Dolma: Summer Vegetables Stuffed with Meat and Herbs

I never make dolma in the winter so for me, as soon as the sun begins to shine and the temperatures start to rise, the dolma-making instinct in me stirs.

dolma ready for cooking

Of course it’s the fact that all of a sudden all the right stuffing vegetables start making their appearance in the market and after all those lentils and other winter recipes, they make a joyful change.

Admittedly dolma are a bit time-consuming to make – not recommended if you’re in a hurry -  but one big plus is that you can prepare them totally  in advance. They keep very happily in the fridge once they’re cooked covered with clingfilm. All you have to do is put them in a hot oven to give them that lovely lightly grilled look before whizzing them off to the table where the assorted colours of the different dolma combined with that inviting aroma are always a crowd-pleaser. I often make them  when friends or family from abroad  are due in from the airport as a Welcome to Istanbul kind of dish! Delayed flights won’t upset them unduly.

Ingredients for Meat-stuffed Dolma

For the stuffing:

500g/1lb mince/kıyma

3 small onions, chopped

½ bunch dill, chopped

½ bunch parsley, chopped

½ cup uncooked rice

2 tbsp salt

Knobs of butter

2-3 cups cold water

Vegetables

An assortment of  prepared tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines, and sweet green peppers.

Method

·         Using a teaspoon,  halve and carefully hollow out the courgettes, aubergines, and *tomatoes. The tomatoes should be very firm as they tend to become soft during cooking.  Carefully deseed the peppers. You don’t want to spoil their shape.

·         Sprinkle the inside of each one lightly with salt before filling.

·         Place all the ingredients for the stuffing except the butter in a large mixing bowl. Use your food processor for the herbs and onions. Mix thoroughly with your hands.

all the dolma ingredients plus tomato

·         Use this to fill each of your hollowed out vegetables to the top, not too tightly and not over-full. Remember the rice will swell.

·         Top each one with a little decorative slice of tomato or green pepper.

·         Place them one by one in a single layer in a heavy casserole.  Le Creuset is ideal. Make sure they stay upright. Pour in the water, add a few knobs of butter,  half cover and cook on medium heat for about 1 hour. If you have any of the meat stuffing left over, make little meatballs and place them on top of the dolma.

·         If you prefer a slightly firmer dolma, after cooking, arrange in a single layer in an ovenproof dish with some of the liquid around, and place in a preheated  oven(350°F/180°C) until lightly browned (about 20-30 mins).

·         Serve hot with yogurt.

ready to serve

Tips

1.       *If you use tomatoes, add the hollowed out insides to your stuffing mixture. This was a tip from my MIL! Not only does it add to the taste, but it keeps the stuffing moist during cooking.

2.       Wedge the tomatoes against the side of the pan with other dolma firmly against them. This helps prevent total collapse and loss of shape!

3.       Using a fork, you can score a decorative pattern down the sides of the courgettes if you like. Do this before hollowing out.

4.       Don’t worry if the water boils over the tops of the dolma. This is fine.

5.       I definitely think that putting them in the oven for that final touch is worth it.

Afiyet olsun! 

50 Women Game-Changers in Food - Fannie Farmer - Pure Cream of Tomato Soup

A number of us are following Mary of One Perfect Bite's invitation to cook along following the list of 50 amazing women cooks who have changed our outlook on food.  I am loving this whole challenge as I am always interested in learning something new. This week we are cooking with Fannie Farmer whose name of course I knew but not much more than that. We post every Friday.

a bowl of Fanny Farmer's Pure Cream of Tomato Soup

So now I have discovered that Fannie Farmer is called ‘the mother of level measurements’.  She is the person who standardized recipe specifications. How radical is that? She is the one who approximately one hundred years ago wrote a cook book called The Boston Cooking School Cook Book.  The fact that this book is still available now says it all. I think that Turkey could do with a Fannie Farmer. Measurements here are still in tea glasses and coffee cups. I know that these are equivalent to things we know ie cups and half cups but still, they can be very confusing to new cooks who don’t realise that.

My first step to find out more about Fannie was to go on the internet. I easily accessed info re her recipes but what daunted me was the type of recipe eg sausage stuffing; buttermilk pancakes; baked doughnuts; cornbread muffins; pecan penuche and the like. Recipes like these are totally alien to me: the ingredients are unknown or unavailable here, and to boot, I have no interest in them. So it’s interesting: cooking depends on so many factors, not so much can you make them, but more importantly: do you WANT to make them?

But I am nothing if not  an interested cook so I found a soup recipe that I thought would fit the bill. TT loves soup and plus he has been a bit deprived since baby Eva entered our lives and I am not at home. This afternoon I did go back home and did some cooking in my own kitchen. I knew he would love this and sure enough this recipe is great for any soup lover not just a new grandad!

