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Feed: World of Food 2: Albania (Kime Me Vez)

5 Responses

  • Shaun Scott,

    This is brilliant opening sentence, and fantastic first para. Love it!

    (the food- not so much. I am vegetarian :-) but enjoyed the article anyway.

    Ground meat reminds me of arguments.

    When I was a kid, the adult arguments I remember were often followed by bolognaise. I’m pretty sure my child brain twisted the memories a bit. There were likely arguments when mince wasn’t served, and we probably ate a fair bit of it without fights. But one of my strongest memories is of awkward dinners where conversation was a forced kind of “don’t let on to the kids” friendly. To this day I don’t cook with mince.

    Dunedin • Since Dec 2008 • 90 posts Report Reply

  • Ian Dalziel, in reply to Shaun Scott,

    This is brilliant opening sentence, and fantastic first para. Love it!

    No mincing words here!
    ;- )

    Christchurch • Since Dec 2006 • 7953 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha,

    Amazing how quickly certain food smells can transport you to something you haven't thought of in years. There's something about that smell, right? ... Smells like childhood.

    Love that about food. Thank you.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Soon Lee,

    I'm reading these out of sequence, but if it's chakchouka/shakshuka, I'm a big fan of the one from Ima (Fort St., downtown). Every time I go, I tell myself I should try something else, but most of the time I end up ordering the shakshuka.

    I've tried to recreate it at home but it's not the same, though my latest attempt using Ima's recipe was the closest I've got. (With the recent release of the Ima cookbook, Yael's posted the recipe online.)

    Auckland • Since Apr 2013 • 145 posts Report Reply

  • Brent Jackson,

    Attachment

    Off to Albania this week. Your comments on frying onion was interesting, because for me it is almost the opposite. Many of my standard meals start with frying an onion, so the smell of frying onion is pretty much the smell of cooking dinner. It could be a habit that I've picked up from my mother, as she says that when we were little, and she suddenly noticed that my dad was about to get home, she'd quickly throw an onion in the pan so that when he walked in the door he would smell dinner cooking, which would give her time to get the rest of the meal sorted.

    You didn't state quantities, so for the four of us (2 teenagers, so effectively cooking for 6), I used 4 large brown onions, 4 cloves garlic, 4 level teaspoon paprika, 750gm beef, and six eggs. Instead of fresh tomatoes, I used a can of Watties Italian-style tomatoes (since Italy is closer to Albania than Morocco). With hindsight, it may have been better with 2 cans.

    You suggested serving with bread, so I served it on toast (Ploughman's Soy & Linseed to be precise), with a green salad on the side. It was a great variation of mince on toast, and the 10 minutes for the poached eggs was spot on (I checked after 8 minutes, and they weren't quite done).

    Thumbs up from the family, with three 7s and an 8, with the main criticism being it was a bit plain. Maybe could've done with more paprika and pepper to spice it up a little more.

    And this time I remembered to take a photo.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 620 posts Report Reply

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