Mish Shqiptar

This Albanian meat (Mish) dish is perfect for guests or parties. I make it often and just love the way everyone digs in from the one big dish. In the summer when we have all the family together, we line up tables in the garden and all sit down eating and this dish is one of my favourites. I use chops, a mix of large and small – lamb works best (I prefer it too). Once cooked you will have a lot of juice in the bottom – bread tastes amazing dipped into the juice. Albanian meat dishes are really popular and Albania’s food is based very heavily on meat. Lamb is most popular in south with beef in the north (some believe lamb is more fatty and less healthy). In Albania you also get dishes with sheep and goat meat being used. During seasons for hunting you can make some lovely veal or rabbit stews (Çumlek Lepuri) too. I find it easy to remember how to pronounce the more popular meats as the word ‘Meat’ – ‘Mish’ is always used before the type of animal the meat is from. So Beef is Cow Meat (Mish lopë), Lamb is Lamb Meat (Mish Qengji) and Pork is Pig Meat (Mish Derri).