Albania - Gjellë me Arra (Walnut Chicken) and friends

Sorry about the blurry photos! Everyone was hungry, and we wanted to get eating.

Albania, for a small country, has a lot of regional variation in cuisine. I went with a little of everything -- a fish dish from the coast, a chicken dish from... the north? (Albanian recipes are kind of hard to find, but I did find a general overview of ingredients used, and walnuts were mentioned, but not specified by region.) The pita bread is a bit of a stretch, but we decided that it was close enough, as Albania shares a border with Greece, and, well, we really like feta.

It would hardly be worth it to include a recipe for the salmon. It was just brushed lightly with olive oil and lightly sprinkled with salt and pepper. Albanian food is fairly lightly spiced, and spices are generally not mixed, it turns out.

Walnut chicken!

This dish never seems to look all that good, but it tasted great, so it sort of redeemed itself in the end. The sauce is thickened with roux and egg yolks, almost like a savory pudding (in the American use of the word "pudding".) Not something I've done before, and a little nerve-wracking on a night when I was planning on serving 6 or 7 people, but it turned out in the end.

Sauce:
Butter
Flour
Garlic
Egg yolks
Crushed walnuts
Sage (My addition; it complemented the walnuts well.)
Salt to taste

If you would like to follow along, here is the recipe I used. Enjoy!

Fidhe -- Albania

A holiday tradition in Greece and Albania, the thought of egg and lemon soup intrigued me. Also, eggs are VERY cheap. I thought I'd give it a try.

Interesting. The recipe basically combines chicken broth, vermicelli, lemon juice, and egg. I'm not entirely sure that what I have is how it's supposed to taste, but it certainly LOOKS like the real thing.

When Ben made his, he combined the broth and egg at too high a temperature, and ended up making egg drop soup (sort of.) He said it looked like a very yellow storm was brewing.

The overall verdict: the combination of chicken stock and lemon is really great, and the soup's very easy. I wouldn't eat this every day, but both Ben and I agreed that it would be great to throw on when you're sick.

Ben: "I think the egg is coalescing into a treasure map. It's not a very good treasure map, though. It's just the one big X."

So, you know, be careful how you combine your eggs there.

Rations to Full, Pace to Slow -- Albania

I admit that though I had planned a white bean dish, a salad, a soup, some meatballs -- all sorts of things from Albania -- when I returned home from work last night, both Ben and I were dead tired.

The manager at the school I went to today had brought me something to eat, however, and so, wearily, I threw a salad together, tossed the manager's sandwiches on the plate, and called it good.

Good news! The salad is easy!

Recipe:

Cucumbers, to taste
Fresh tomato, to taste
Green pepper, to taste
Green olives, to taste, ideally nice ones, but if you live in Japan, overpriced things in tiny jars with pimentos in them

Dress with:
Olive oil
Salt
A splash of vinegar.

I really like olives, so this salad suited me well. You could even throw a little feta in to add interest. It's a good side without it, though, and surprisingly filling for a salad.