Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 kilo pumpkin
6 cups of flour
Salt and pepper

How to prepare:

To be authentic, this recipe requires a Saç – a special Albanian baking tray with a lid. However, you can also use similarly sized tray (please see the picture) with aluminum foil in place of a lid.

First bake the pumpkin in the oven until it is soft. Scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin, remove the seeds and mash. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Then, prepare the dough. Sift the flour into a bowl.  Mix it with a bit of salt and warm water and knead into dough.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Roll out one piece into a layer and place it on the baking tray, brushed with butter.  Spoon the filling into the tray and top with the other layer, prepared out of the second piece of dough.

Put the lid of the baking tray in the wood fired oven first. When it has become hot remove the lid, place it over the pie and place in the oven. Wait until the pie is baked on both sides. Sprinkle it with water and brush it with butter.

Serve with cold dhallë – a refreshing Albanian drink made of yoghurt, cold water and salt.

The filling can also be made with onions and tomatoes, leeks and curds or sour milk and eggs.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

One cup of rice
3-4 eggs
2 coffee cups of olive oil
Mint; pepper, salt

How to prepare:

Clean and rinse the rice. Bring it to boil until it gets dry. Let it go cold. Then, add the eggs one by one, mint, salt and pepper. Mix them well.

Put olive oil on a cupcake pan and fill it with the prepared mixture. Put the pan on heat. Make the rice balls brown on both sides. Slide them out of the pan and serve them warm.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

800 gr. lamb
2 tbs flour
4 tbs Albanian homemade butter
4 cups yoghurt
2 egg
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

How to prepare:

Cut the lamb into large pieces, then put the meat in the oven (150-160°) for approximately 45 min. While the lamb is roasting, add a small amount of water from time to time to prevent the meat from becoming dry. After the meat is ready, drain the juice out of it, cover and place to one side.

Mix the butter and flour in a frying pan and add the juice from the roasted meat. If needed, add a cup of warm water to the mixture until the texture gets thicker. Then leave the mixture to cool.

Then, mix the yoghurt and the egg together. After the butter, flour and juice mixture has cooled, add the yoghurt and egg mixture. Add salt and pepper. Put the meat and the sauce into a baking tray which has been greased with butter (we suggest a ceramic tray as in the picture). Let the dish cook until the surface takes a brown colour.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2-3 aubergines
4-5 green peppers
3-4 garlic cloves
parsley
vinegar
olive oil
salt

How to prepare:

Bake the aubergines and peppers in an oven, mash and cut into small pieces. Mash with a wooden spoon, add oil, vinegar and the garlic salt to taste, beat. Pour onto a plate and top with finely chopped parsley.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1 rabbit, jointed
2 tbs tomato puree or 4-5 fresh tomatoes approximately 350 gr., chopped
2 bay leaves
4 tbs red wine vinegar
150 ml olive oil
0.25 tbs sugar
4 cloves garlic, peeled
300 ml hot water
small piece cinnamon stick
salt and black pepper
4 grains whole allspice
700 gr. small onions, peeled but left whole
1 sprig of rosemary
1 small glass of red wine

How to prepare:

The same recipe can be used for hare, with excellent results, by increasing quantities of other ingredients, since hare is much heavier than rabbit. Rabbit or hare should be treated in exactly the same preparatory way, i.e., being soaked in vinegar. (This only applies to wild varieties.) Served with fried potatoes on the side, this is a piquant dish, or if you prefer a milder taste to counterbalance the richness of the rabbit, serve with plain white rice. A green salad is always welcome as it adds a refreshing note.

Rinse the rabbit pieces and put them in a salad bowl with the bay leaves. Sprinkle the vinegar over the pieces and let them marinate for at least 2 hours or preferably in the fridge overnight. Heat half of the olive oil in a saucepan, pat the rabbit pieces dry and fry them in it until they are quite brown on both sides. Take out and put on to a plate. When all the rabbit pieces have been fried, put them back into the saucepan along with the garlic cloves, bay leaves, spices, rosemary and the wine. Then add the tomato purée or tomatoes, sugar and the hot water. Season, cover and cook for about 1 hour.

In the meantime, heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onions. Stir them occasionally, in order to make sure they turn golden all over, for about 15 minutes. Add the contents of the frying pan to the saucepan, and shake it so that the onions spread evenly. Then cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes.

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1/2 kg. vine leaves pickled in brine
1/2 kg. rice
2 bunches spring onions
200 ml. olive oil
750 ml. water
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 bunch fresh dill
1 bunch fresh parsley
salt
black pepper
spices/herbs according to preference (suggestion: dried mint, dried basil)

How to prepare:

Place the pickled vine leaves in boiling water for a few minutes in order to remove their salty flavour. Then fry the chopped onions in a pan over a moderate heat while stirring with a wooden spoon, add the rice (dry) and continue to stir. Add water, the spices, salt, the chopped parsley and dill, black pepper, and pine nuts. Pour in a few tablespoons of olive oil and cook gently while still stirring. Put aside to cool.
Cut off the stalks of the vine leaves and place the stalks on the bottom of the pan where the cooking will be done. Place a layer of vine leaves over these. Place 1/2 tablespoon of the filling on each leaf, roll and line up in the pan. After all the leaves are stuffed, cover the entire surface with a layer of leaves and pour in the water, the remaining olive oil and lemon juice and cook on moderate heat. When the leaves become tender remove from the heat, and put on a serving plate after they have cooled down. Decorate the plate with lemon slices;
Serve along with the remaining lemon juice if desired.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

Cake mixture:
1/2 cup butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1/3 cup buttermilk
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tbs lemon rind, grated
1 cup toasted walnuts
chopped finely

Glaze:
3/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground allspice
dash of ground cloves

How to prepare:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in the eggs. In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt and buttermilk. In yet another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the yoghurt-mix and flour-mix to the butter mixture, blending well. Add lemon grind, walnuts and cinnamon. Mix well. Butter a 9"x13" baking pan. Pour in the cake mixture and bake for 30 minutes (check that a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). Make the glaze by simmering together all the ingredients in a pan, covered, for about 15 minutes. When the cake is done, remove it from the oven, turn the oven off, pour the glaze over the hot cake, and return it to the oven for about 10 minutes.