A few days in the life of this blogger

I‘m just back from wonderful, exciting London, literally last night. I must say, it is nice to see that those autumnal mists and rains haven’t yet struck Istanbul: the sun is in its place and I like it! The day before I went, I was in Eminönü in the Spice Market. How I love that place! Look at this photo and try to guess what these are:

 No, not new potatoes but fresh dates from Jordan! The seller informed me that they should remain for 2 days in the fridge before eating. He gave me one to try and it was a truly delicious taste sensation with a consistency that I would describe as being moist, soft, and creamy.  Very different but worth trying.

But London: first port of call once I had dropped off my case was to zoom off to buy some food for dinner, the nearest place conveniently being M&S. You forget what it looks like. Mmm ,what a mouthwatering selection of food . I made my choices and then had to smile to myself : 3 pork loin dinners,  beautiful crunchy celery such as we don’t get here, a bag of rocket and chard (oh joy, pre-washed!), some cheddar cheese, and lovely fresh raspberries. And no, I didn’t get the cream but instead Greek-style yogurt. Old habits die hard. It’s only when you revisit a place like that, that you realise there are some things that you really quite miss.

Another foodie stop a few days later was the Food Hall at John Lewis on Oxford Street. Amazingly, I had never been there. I know Harrod’s, I know Fortnum’s but  not this one. All I can say is don’t miss it next time you are in London: upmarket food enticingly presented and totally eye-popping.

Fish restaurants in Istanbul are deservedly considered excellent but I suddenly had a yen for good ole English-style fish’n’chips on my last night. Luckily my son lives very near Borough Market where there is a very nice restaurant nestled next to Southwark Cathedral charmingly called Fish.  Fresh cod in batter? Can’t beat it.

Later, the lights in the Cathedral were still on so we wandered round to see if we could visit. There were two men in robes who said it had just been locked. It did cross our minds that in Turkey, they would probably have unlocked it for us.

On the plane yesterday afternoon I had a copy of the Times Weekend to read. It turned out to be one of those very informative ones where every article strikes a chord. What immediately caught my eye was a supplement entitled How to make soup. Following my last blog re lentil soup, I was intrigued. But as my practiced eye scanned the ingredients, my face fell: too many unobtainables such as ham and bacon,chorizo sausage, parsnips, sorrel – I don’t even know what that looks like – split yellow peas, as well as a great deal of coriander which is a new herb here and as such only available sometimes in plastic packets in supermarkets.  There was a nice-sounding soup with dried shiitake mushrooms and I think I have seen them in my local 3M Migros. Not a usual item though.Of course one can substitute here and there but that destroys the integrity of the original recipe. So, unfortunately, nothing for me there. However, with the imminent arrival of pumpkin on the scene here,  I have a delicious creamy red pepper and pumpkin soup recipe up my sleeve that my French cousin Michele made for dinner last week. Watch this space!

 I discarded the supplement and went on with the Travel section which is always a good read. And here what did I see but 2 pages on a super-sounding place in a remote location overlooking Kumlubük bay in the south of Turkey. I have never heard of this bay but apparently it is somewhere near Turunç and right now it is offering a family ‘olive harvest’ week during the UK halfterm holiday. But what further caught my eye was the writer’s lyrical descriptions of the food offered at this place, Dionysos Estate:


'Slivers of cheese with fresh oregano. Raw sea bass with grated tomato. Grilled mushrooms in oil and rosemary. Baby courgettes, barbecued, bathed in oil and dill and served with a dill-spiked yogurt. Roasted red peppers enlivened with chopped basil and slivers of white cheese.'                   


Those of us who live here can easily do this! The ingredients are all the stuff of everyday shopping with an eye to what is available this week. The writer was obviously salivating at the memory but you can produce food like this too. Just go out there and buy the fruit or vegetables even if they seem unfamiliar. The important thing is to try them and try my recipes!


                                          Go on!

