16. ALBANIA: Visiting Albania and cooking a Family Feast

My first experience of Albania was at the age of 8 or 9. My parents, brother and I were on a long camping trip around Europe (which has influenced some of our other European meals) and had driven across, around and through France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Yugoslavia, as it was known then, on our way to Greece before arriving at the Albanian border. The atmosphere generally across the Balkans was very tense at the time, although we had no idea of the horrors that were about to be unleashed. Similarly there was an edgy feel at the border, but I think the general concept of coming from England and staring into the ‘unknown’ that was this small, mysterious, communist country, beyond the barbed wire and stony faced armed guards, looking at us and our number plates suspiciously, added to the drama. I never thought in a million years that my future wife was playing the other side of that barbed wire and that I would become part of such a warm family sitting across that border a few hundred miles away.

When I speak to Esmeralda about her childhood during communist times she has positive things to say and she’s not a communist (I’m fairly convinced of this)! They played outside, they had fun, the neighbourhood kids came together and they created happy memories. Life was simple and healthy and in many ways what we and many of our friends wish for our kids today, but what is so hard to achieve in modern society. The simple lifestyle is reflective in their cuisine and often their eating habits. It would always make me laugh when Esmeralda and her sisters would get together in the early days of our relationship and in situations where you may expect someone to bring a pizza and a bottle of wine, perhaps some ice cream or a big bag of sharing crisps, they would bring a big bag of pomegranates, meticulously picking out the seeds one by one and would be in absolute heaven! On really special occasions they would throw in a few bags of sunflower seeds too and nibble away until there was a huge pile of discarded shells on the table…thank goodness for great brothers-in-law and pubs!

Fortunately the men of the family have a little more in common with my eating habits and one of my first significant memories of Albania was reflective of this and their hospitality. On arrival to the country and their family home, I was told by Esmeralda that she would stay at home and I would pop out with Martin to pick up dinner. “What is it” I asked?…”lamb” the response. I mean, it’s fair to say I was expecting something a little more rustic than popping down to Waitrose and picking up a pretty, rolled and trussed leg with a nice little sprig of rosemary tied to it, but what I perhaps was not expecting was swinging the car into someone’s yard and collecting a massive, whole lamb (including the head), in one piece, that had been slaughtered that morning (in the yard) and had been slow cooking over open coals all day. Even the offal was wrapped in intestines and stuffed inside with cornbread to soak up the juices…it was truly magnificent. Any anxiety I had was immediately swept away and I felt totally relaxed and completely at home! We hastily returned to the apartment and got this big dead weight wrapped in bin-liners up to the 9th floor, hoping that no neighbours saw us and got the wrong idea! The rest was a meat filled blissful blur, to be repeated on several trips. This was the Albanian way, introduced to me by my father-in-law Martin, and I loved it!

This week it makes me happy to share our Albanian feast, in Albania, eating at the same table at which I tucked into that delicious lamb with Martin and ate with him on many occasions, this time with my 3 young children by my side. Martin was a traditional man and we have cooked up some simple and humble dishes made using basic ingredients, that have been staples in Albanian households over the years. Tavë kosi is a national dish of lamb and rice baked with a mixture of yogurt and egg; Byrek, If there is ever a dish an Albanian will bring to a house party this baked, filled flaky pastry with various fillings is it; Qofte, an Albanian type of meat ball and ‘Corbe me pule’ a type of Albanian soup.

We hope you enjoy our Albanian Family Feast and if you ever have the chance to visit Albania, do go and check it out…you might be surprised!