Albania: Speca te Mbushur

(Stuffed Peppers)

I promise we have a scientifically, random selection process for the weekly country, yet, we keep finding ourselves in the Balkan region. And here we are now in Albania. The fourth Balkan country out of the total 17 countries we’ve experimented with to date. We’ve already covered Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Greece. Not that I’m complaining, those herb-y Mediterranean flavors are some of my favorite.

This has been quite the few weeks. We took a break from kitchen globetrotting, and took a real trot back home to Florida. The home where we became the ‘Thomas 4’. We sold our first little house. The house we shared together for about ten years and there were so many memories. Learning how to walk, the birthday parties, the holidays and so many bike rides. After several renters and quite the experience as landlords, a chapter has ended, as we await a new one to begin. Now, if only we could figure out where that new chapter will be. That is a story (post) for another day. But for now, we are back now to our normally scheduled routine – Albanian Stuffed Peppers, Speca te Mbushur. It’s kind of an herby, tastier version to that Grandma special we’ve all had.

Albania: Stuffed Peppers

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 5 medium peppers
• 1/4 c. fresh dill, chopped
• 1/2 c. fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 14 oz. can tomato sauce
• 3/4 c. basmati rice (uncooked)
• 2 c. water

Directions:

First, I just really have to say that I was so excited to get all my herbs from my garden this week. A week of 90+ plus temperatures and no one to water it, I had assumed the worse. An entire garden, dead and dried. But to my surprise, not only was it still alive, but seems to be flourishing! Lets just hope it can survive another 90 degree week. Mostly, I just wanted to brag a little and show off my little guys!

Also, turn your oven on to 350 degrees.

1. Ok, but for real. Start by prepping the peppers. Cut off the tops and remove the seeds and line in a baking dish. Keep the tops, you will want these later. I put some roasted potatoes in the dish as well, but that is totally optional. I’m feeding a pre-teen, quantity is everything.

2. Next, start sautéing the onion and cook until soft (about 5 minutes) and then add the beef. When the beef has cooked through you can add the tomato sauce and herbs. Simmer for several minutes. Next add the rice and water, simmer until the rice is mostly cooked through. (around 20 minutes) You may find yourself having to add a little more water depending on the size pan you are using.

3. When the rice has cooked through remove the mixture from the heat. Let it cool down a few minutes to avoid burning your (spouses) hand during the stuffing process. I had so much help today, I love it! For stuffing just take the mixture and plop it into a pepper. Depending on the size, you may need to adjust how much goes into each pepper… or cut down the number of peppers.

4. Once they are all stuffed, cover with the pepper caps and bake for 40 minutes. I put them on broil for just a couple minutes at the end to get that char! We served this up with a greek salad and marinated olives.

E shijshme!

File; Albania: Stuffed Peppers / Speca te Mbushur