Lentil Soup

red lentils

It’s very easy really: there are two kinds of lentils or mercimek (pron: mer-ji-mek) in this country: red and green. The reds are mainly for soups as they soften up very quickly, while the greens are more for salads and yemeks/meals since they  hold their shape better. 

I remember when the only soup/çorba (pron: chor-ba) I knew came in a can. It took some time for soups to find their way into this young bride’s fledgling cooking repertoire but once I got it, there was no holding me back. This is because I immediately saw how easy and quick, not to mention cheap, they are to make. Today we all have stick blenders too, no need for time-consuming sieving.  Soups keep so well:  the taste even improves with a few days in the fridge.

So as the weather starts to change so my cook’s heart turns to soup. Turkey is a great soup-drinking nation after all and in many regions it is even served for breakfast. The soups here are wonderfully hearty and nutritious often full of grains and pulses and enriched with herbs and spices.  They are not the stuff of dinner parties as they are pretty filling; more suited to family meals really.

A typical Turkish meal will usually include a soup, an olive oil dish, and a main course.  The most traditional soup of all here is probably tarhana, a sun-dried mixture of coarsely ground wheat and yogurt, spices and tomato paste. It is the original packet soup as it is mixed with water in order to reconstitute it.  

Another great favourite is lentil soup. In winter I make this about every 10 days. My recipe produces a tasty,robust soup but the method of making the one below is entirely different to mine, and so is the consistency. The taste too is much more subtle. I highly recommend it.

Ingredients
Serves 6

1 cup red lentils, washed thoroughly

1 onion, peeled and left whole

1 tsp cumin/kimyon

Juice of 1 lemon

For the sauce:

1 tbsp butter

1 heaped tbsp flour

Garnish

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp red pepper/kırmızı toz biber

4 tbsps cubed, stale bread

1 tbsp cooking oil

stirring the lentil mixture into the butter and flour - just keep stirring!

lentil soup with swirled red pepper garnish and croutons

Method

•   Put the prepared lentils into a saucepan. Add the whole onion, cumin, salt and 8 cups of water. Bring to the boil  and cook gently for 30 mins on a low heat, stirring from time to time.
•   Remove the onion and discard. Use your hand blender to puree the remaining mixture.
• In a separate pan, melt the butter. Add the flour cautiously, stirring all the time so that it blends smoothly. Cook for 1 min.
• Bit by bit, add the lentil mixture to this, stirring continuously, and add the lemon juice. If your soup is too thick, add up to one extra cup hot water.
• Add salt and simmer gently for 10 more mins.

For the garnish:

• Melt the butter in a small frying pan and let brown slightly. Stir in the red pepper.
• Serve the soup piping hot with the garnish swirled on top, and pass round the croutons.

trimming the crusts and cutting the bread into cubes for croutons: as you see, I use brown bread but white is more traditional

gently frying the cubes in oil

Tip

·         The lentil soup that I traditionally make is easy: take 1 onion,  1 carrot, and 1 potato, wash and chop. Shape doesn’t matter as they are all going to be blitzed in the blender later. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil together with a knob of butter in a heavy pan and gently saute all the veg for  a few minutes, stirring all the time. Add 10 oz/approx 275 gr washed red lentils and stir. Add  cumin to taste: we love it so I put 1 heaped tbsp. Fill your pan three quarters’ full with warm water, crumble in one chicken stock cube, and bring to a gentle boil. Lower the heat, half cover the pan and cook until the lentils and vegetables are completely soft. Keep an eye on the water.  Add more if necessary. Cool before pureeing in the blender or use your stick blender. The blender produces a smoother consistency. If the soup is too thick, add more water and stir. Consistency is important as it mustn’t be too solid. Check for seasoning.  Makes a great lunch with a slice of bread.

Serve with dried mint and red pepper flakes scattered on top.

It is really much easier to blend if the mixture is thicker rather than more liquid. You can always add more water afterwards once you have poured or scraped it into the pan..

·         We’re not really talking about green lentils, but believe me, they benefit tremendously from being soaked for  at least an hour, preferably overnight. Easier to cook, easier to digest!

       Why don't you try lentil soup tonight?