So here it is:

Fannie Farmer’s Pure Cream of Tomato Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients

5 tbsp butter
½ cup chopped onion

4 tbsp flour

4 cups milk

½ bay leaf

1 ½ tsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

3 cups tomatoes (fresh or canned – I say tinned!)

3 big beauties= 3 cups

Method

·         Melt the butter in a soup pot. Add the onion and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the onion is softened but not browned.

·         Sprinkle the flour over the butter mixture and continue to stir and cook for 1-2 mins.

keep stirring

·         Slowly add the milk, bay leaf, sugar, and salt, and continue to cook and stir until slightly thickened.

·         Add the baking soda into the tomatoes and then add to the milk. Bring just to a simmer. Remove from the heat and put through a strainer. Taste and correct seasonings. Reheat before serving.

adding the chopped tomatoes to the mixture

again, stir

Tips

1.       I used beautiful big Çanakkale tomatoes. They're not quite as sun-kissed as they will be but they're getting there.  The skin was thick so they peeled easily with a knife.

2.       I think the main thing is to make sure that you cook the flour mixture slowly but surely. It will gradually thicken as you stir. Be patient. If you don’t do this, the taste won’t be so good and the consistency will not be right.

3.       At the end I used my stick blender and then I strained it. The result was a beautiful fragrant velvety-smooth soup that really tasted of tomatoes. We loved it.

served with croutons

The number of original bloggers who were cooking along has now increased  to seven! Do check out these blogs to see which Fannie Farmer recipe they have cooked! The bloggers themselves are all fabulous cooks so I am sure the results will be excellent:

Mary from One Perfect Bite
Val from More Than Burnt Toast
Joanne from Eats Well With Others
Taryn from Have Kitchen Will Feed
Heather from Girlichef
Susan from The Spice Garden

I hope you are enjoying this as much as we are!

Last week Alice Waters of the iconic restaurant Chez Panisse was No 2 on our list. Coincidentally  Cenk from Fernando's Cafe, a top blog in Turkey, has just written a fantastic post about his recent visit there so why don't you have a look?

Scones with Strawberry Jam and Cream

A very English custom that surely needs no introduction is 4 o'clock tea.

A classic at all times but especially in the summer outside in the garden under a shady tree is freshly-made scones still warm from the oven served with strawberry jam and whipped cream, a pot of tea on a tray.

This is called a cream tea and one of England's most enduring icons that you dream about especially if you live abroad like both me and my sister.

When our children were still small, we used to spend the summers in England visiting our parents. Our Dad would rent a picturesque old farmhouse usually in Devon or Dorset– the kitchen would inevitably be equipped with an old aga that my mother and I would have fun with – and we would visit castles, walk on clifftops, go to the beach and play beach cricket, go paddling in the rock pools AND pretty often have a cream tea at a rustic table under a spreading oak probably after visiting a National Trust home! Oh what lovely family holidays they were.

teatime with scones

  In Devon the cream is often what they call clotted: thick, yellow and buttery. In Turkey the choice of cream is limited. The little packets of Pinar or Tikveşli are all right and whip up quite nicely but they are never as good as the real thing. There is kaymak which is thick and tasty but it’s buffalo cream and doesn’t seem quite right with something like scones!

beating the cream



This is a very good recipe that came from a little supplement that BBC Good Food Magazine sometimes includes with its main magazine. This is one is called Best of British and appears in the Best Bakes section. Scones are great, easy and quick to make, but  they must be eaten the day they are made.

 Here is the recipe:

Ingredients for Scones

Makes 12

350g/12oz self-raising flour(OR plain flour + 3 tsp Baking Powder)

100g/4oz golden caster sugar (it doesn’t exist here so just use plain granulated sugar)

85g/3oz butter, cut into small pieces

About 175ml/6fl oz buttermilk or natural low-fat yogurt (I of course used yogurt)

Whipped cream and *strawberry jam, to serve

Method

·         Preheat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6.

·         Mix together the flour and sugar in a bowl.  Add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.

·         Make a well in the centre and tip the yogurt in all in one go, then mix lightly to form a soft dough. Tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly. Press the dough out to a 2.5cm thickness, then stamp out 5cm rounds with a cutter. Gather up the trimmings, knead again briefly and stamp out more rounds.

mixing to breadcrumb texture; adding in the yogurt; the final soft dough



·         Place scones on a baking sheet, a little apart, and bake for 12-15 mins until risen and light golden. Cool on a wire rack.



cooling



·         Serve with whipped cream and strawberry jam.  I spread the jam and then piled on the cream in the kitchen prior to placing on the serving plate. But you can equally well serve the cream and jam separately and let everyone help themselves.

