Fërgesë — the summer classic of Tirana

Fërgesë is the dish that tastes most like a Tirana summer. At its heart it is nothing more than peppers, tomatoes and fresh curd cheese, softened in olive oil and baked until everything melts into a warm, savoury cream. Yet ask ten families and you will get ten versions, each certain theirs is the only correct one.

What's actually in it

The version everyone means when they say fërgesë is the "fërgesë e Tiranës", the Tirana style. Green peppers and ripe tomatoes are cooked down slowly, then broken curd cheese (gjizë), and often a little butter and flour, go in to bind it. It bakes in a clay or metal dish until the top blisters. There is a heartier winter cousin made with veal or liver, but the summer version is meat-free and lighter.

You eat it the moment it comes out of the oven, still bubbling, scooped straight from the dish with torn bread. It is less a starter than a shared centrepiece.

When and where to eat it

Fërgesë belongs to high summer, when peppers and tomatoes are at their sweetest, roughly July through September. Traditional restaurants across Tirana serve it year-round, but it tastes truest in the warm months. Look for it on the menus of family-run tavernas rather than the tourist spots on the main boulevard; the older, plainer places tend to make the best.

Pair it with a cold beer or a glass of rustic white, some olives and a simple tomato salad, and you have the archetypal Albanian summer lunch. It also makes a fine meze if you order several dishes to share.

Make it at home

It travels well as a recipe. Slow-cook chopped peppers and tomatoes in generous olive oil, season with salt and a pinch of chilli, fold in crumbled curd or a mild feta, and bake until set. Serve it hot, straight from the dish, with plenty of bread to mop up the oil. The trick is patience and good oil, and nothing here should be rushed. Get those two things right and even a first attempt will taste like it came off a grandmother's stove.