Afiyet olsun!

Barbunya Beans in Olive Oil - Zeytinyağlı Barbunya

barbunya at Ayvacık Market

If you like beans, you’re in the right place but you have to learn how to cook them and that’s not difficult!  But they are so typically Turkish and so delicious, you’ll feel very pleased with yourself once you have mastered the art of a typical zeytinyağli.

 Barbunya, the attractive red ones in the picture, are at their height in the summer. They are still available in the markets and greengrocers right now but I notice that the price has started to rise signalling the end of the season is in sight.  Fresh is always preferred to dry and they freeze beautifully once shelled, but the dry ones are perfectly all right out of season. Outside Turkey, roman/red/borlotti  beans can easily be substituted. In the US, dry pinto beans, for example, can be used, after soaking overnight. Zeytinyağlı/olive oil dishes  - meze - are a staple of local cuisine both in restaurants and at home: Turkish housewives will usually have at least one or two in the fridge at all times, the season dictating which vegetables will be used, while restaurants will have a whole trayful to tempt you. 

 Just about any veg can be used in a zeytinyağli dish: the choice is yours. I have even been served brussel sprouts, which only appeared on the Turkish scene a few years ago, done in this way! One of the best-loved and most common is this one made with barbunya, my son’s all-time favourite: I have just made them twice in 3 days from daughter Ayse’s tried and tested recipe below when he was here for a whistlestop visit.  

There are many different versions of this recipe, the  main differences being in the amounts of olive oil and also sugar. But you know, it is completely up to the cook: if you don’t like using too much oil, nothing drastic is going to happen if you use less. If your recipe calls for, say, a tablespoon of granulated sugar and you don’t like the idea, just leave it out. In time, you will discover how exactly you like your very own barbunya!

Ingredients

Serves 6 as a meze

1 kg barbunya, shelled

½ cup virgin/sızma olive oil

2 small onions, finely chopped

1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 2 of those big fresh tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

1-2 of those light green peppers (çarliston biber) – not a must

1-2 carrots, chopped

1 heaped tsp tomato paste

1-2 sugar cubes

1 tsp salt

750 ml/2 ½ cups hot water

gently sauteing

adding the beans to the other vegetables

Method

1.       Heat the oil and add onions to fry gently till translucent – about 5 mins.

2.       Add green peppers (whole) if using, and carrots. Stir and cook for about 5 more mins.

3.       Add the chopped tomatoes, stir so it is all mixed and cook till the tomatoes ‘melt’.

4.       Add the beans and stir the whole lot till mixed. Again, leave to cook for 5 mins.

5.       Add salt and sugar cubes and stir.

6.       Add the warm water and tomato paste and stir.

7.       Then cover with lid and turn the heat down to very low. Set timer for 45 mins. Then check for water at the 45 min mark and have a taste. You are almost certain to find that the beans need to be softer and that you need to add more water (which should be hot). Be careful that the beans don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

8.       Pour onto a platter and when cold, garnish with parsley.

your meze is ready to serve

Afiyet olsun!

Tips

Here is a really great tip for keeping carrots fresh: when you get them home, cut the ends off, peel them and then wash. Put in a plastic container, covering with water, and store in the fridge. They will stay crisp and crunchy for days, all ready for use in cooking or salads.

Jenny's tip!

Purslane: A Vegetarian Dish

purslane/semizotu

Purslane:  the name in English always makes me think of leafy country lanes and Shakespeare.  In Turkish it is semizotu. This lovely versatile vegetable is really a summer item but it is still available.  One of my very first jobs here years ago was teaching English at the university in Ankara. I loved those lunches in the cafeteria as more often than not, they were all-in-one , vegetable-based  dishes, sometimes with a little mince thrown in, which I soon discovered are typical of Turkish home cooking. Not smart fare but tasty, healthy, easy and also economical for the housewife to put on the table every day. You can find this sort of cooking in little neighbourhood restaurants or lokantas everywhere. I just love meals like this. They can stretch very easily to accommodate extra guests round the dinner table too. How different to our own meat and two veg! I never used to buy semizotu as I wasn’t sure what to do with it but now I buy it regularly and use it in salads in the summer or serve it hot as in this recipe below. The fleshy leaves are highly nutritious, a good source of vitamin C, calcium, and iron.

