Baked beans with sausage in a clay dish, the kind of slow-cooked Balkan dish served at a family table

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Authentic recipes, family favorites and Mediterranean-inspired dishes made for your kitchen.

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Photo: Nok Selmani / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

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Greek

Greek-Style Village Salad (Horiatiki)

Tomatoes, cucumber, olives and a whole slab of feta. The real thing has no lettuce.

15 minEasy

Plate of lemon and oregano chicken pieces with salad, olives and a pepper

Mediterranean

Easy Mediterranean Chicken with Lemon and Oregano

Lemon, garlic and oregano chicken seared until golden. A weeknight winner in 30 minutes.

52 minEasy

A baked pepper stuffed with minced meat and rice, served on a white plate with its cooking juices

Albanian

Albanian Stuffed Peppers with Meat and Rice

Peppers filled with beef, rice and mint, baked slowly in tomato broth. Best with cold yogurt.

1 hr 50 minMedium

Albanian

Albanian Qofte (Meatballs with Mint and Feta)

Juicy, crisp-edged meatballs with mint and feta. Great with yogurt, salad and fries.

1 hr 15 minEasy

Tavë kosi in a clay dish — lamb baked under a golden, puffed yogurt and egg topping

Albanian

Tavë Kosi — Traditional Albanian Lamb & Yogurt

Tender lamb under a puffed, golden yogurt custard — Albania's much-loved national dish.

2 hrs 15 minMedium

Homemade spinach and cheese byrek in a round baking pan, with one slice cut to show the green filling between golden layers of pastry

Albanian

Authentic Albanian Byrek with Spinach and Cheese

Buttery, flaky layers around a spinach, feta and gjizë filling — the classic Albanian savory pie.

1 hr 35 minMedium

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Heritage

Traditional Favorites

The dishes behind the family table, and the stories that come with them.

Balkan bean stew of pinto beans in a paprika-red broth with a bay leaf, in a white bowl

Balkan Bean Stew (Pasul / Fasule)

Bean stew is traditional Friday food in many Christian households in the Balkans, and a winter staple everywhere. In Kosovo and Albania it is often baked in a clay tavë and served with cornbread and pickled vegetables (turshi).

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Albanian Stuffed Peppers with Meat and Rice

Stuffed vegetables — called dollma in Albanian, from the Turkish word for "stuffed" — are part of a tradition that runs from the Balkans across Turkey and the Middle East. Meat versions are family meals; versions filled only with rice and herbs are often eaten during religious fasting periods.

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Fërgesë in a clay dish: peppers, tomatoes and melted gjizë cheese with pieces of meat

Albanian Fërgesë with Peppers and Cheese

Fërgesë is so strongly associated with the capital that it's often called fërgesë Tirane. It is a standard dish on the table at family gatherings and in traditional restaurants, usually shared as a starter alongside salads and byrek.

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