Armenia

Historical foe of Persia, Rome, the Byzantines, and the Turks; Armenia is not just another former Soviet Republic. It is also the ancestral homeland of singer/songwriter Raffi, as well as the legendary docking spot of Noah's Ark! Not surprisingly, Armenian food is as rich as its history. The best way we can think of summing it up is to describe it as a cross between Turkish and Russian, but this explanation really doesn't do it justice. However, if you would like a taste of Armenia without spending a full night in the kitchen, we do know of at least one Armenian restaurant, Sayat Nova, in Chicago conveniently located on Ohio Street just east of Michigan Avenue.

However, if you don't live near an Armenian restaurant and you do enjoy making a meal for yourself and would like to explore other Armenian dishes, we recommend Sonia Uvezian's The Cuisine Of Armenia. We used this as our main inspiration for many of the recipes in this dinner.

Tomato, Bulghur, and Mint Soup


1 32 oz. can of whole stewed tomatoes
1 stick butter
1 cup bulghur
8 cups water
10 oz. spinach, cleaned and chopped
3 garlic cloves crushed
Juice of 1 lemon
A handful of freshly chopped mint
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter in a large pot, add tomatoes and cook for five minutes over medium heat.
2. With a masher crush the tomatoes, add the bulghur, and cook for another five minutes stirring frequently to avoid burning the grains.
3. Add the water, spinach, and garlic. Bring the soup to a boil and reduce to a simmer.
4. Cover and cook for 40 minutes over low heat.
5. When ready to serve thin the soup with water to desired consistency. Garnish with mint and lemon. Check for seasoning and serve!

Chilled Green Beans with a Walnut Sauce

2 lbs green beans trimmed and washed
2 cups walnut
1 large yellow onion finely chopped
3 tsp paprika (good stuff not the cheap crap)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
Broth for thinning the sauce
Chopped parsley for garnish
Salt to taste

1. Boil the beans for ten minutes, drain, and immediately rinse in cold water.
2. Combine the remaining ingredients, except the parsley, in a food processor and blend to a paste. Add enough broth to form a paste like sauce.
3. Toss the beans with the sauce and chill before serving.

Rice Pilaf with Toasted Sesame Seeds and Almonds

1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup almonds
2 cups long grain rice (we used Jasmine)
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup butter
Salt to taste

1. Melt the butter in a large pot, add the rice, and cook over medium heat for five minutes stirring often.
2. Add the stock, raise to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook over low heat for 20 minutes.
3. While this is cooking bake the sesame and almond in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes.
4. Fluff the pilaf before serving and add the almonds and sesame.
5. Taste for salt and serve.

Eggplants Stuffed with Beef

1.5 lbs. ground beef chuck
2 roma tomatoes
2 large yellow onions diced
2 cloves garlic chopped
A handful of parsley
4 tbsp butter
Salt and Pepper
3 large eggplants

1. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh with a spoon carefully being sure to leave enough flesh for the eggplant to keep its shape. Salt the shells and set aside.
2. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat, add the chopped onion and cook until translucent (not brown).
3. Add the beef and cook until browned.
4. Add the tomatoes, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper. Cook for another five minutes and remove from heat.
5. Stuff the hollowed eggplants with the beef mixture. Arrange them in casserole dishes with a small layer of water to prevent the eggplants from burning.
6. Cook in a 400 f oven for 1 hour or until the eggplant is completely cooked. Serve!

Butternut Squash Dessert

2 lbs. butternut squash cubed
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
cinnamon
2/3 cup heavy cream

1. Combine squash with sugar and water and cook over low heat covered until the water is evaporated and the squash is tender.
2. Mash it!
3. Chill it!
4. Mix cream with some sugar and whip until it reaches your desired thickness.
5. Top chilled squash with cream and cinnamon. Enjoy! There's a lot of it!

The Result

The soup was unbelievably simple in execution and very pleasing to the palate. We plan on making this soup over and over again, as it is filling, delicious and tastes possibly even better as leftovers.

The pilaf was a hit in my book as well as with some of Tom's coworkers. The toasted seeds and almonds gave the rice a kind of crisp, bitter quality, much like baked pumpkin seeds.

At first, we were going to serve the beans as an appetizer while we were waiting for the eggplant to finish baking, but as it turns out they were much too strong of a flavor on their own. Once we plated them with the rest of the meal, we found that the beans complimented the other flavors from the pilaf and eggplant rather than dominating them.