Ingredients

Serves 4

1 bunch or 1 kg/2 lbs or so purslane

1 medium onion

1 tomato, nice and juicy

1 tsp seasoned salt (in Turkish it is called tuzot)

2 tblsp olive oil

½ cup rice or bulgur

Method

1. Cut off the roots which are often very muddy, and throw away. Put the purslane in the sink and discard any thick stalks and bruised or damaged leaves.  Keeping the smaller, thinner stalks is fine.

2. Wash the leaves very thoroughly. I do this about 3 times just to make sure as grit in your teeth is horrible.

this stalk is too thick

3. Dice the tomato and chop the onion.
4. In a pan place the purslane, onion, tomato, olive oil, seasoned salt, and washed rice or bulgur and gently mix.

before cooking

5. Very important: do NOT add water. There will be enough liquid from the tomato and the water still on the leaves.
6. Cover and cook for 45 minutes over medium to low heat, leaving the pan uncovered for the last 15 minutes. The sweet fragrance of the semizotu cooking is wonderful.

after cooking

Let it sit for 5 mins and then serve with plain yogurt if you like it. The ideal vegetarian’s lunch or supper, I would say!

Afiyet olsun!

Tips

• 
  
  Turkish cooks have a wonderful way of chopping onions into little crescent-shaped pieces. Ask a Turkish friend to show you. They do it in their hands, not using a chopping board. I tend to use my food processor and once I have got it out, chop up several onions and freeze in little plastic containers that I use only for this.
• Your choice of pan is important too: you may not be aware but Turkish cooks on the whole tend to use wide, open pans as opposed to our more upright saucepans. Over the years, I now much prefer this type. Well, the shape suits this sort of cooking as  you can see in the picture above. The way the food is displayed appeals to me.
• You can use 1.5 kg spinach instead of the purslane if you like. All the other ingredients remain the same although the time will increase to 1 hr as the spinach will first  release its juices and then reabsorb them. Remove the lid for the last 15 minutes as before.
• Make sure that any extra liquid boils away. It shouldn’t be too watery.
• Try to time this dish so that after letting it rest for 5 minutes, you can serve. It will be at its best then.

                        Nice, eh? Give it a try....

I just love this sight: semizotu as it comes

BBQ with Veggie Kebabs

'Komşu!'

Neighbour! The garden gate creaked and I knew immediately that the arrival of Leyla from next door was imminent. It was the first day of bayram and we were back in our village. The tradition is to visit family and friends after the testing time of the long fast. Children will look spick and span in their brand new clothes. The atmosphere is all rather Christmas-like actually. Leyla came with her university-educated daughter Emine bearing small dishes of village delicacies made in her outdoor oven: pişi, basically a deep-fried pastry, and baklava, made with olive oil and not butter as in the cities. A true bayram visit is not long: just enough to share a glass of tea and to offer something sweet to eat.

our neighbour Leyla with her daughter

The weather was delightful, so the idea of a barbecue that evening was tempting. We decided to keep it simple : some lovely little pirzola/lamb chops with fresh vegetable kebabs, and a salad with more of that wonderful bread.

Barbecue to go:

1. First we marinated the baby lamb chops: olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, fresh thyme. We covered them with clingfilm and put them in the fridge.

marinating the pirzola

2. We looked to see what vegetables we had. The markets didn’t happen because it was holiday time so we were limited to what we could find in the one and only grocer’s: a few eggplants, tomatoes, red onions, green and red peppers (the big ones, not the hot ones). We washed, cut and sliced a selection and threaded them on some metal skewers. Colour is always important to me so I was careful to balance the reds and purples, not forgetting to peel the eggplants in strips rather than leaving the peel whole. We also added bay leaves and sprigs of rosemary from the garden in between the slices. We treated the kebabs to a drizzle of olive oil too, seasoned them and put to one side.

