SKENDERBEG MEATBALLS

The best meatballs (notwhitstanding the Kosovar köfte at Kebaptore Gjakova e Vjeter in Prishtina, of course) are made with a creamy brandy sauce and served with (also creamy) mashed potatoes. In the original recipe for the brandy sauce one would use legendary Finnish Jaloviina, but in Kosovo you want to use Skenderbeg that works just like the Finnish brandy. The historical hero Skenderberg, of course, at least as legendary ---  ..but back to the recipe, this blog not being one concentrating on history.

The recipe is simple enough – just mix all the ingredients (minced meat with onions, spices etc) and prepare the meatballs in the oven (175 degrees C) or on the stove.

To prepare the base of the sauce, you need to mix butter and a small amount of wheat flour into a thick sauce, after which demi glace is added to the mix. When this mixture is smooth, add hot water and bovril (thick, salty meat extract that gives more taste to your sauce) and let simmer for at least 15 minutes. Add the brandy (Jaloviina, Skenderbeg, ..) about 5 mins before all else is ready to be served (meaning the meatballs and mashed potatoes, or what ever is your choice to be served with the meatballs). Taste, taste, taste – and according to taste you may wanna add some more (but be careful not to serve sauce that tastes too much of alcohol…).

 

Skenderbeg in action!

The mashed potatoes can be spiced with some chopped onions, some butter, and milk or cream. The onion mix in potatoes is a Northern Finnish tradition, and as most of our crew at the Karelian Pie Association are not from Lapland, we tasted the onion mix for the first time at this Sunday dinner. This was a very welcome addition, and from now on, onions in mashed potatoes warmly recommended!

For four:

Meatballs
400 g minced meatready made onion soup mix
onion and garlic
egg(s), ..breadcrumbs

Sauce
50 g butter
1 dl flour
2 dl demi glace
2,5 dl hot water
2 rkl bovril
1 dl cream
0,5 dl Skenderbeg

Enjoy! Bof mire! Пријатно! Hyvää ruokahalua!

RYE BREAD

If you want to experience a feeling of success, try this traditional Finnish rye bread recipe. There is nothing better than the feeling when you realize that you have managed to make this bread by yourself. That’s pure awesomeness, my friend!

Making the rye bread is very easy! It only has three ingredients: water, rye flour and salt. You can’t go wrong!

The challenge here is time management. However, if you have gathered experience from brutal corporate life or you can call yourself a God of Project Management, there is nothing to worry. You’ll have only few active steps since most of the work is passive. You’ll only have to wait and be patient.

In case you are planning to bake this bread more than once, just consider the root of the bread as your new family member. Similarly as the other members of you family, you just have to keep it alive by feeding it regularly.

RYE BREAD (2 breads)

Start by making the root first. This recipe, like many others, is from Martta- website (it’s Martha Steward like association but without all that criminal bullshit)

First day, first step!

1^st day

3 tbls rye flour

3 tbls warm water

• Mix the water and the flour in a small glass jar and put it to a warm place (for example above fridge) for two days. Leave the lid loosely open so that air can get in to the jar.

3^rd day

2 tbls rye flour

2 tbls warm water

• Do the same as on the first day and let the root rest for one more night.

4^th day

• Your root is ready and you can start to bake now. The root should smell now little bit sour.

Baking part 1:

2 dl warm water

the awesome root you just made

1 dl rye flour

• Mix the water, root and rye flour in a large bowl.
• Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and put it to the same warm place that you kept the root as well.
• Let it rest for one night. On the next morning the dough should bubble a bit.

Baking part 2:

6 dl warm water

1 tbls salt

1,5 liter rye flour

• Add water and salt to the part 1. Let the salt melt good.
• Add the flour bit by bit. When you have added all the flour, keep working it by hand at least 10 minutes or with machine about 5 minutes. The dough should become quite firm but little bit sticky and soft.
• Cover the bowl with kitchen towel and let the dough rest in a warm place about 3 to 6 hours. It is better to rest it at least 6 hours.
• Take the dough out of the bowl and work it couple of times. Use strength! If it is possible, leave some of the dough into a bowl for the next time.
• Divide the dough into two pieces and shape them round.
• Put the round shaped breads into oven tray and cover the tray with kitchen towel. Let them rest for 2-3 hours again. After 3 hours you can try to press the bread gently with your finger and if the bread is nicely rested, it will come back to its form. Gently show some fork to your breads as well.
• Bake the breads in 200 Celcius for slightly over an hour.  

How awesome is this? It's AWESOME AWESOME!