above: Gift baskets for hostesses offer plenty of items to sample. An array of sausages, including popular dry beef and smoked, line a refrigerator.
Europa Balkan food Market brings the flavors of the Adriatic, Mediterranean and Black seas to Stamford
When you walk into Europa Balkan Food Market, the first thing to do is ask for a coffee or espresso. At a few dollars a cup, this rich fragrant brew must be the best deal in town, but, more than that, it’s a ritual that adapts old world hospitality to American take-out, a welcoming gesture from owner Adi Memeti, who opened Stamford’s first Balkans Market in September.
This bright, clean, well-ordered grocery provided instant community and flavors of home for Stamford residents with ties to the Balkans. The mountainous land (“Balkan” is Turkish for mountain range) between the Adriatic, Mediterranean and Black seas is home to Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Romania, Moldova, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bulgaria, Turkey, Albania and Greece.
Customers come to Europa Balkan Food Market to pick up rich and tangy Bulgarian yogurt; aged goat and sheep milk cheese; suxhuk (dry beef sausage); and burek (savory meat and cheese pastries). They buy pickled cabbage leaves to make sarma (stuffed cabbage), and white beans, smoked sausages and paprika to make soup. They scan the frozen case for ready-to-bake pide, the boat-shaped, meat- or cheese-filled pastries. Customers leave the shop with boxes of fresh baked honey-soaked baklava and tolumba, Turkish fried dough
The one common dish across this large geographic area is ajvar (pronounced “eye-var”). “It is popular in all the Balkans,” says Memeti, “Everyone says theirs is the best.”
Ajvar is a spread of roasted wood-fired peppers, eggplant, and a little garlic, blended
into a condiment that can be spread on crackers, or eaten with grilled cevapi, finger-sized ground beef sausages. For breakfast, ajvar and tomatoes are a base for cooking eggs, or spread over feta on a piece of bread. Ajvar is always on the table as part of a spread.
For all the claims of which country produces the very best ajvar, Europa features the gourmet Amëz brand.
Memeti, who has lived in Stamford for 20 years, wants to teach newbies about Balkan cuisine and culture. The roots of the cooking are ancient; preparing food over a wood fire is at its heart. Preserving, pickling and fermenting are also essential.
Exploring Balkan cuisine at home can begin with breakfast if you are shopping at Europa Balkan Food Market. No matter what you might have seen on social media, Balkan breakfasts delight those who like to gather with friends to sip strong coffee or tea, and nibble on a selection of warm puffy bread, cheese, smoked sausage, slices of fresh cucumber and tomatoes, olives and pickled vegetables. Add some savory pastries and don’t forget the ajvar!
Balkan Cuisine Around Town
The popular downtown Albanian and Kosovan restaurant Çka Ka Qëllu, which is decorated
like a village tavern and serves sarma stuffed with veal and rice, fasul, white beans with sausage, and mixed grill platters is a Stamford magazine favorite. Tave kosi will intrigue the adventurous: lamb and rice in tangy yogurt custard is baked in a clay pot.