our kebabs

drizzling olive oil

 I had brought roka/rocket from Istanbul. We really love it but sometimes the taste can be very fiery and needs to be tempered. Tomatoes are always good for this but we didn’t have enough so instead I discovered a lone carrot and some spring onions. I grated the carrot and secretly admired the colour contrast of the orange with the green. Then the spring onions, chopped. To perk the whole thing up, we roughly crushed some walnuts in a plastic bag with the rolling pin and sprinkled them on top. I wondered what else we could add to make the salad more festive and remembered that I had brought some parmesan from Istanbul with me so we shaved a few flakes off.

Waiting for the heat of the charcoal to subside to allow cooking to commence, wine or rakı glasses in our hands, we watched the sun go down and listened to the homeward-bound tinkle of goat bells : it seemed a splendid ending to the day.

Tips

• 
  
  If you don’t have metal skewers, you can buy the wooden ones BUT remember to soak them in water for 30 minutes beforehand otherwise they will go up in flames! Not a good thing.
• 
  
  Marinating overnight is best to get the full flavours and to tenderise. Take the food out of the fridge early enough as it will cook better at room temperature.
• 
  
  Eggplant takes longer than the other veggies to soften up. Courgettes would be quicker. These kebabs take about 30 mins. At least.
• 
  
  If you are not barbecuing, I suggest grilled vegetables in the oven. (200C/ 180C fan). The same thing with or without the skewers. It makes a great sight: a full aluminium foil-lined tray of colourful veggies.Take them to the table like that. A real crowd -pleaser. Recipes always say about 30 mins but in my experience, a good 40 – 45 mins works better.

shaving parmesan for the salad

Shaving rather than grating cheese is much more attractive on a salad. Nuts, especially walnuts, are always a good addition.


Make sure you have one last BBQ before the colder weather sets in!
             

Poached Figs Stuffed with Walnuts and Clotted Cream

Now is the time for walnuts - what a sight!

 I confess I have been having a perfect figgy fest but here we are with my third and final fig recipe: today I am going to explain an authenticTurkish fig dessert, İncir Tatlısı, which is a complete classic at this time of the year. It is sweet and sticky and really fingerlickin' good. Not only does it look great, especially if you are careful with presentation ie wipe off any excess syrup with a piece of kitchen paper, but it's quick and easy- all you need is some dried figs and some walnuts and you are more than halfway there. I looked at several recipes and in the end preferred this one from Secrets of the Turkish Kitchen http://www.turkishkitchen.org/. The actual book is now out of print, more's the pity, as it is a little gem.

 Ingredients

Serves 6

Preparation Time - 15 minutes

Cooking Time - 10 minutes

500g/ 1 lb Turkish dried figs

2 tbsps sugar

juice of 1/2 lemon

50g / 2oz shelled walnuts

kaymak/clotted cream

soaking

Method

• Place figs in hot water to soak for 1hr and then gently simmer in the  same water until soft. Don't overdo it: they shouldn't be mushy. 
• Drain and pass the cooking liquid through a sieve into another pan. Add the sugar and lemon juice to the cooking liquid.
• Continue cooking gently to create a concentrated fig syrup.
• 
  
  Set aside to cool.

simmering

slitting

• When cool enough to handle, gently split open the figs with a sharp knife.
• Gently spoon in some kaymak and pop in a walnut.      
• Serve drizzled with the fig syrup.

