As I mentioned in a previous post, we’re starting to get into warmer weather here in DC which, while lovely, poses some challenges with my country cooking efforts as many dishes tend to be meat intensive or fall into soup/stew categories. When I started this project, there was really no rhyme or reason to what order I cooked in, I kind of just bopped around the world but tried to be a little deliberate in mixing it up and exploring recipes for certain ingredients when they were in season or erring on lighter/island fare in the summer, and more substantive meals in the winter. As I enter the home stretch of a little under 70 countries left (which in and of itself is insane!) I’m starting to run into more of a challenge in meeting these goals.

For my 129th dish, I made Tave Kosi, which is essentially a baked lamb pie representing the country of Albania. It is also the national dish! Since it was just going to be Matt and I, I took some liberties with the recipe, cutting the ingredients in half and making a much smaller “pie.” It’s important to note that is isn’t like a typical pie where there is a pastry crust. The “crust” is essentially a covering on the top of the lamb/rice mixture comprised of yogurt, egg and a little bit of flour. This resembled a Moussaka which I had made earlier in this project. Due to the heaviness of this dish, I served with a simple salad.

Recipe I used: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/albanian_baked_lamb_with_92485

Overall Level of Effort: 2

Skill Level: Beginner

Would You Make it Again? No

Additional Notes: I’m not sure if it’s because of the changes I made to quantities in this, but I found that the rice didn’t cook properly and was crunchy (in an uncooked way, not in a crispy rice awesome way). So if I were to give one bit of advice here, would be to possibly partially cook the rice before putting it in the dish to bake.