When you first look at the size of the eggplant, it looks completely overwhelming in quantity. Once we started digging into it though, it was more like eating a stuffed cabbage or pepper. Tom likes to think of it as a meat pie inside of an eggplant, which just really means he's happy not to have to roll out dough.

The dessert of squash mash is something that is meant for a large group of people or several champion squash eaters. After all of the other courses, it was hard to eat, as it is also very filling. It seems as though it was not for everyone at our table, but it's hard to say if it was the full tummies or the tastes of the crowd. However, Susie, the dachshund could not get enough of it.

Australia will be later this week and then only 2 more "A" countries (whew!). Until then, kenats't!

Albania

Before we started any research on Albania, we realized that all we knew about it was that the population consisted of a lot of non-practicing Muslims, that "The Simpsons" had an episode where they housed an Albanian foreign exchange student, and that Monty Python used Albania as an ongoing joke, mainly centering around King Zog. Further research uncovered Albania as a country with a complex history of takeovers by Italy, Greece, and Ottoman Turks. Albania was also an on and off ally with the USSR.

So, with a Communist, Italian and Greek history, Albania is quite the country and their cuisine is a fusion of it's history. We tried to take some of the best elements of Albanian dishes and put our own spin on them.


Chilled yogurt cucumber soup: Taratore

3 cups yogurt
1 big cucumber peeled and finely chopped (or grated)
2-3 cloves garlic minced
3 tbsps fresh mint chopped
1.5 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

1. Combine yogurt, cucumber, garlic, mint, salt and pepper in a large bowl.
2. Slowly pour in water and stir with whisk until you achieve the desired thickness for serving.
3. Chill and serve garnished with a bit of olive oil on the surface of each bowl. We find that fresh rye bread is great with this.

This seemed to be a big hit with all attending. Our only regret was not having more for our vegetarian friend. We favor the Albanian version of this soup compared to other cucumber-yogurt soups and sauces for the use of fresh mint instead of dill.


Beef, eggplant, and sun dried tomato stew:

For The Stew

2 lbs stewing beef cut into 1.5 inch cubes
1 lb eggplant cut into 1 inch cubes
2 oz sundried tomatoes rehydrated in a cup of boiling water for ten minutes and blended
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tsp dried Greek oregano
1 white onion thinly sliced
1 cup chopped celery
3 cups water (enough to cover meat by 1/2 inch)
2 tbsps flour disolved in 1/2 cup water
salt and pepper

For the Garnish

4 oz pitted and chopped Kalamata olives
2 tbsps chopped mint
Splash of lemon juice

1. In a cast iron pot, brown the eggplant in a 1/4 cup olive oil and remove.
2. Add the remaining olive oil and saute the onions and celery on medium heat for five minutes.
3. Add the beef and saute for another five minutes.
4. Pour in the tomato mixture and cook another five minutes.
5. Pour on the water and add the oregano, reserved eggplant, salt, and pepper. Raise to a boil and reduce heat to simmer. Cover pot and cook for at least 1.5 hours or until the meat is tender.
6. After meat is tender, pour flour mixture into the sauce to thicken and cook another five minutes.
7. Cut the heat, garnish and taste for seasoning. Serve with Balkan cornbread.

This is what the result looked like with the cornbread:



Balkan Cornbread

*1 cup feta cheese
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs, beaten lightly
2 cups milk
**1 cup of beer
.5 cup of corn oil
1.5 cups yellow cormeal
1 cup farina
1.5 tsps baking soda
Pinch of salt
Unsalted butter to grease 13x9 baking pan

*can substitute ricotta or cottage cheese. We happen to have a very good supply of feta in the neighborhood. So whatever cheese you like is good
**club soda can be substituted

1. Combine cheese and sour cream in a big bowl; then add eggs, milk, beer, and corn oil until it's smooth. In a different bowl, stir the remaining dry ingredients together. Add those to the cheese mixture and pour into the greased baking dish. Cover at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake the bread for about 45 minutes. When it's done it should look golden brown and feel firm to the touch. Turn off the oven and let the bread settle for 10 minutes before serving. Cut and portion while it's still warm.


We had some guests over for this dinner and we would like to thank them for trying Albanian food and listening to Albanian music with us. Especially to our guest that came all the way from England to partake in our feast (well, we like to think he came all this way just to dine with us). Thanks everyone!

Algeria is up next! Until then, Gëzuar!