Arranging the stuffed figs on the serving dish

       

 Tips

• Now I realise that kaymak  (pron: ky-muk) may be a mystery ingredient to many of you: you will faint when I tell you what it is! Buffalo cream! Yes! Really! It is sold in rulo/ rolls in small plastic containers from pudding shops or delicatessens, well-stocked supermarkets but not with the regular cream and milk. 
• 
  
  A word about dairy products while I am at it:  don't waste your time looking for creme fraiche, double or whipping cream, sour milk, or buttermilk as they don't exist here per se. But I substitute with either yogurt and/or the basic cream which comes in a little packet from the supermarket.This latter cream can whip up quite nicely on a good day. Sometimes when it is misbehaving, I add some of the powdered  krem şanti/creme chantilly, perhaps adding some milk too, depending on how thick it is, and the blend produces a delightful cream of the right consistency with a slightly sweet taste.
• When I was doing this recipe, I realised that the syrup wasn't going to be as syrupy as I would like. Of course the answer lies in adding more sugar to the cooking liquid in step 2 above. I used 3 tbsp and probably next time, it will be 4! 

Afiyet olsun!

Beef Casserole with Figs

I have the feeling that the recipe that I am about to describe is destined to become my dinner party favourite this autumn. So perhaps I am mad to share - but I am so excited about it that it would be a crime to keep it all to myself! It is figgy again but this time in a savoury form, something that I said was not usually found in Turkish cuisine yet it comes from a super new cookbook called Cooking New Istanbul Style by Refika Birgül (http://www.refikaninmutfagi.com/). She describes it as her version of Boeuf Bourguignon meets Algerian tagine with overtones of juicy meat cooked in South East Turkey. Ambitious, eh?  But oh,so do-able. Serves 6.

Here are the very figs I bought from
this luscious display at the Spice Bazaar 

We went to the Spice Bazaar in Eminönü to get the figs although you can get them anywhere.But the Bazaar is so atmospheric,especially with the pre-Bayram buzz. I love going there and then crossing the Galata Bridge for a cheap fish lunch beside the Golden Horn. 

Now back to the meat: I highly recommend using your local kasap or butcher as opposed to the supermarket. Ideally get a friend to introduce you to hers.You will get the best service if you build up a relationship with your friendly butcher. Always go to the same one and he will reward you with the choicest cuts.You can also phone in your order and if he is obliging - and they usually are - he will deliver!

 Ingredients for Beef Casserole with Figs

Preparing the meat and onions

I kg fillet steak in a piece  - bonfile (pron: bon-fi-leh). Although you can buy beef already cubed, Refika recommends that you cut this yourself into largish chunks.

3 onions, finely sliced in rounds

5 cloves garlic

1 large red pepper, cut into strips (about 1cm thick)

I green bell pepper: cut the same way

Getting everything shipshape

2 carrots, chopped into small cubes

2 tbsp flour
10 bay leaves

5 sprigs thyme

1 tbsp red pepper paste /biber salçası ( pron: bee-bair sal-cha is enough ), readily available here

15 dried figs

1 tsp salt

 one handful black peppercorns- you may prefer to give a few good twists of the pepper mill instead

7 tbsp olive oil

3/4 cup chicken stock made from stock cube
1/2 cup red wine

Method

1. Saute the beef in the oil in batches. Remove from pan.

2. Continue with onions and remove.

3. Now saute the peppers and carrots for 1 min.
4. Add whole garlic cloves. Saute for a further minute.

5. Return meat and onions to pan. Reduce heat to very low. Sprinkle the flour over meat and stir for 2 mins.

6. Add hot chicken stock and the wine.

7. Add pepper, salt, thyme, bay leaves, and pepper paste. Stir it all together gently.

Adding the paste to the pot-
I actually used tomato

8. Finally, add the halved dried figs.

Cover the pan and cook on very low heat. After 1 hour, stir and continue cooking for a further 1 1/2 hours. The smell is divine!

As Refika says: 'Taste, enjoy, and devour!'

Everything's in and ready to cook!

Tip

Next time I think I will use a güveç or Turkish earthenware cooking pot, and cook it nice and slowly in the oven.Or simply my le Creuset in the oven. I think it would be even more succulent.

