the Kols, but you can if you like crsipy edges.  
5. Try to be careful as the filo can rip very easily. 
6. Keep going until you run out of dough, wash or filling (in chemistry we would call this the limiting reactant).
7. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes.  I baked this and the Leek Pie together.

References

• http://momwhats4dinner.com/leek-burek/
• http://www.marthastewart.com/349724/spinach-pie-byrek-mi-spinaq
• http://www.thekitchn.com/techniques-how-to-work-with-ph-77437
• http://www.finecooking.com/articles/working-phyllo-dough.aspx