Tave Kosi
Tave Kosi is the national dish of Albania. Lamb with Yogurt and Rice.
With my swallowing problems from the surgery this spring, I couldn't really eat it. Weetabix had a textural issue with it as well, but likely both of these problems are just us. It had a distinct lemony flavor and I think the yogurt/egg combo could be adapted into a good breakfast dish. It was a lot like lamb quiche with lemon.
Tave Kosi
(modified and commented from this URL: http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/tave-kosi-albanian-baked-lamb-and-rice-with-yogurt)
Ingredients
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 lb. lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1½" pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
⅓ cup flour
3 tbsp. long grain white rice
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp. finely chopped oregano
4 cups plain yogurt
⅛ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
5 eggs
Directions:
Heat 3 tbsp. butter and the oil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat.
Season lamb with salt and pepper and toss with ¼ cup flour.
Working in batches, cook lamb, turning as needed, until browned, 10–12 minutes.
Add rice, garlic, and ½ cup water; boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until rice is just tender, about 18 minutes.
Heat oven to 375°
Stir in oregano, salt, and pepper and transfer to a 9" x 13" baking dish; set aside.
Melt remaining butter in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat.
Whisk in remaining flour; cook until smooth, 2 minutes.
Remove from heat; whisk in yogurt, nutmeg, eggs, salt, and pepper until smooth.
Pour yogurt sauce evenly over lamb mixture.
Bake until golden and the lamb is tender, 45–60 minutes.
Notes:
I would seriously consider cooking the rice outside of the pan. It was just too hot in there with that little amount of rice. The rice soaked up GREAT flavor, but at the cost of some of it getting hard from too much heat and sticking to the bottom of the pan. Also it doesn’t explicitly say this, but when you are cooking the rice you do it with the meat in the pan with the rice. I took all the meat out, put in the rice and water, got it to a boil then put the meat back in, cooking for 18 minutes. The rice stuck to the bottom pretty badly.
The recipe also doesn’t say how much salt and pepper to use. Well, let me tell you you need about a teaspoon of Kosher salt in the yogurt/egg mix and a lot of fresh ground black pepper. Well season the lamb before putting it in the flour. I would also season the lamb/rice/oregino mixture when you put it into the baking dish and set it aside. Lamb loves black pepper.
This dish turned out...well weird. It was like lamb/rice/garlic quiche, with a distinct lemony flavor from the yogurt. I used Dannon plain yogurt. It was good...but weird. I think the yogurt-egg-butter-flour mixture could be used for an awesome breakfast dish. Instead of using lamb, line the bottom of the baking dish with cooked and well browned breakfast sausages and perhaps mix in some garlic (since that was on the lamb side) and some mushrooms.
With my swallowing problems from the surgery this spring, I couldn't really eat it. Weetabix had a textural issue with it as well, but likely both of these problems are just us. It had a distinct lemony flavor and I think the yogurt/egg combo could be adapted into a good breakfast dish. It was a lot like lamb quiche with lemon.
Tave Kosi
(modified and commented from this URL: http://www.saveur.com/article/recipes/tave-kosi-albanian-baked-lamb-and-rice-with-yogurt)
Ingredients
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
2 lb. lamb shoulder, trimmed and cut into 1½" pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
⅓ cup flour
3 tbsp. long grain white rice
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 tbsp. finely chopped oregano
4 cups plain yogurt
⅛ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
5 eggs
Directions:
Heat 3 tbsp. butter and the oil in a 6-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat.
Season lamb with salt and pepper and toss with ¼ cup flour.
Working in batches, cook lamb, turning as needed, until browned, 10–12 minutes.
Add rice, garlic, and ½ cup water; boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low; cook, covered, until rice is just tender, about 18 minutes.
Heat oven to 375°
Stir in oregano, salt, and pepper and transfer to a 9" x 13" baking dish; set aside.
Melt remaining butter in a 2-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat.
Whisk in remaining flour; cook until smooth, 2 minutes.
Remove from heat; whisk in yogurt, nutmeg, eggs, salt, and pepper until smooth.
Pour yogurt sauce evenly over lamb mixture.
Bake until golden and the lamb is tender, 45–60 minutes.
Notes:
I would seriously consider cooking the rice outside of the pan. It was just too hot in there with that little amount of rice. The rice soaked up GREAT flavor, but at the cost of some of it getting hard from too much heat and sticking to the bottom of the pan. Also it doesn’t explicitly say this, but when you are cooking the rice you do it with the meat in the pan with the rice. I took all the meat out, put in the rice and water, got it to a boil then put the meat back in, cooking for 18 minutes. The rice stuck to the bottom pretty badly.
The recipe also doesn’t say how much salt and pepper to use. Well, let me tell you you need about a teaspoon of Kosher salt in the yogurt/egg mix and a lot of fresh ground black pepper. Well season the lamb before putting it in the flour. I would also season the lamb/rice/oregino mixture when you put it into the baking dish and set it aside. Lamb loves black pepper.
This dish turned out...well weird. It was like lamb/rice/garlic quiche, with a distinct lemony flavor from the yogurt. I used Dannon plain yogurt. It was good...but weird. I think the yogurt-egg-butter-flour mixture could be used for an awesome breakfast dish. Instead of using lamb, line the bottom of the baking dish with cooked and well browned breakfast sausages and perhaps mix in some garlic (since that was on the lamb side) and some mushrooms.
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