Upside-down Figgy Cake

Sürreya's rooftop with Lesbos behind

Those wonderful figs

On my last day in the village,the island of Lesbos looked tantalizingly close, the killer humidity that has characterized this summer dissipated, and the sea a sparkling blue. On Surreya’s roof opposite I could see their figs drying in the hot sun in anticipation of those colder days when a sweet bite doesn’t come amiss. The trees are all laden with them. I have decided that figs are the Jimmy Choos of fruit: luscious and desirable. We have a fig tree in our own garden: it arrived without permission and grew and grew. The trouble was, its figs were not my Jimmy Choos. So ingeniously, Mehmet and my husband arranged to have a superior variety grafted on. The surprise gift was that two different types of fig were inadvertently grafted so this year our tree has cleverly presented us with both : creamy light green ones as well as little sweet purplish ones. They are mouth-watering. This is the best way to eat them: picked straight from the tree and popped into your mouth. Be careful while picking as the leaves can give you an itchy rash – as they did me.

Fresh figs don’t have a long shelf-life, however. If you put them in the fridge, be warned: your plump little balls of sublime sweetness will shrivel somewhat.Your family won’t want to eat them. If you are buying from your local fruitseller, I recommend eating them the same day. The larger dark purple ones that we see in Istanbul are a little sturdier and after washing, you may like to peel them before eating.

In Turkey figs are usually eaten fresh or dried. However, I am now going to give you a fantastic cooked figgy recipe that I recommend you make without more ado. It comes from my friend Carol, an ex-Peace Corps Volunteer who came to Turkey in the 1960s. She now lives permanently in a neighbouring village. She is a great cook and remembers those early days in Turkey without a proper oven when cooking was achieved in something called a ‘maraton’. Apparently this was a square-shaped metal box with vents on the sides and a hole at the bottom. What you did was put it on a gas burner – hard to imagine but all sorts of dishes were successfully cooked in it, including cakes! Talking about ovens, my husband told me that with his very first salary, way back, that’s exactly what he bought his mother: a real oven. Anyway, Carol served us this Figgy Cake, warm, with çay  (pron: chai, meaning 'tea'), in her little garden and I rushed to replicate it once I got back to Istanbul with those figs from our tree. Suffice it to say that the finished product lasted barely 2 days in our household..

Everything ready to go for the upside-down version

This recipe is what Carol calls ‘a very forgiving recipe’ . Personally, I think it is a wonderful recipe. It is actually called Apricot Kuchen but I am renaming it ‘Carol’s 2-Way Figgy Cake’. It can be adapted to peaches, nectarines, cherries, raspberries, as well as figs. Whatever you want, really. 8 servings.

Figgy Cake Rightway-Up

Preheat oven to 350F/170F. Grease a 9’’x2’’ round baking pan.

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1tbsp baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

½ cup soft unsalted butter

¾ cup sugar

2 eggs – (remember to take them out of the fridge beforehand so they are at room temperature)

About 6-8 small figs, washed and halved or 2 cups sliced peeled peaches etc

¼ cup coarsely chopped nuts eg walnuts (optional)

Method

1. Mix together first 3 ingredients in medium-sized bowl.

2. In large bowl, beat the butter and the sugar till light and fluffy (3 – 4 mins).

3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Stir in flour mixture till just incorporated. Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.

5. Scatter fruit on top. Add nuts if using.

6. Combine and sprinkle 1tbsp sugar and ¼ tbsp ground cinnamon over fruit.

Bake till golden brown and a wooden toothpick comes out clean (about 40 mins). Cool slightly before turning out onto a baking rack.

The halved figs placed in the pan
on top of the butter and sugar

A deliciously moist cake!

Now here is Carol’s ingenious variation which makes it indeed Figgy Upside-down Cake:

1.Melt 2 tbsp butter in bottom of pan (simply put in the oven while it is heating up).

2. Sprinkle 2-3 tbsp granulated sugar on the bottom.

3. Then arrange the fresh fruit, halved, cut side down, and spoon the batter made exactly as above, on top and bake in the pre-heated oven as before.

Tip

After taking out of the oven, let the cake rest in the pan for 10 mins and then invert on a plate. Let cool with the cake pan as a cover. This is obviously for the upside-down version. The fruit won’t stick to the pan.

Serve with icecream.

You will love it!