Albanian Recipe - Tave Kosi

A non-Albanian lady from Delaware, MD, phoned me last year where, after searching for an "unusual" recipe for a small dinner party that she was planning, she came across the "Albanian Recipes" listing at www.frosina.org. However, not knowing anything about Albanian food, she asked me if I would recommend a particular recipe since she wanted the dinner to be a complete surprise.

I immediately recommended "Tave Kosi" which is a favorite of mine but I urged her to try it out first. Then, if she liked it, she'd feel comfortable serving it. Well, a couple of weeks later, she phoned me again with many, many thanks saying the dinner was a BIG hit! that she planned on serving again soon.  

So, with the same advice that I gave that lady, try it first!

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Albanian Recipe  

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Baked Lamb and Yogurt (Tavë Kosi)

1-1/2 lbs lamb
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
2 tablespoons rice
Salt, pepper

Cut meat in 4 serving pieces, sprinkle each piece with salt and pepper, and bake in a moderately-heated oven with half the butter, sprinkling the meat with its gravy now and then. When meat is half-baked, add rice; remove the baking pan from the oven and set it aside while you prepare the yogurt sauce:

For Yogurt sauce

1 tablespoon flour
4 tablespoons butter (1/2 stick)
2 lbs. yogurt
5 eggs
Salt, pepper

Saute flour in butter until mixed thoroughly. Mix yogurt with salt, pepper and eggs until a uniform mixture is obtained, and finally stir in the flour. Put the sauce mixture in the baking pan; stir it with the meat pieces and bake at 375 degrees F for about 45 minutes.

Serve hot.

Serves 4 people

NOTE: This recipe appears in The Best of Albanian Cooking

           by Klementina  and R. John Hysa.