Tips

*A word about Turkish jams:

As you would expect, they are delicious but be aware that they come in 2 varieties: reçel or marmelat.

this is strawberry marmelat

Unlike for us where marmelade is only made with citrus fruits , Turkish marmelat refers to the consistency and can be made from any fruit at all! It is thick and therefore what I prefer.

Reçel is also made from any fruit but is runny with largish bits of the fruit in it. Very runny! And very yummy. Just different.



why don't you try them tomorrow?



Lohusa Şerbeti: a Special Baby Sherbet

 Baby Eva’s home!

Hoş Geldin, Eva! Welcome!

 I am staying with Daughter No 2 and her husband for a week or two to lend a helping hand in my new capacity as grandmother. Mother and baby are sleeping soundly so I have the chance to quickly write this!

My daughter’s mother-in-law, amazing Turkish cook that she is, arrived yesterday shortly after we got home from the hospital  bearing  huge welcoming pots of dolma – stuffed courgettes and also stuffed vine leaves , and made a beautiful chicken noodle soup from scratch with fresh tomatoes and lots of parsley. Then she sat down and made a batch of köfte for the freezer. Can you imagine.

It was one of those wonderfully kind Turkish gestures .

BUT what I was really interested in was the traditional sweet drink that is served first in the hospital to help bring on the milk in the new mothers, and then made at home to offer guests. It is called Lohusa Şerbeti/pron: cher as in Sonny and Cher/bet which apparently translates as post-partum sherbet.   The lohusa period here lasts 40 days: traditionally the baby doesn’t leave the house – and neither does the mother for that matter – during that time although I think times are changing as far as that goes.

Anyway a huge glass container of this magic sherbet also appeared  -  we had to rearrange the fridge shelves so that it would fit.

lohusa şerbeti

Here is Tülay's recipe:

Ingredients for Lohusa Şerbeti

750g lohusa şekeri/ lohusa sugar

1 ½ water glasses granulated sugar( 1 ½ cups)

7-8 cloves/karanfil

6-7 cinnamon sticks/çubuk tarçin (pron: chu/book/lu tar/chin)

20 water glasses water/20 cups

Method

·         Put the lohusa sugar, the regular sugar and water in a large pan and bring to the boil over medium heat.

·         Boil for 15 minutes until the sugar is dissolved, then continue for 15 minutes more on a lower heat.

·         Tie the cloves and cinnamon sticks in a muslin cloth and add to the pan.  Simmer for a further 15 minutes.

·         Cool and then strain into a large container or jug. This amount makes a lot! Keep in the fridge. It's served hot, cold or at room temperature. The colour will be a gorgeous ruby red.

Tips

1.       In this case, the special lohusa sugar which is pinkish red in colour was bought from Hacı Bekir, a traditional shop selling Turkish Delight and other enticing local sweets. It can also be found in the Spice Market or Mısır Çarşısı in Istanbul and I am sure in other traditional places too. I wish I had seen it with my own eyes so I could have photographed it.

2.       I had a quick look at some other recipes for this sherbet and see that they all require much more sugar than this one. Up to 5 water glasses or 5 cups!  

3.       I was served it myself last week in another home with a new baby and it came with a choice of crushed almonds or walnuts sprinkled on top which was rather nice.

So there you are!

******************************************************************************

I somehow have the feeling that  I'm not going to be able to cook my Alice Waters recipe for this Friday although I had started reading up about her and thought her whole philosophy was just up my street. But one little snippet: turns out that my American niece who is now in Berkeley has a flatmate who will be starting a job at Chez Panisse in September!

Small world, eh?

Walnut and Courgette Muffins with Fresh Herbs

walnut and courgette muffins

Saturday morning. 8am. Telephone goes and it is Daughter No2.  Looks like the baby is coming, she says, so our excitement starts to build. We prepare to zoom off to the other side ie the European side of the Bosphorus where the baby is due to be born but we wait for the next call.

True to form and to character, TT takes the other car off to the garage for a consulation.  Me, I decide that now is the right moment to make these delicious-looking muffins from my friend Oya’s new cooking website. I loved the ingredients from the minute I read the recipe so it has been at the back of my mind for a few days now.

one cooked muffin

I think you will love them. The smell while they were cooking was outta this world.  I made them and took them along to the hospital where we ate them in the interim after the baby had safely arrived and before we realized we were ravenous and needed a real meal to celebrate!

Waiting for babies is a stressful and strangely hunger-inducing occupation. I recommend these for  whenever you like not only for when the going gets tough: brunch perhaps?

Ingredients for Walnut and Courgette Muffins with Herbs

Makes 12

1 ripe courgette/kabak

1 small carrot/havuç

100g tulum cheese (I used eski kaşar; cheddar would be fine)

1 ½ cups flour

½ packet baking powder (in Turkey)/1 ½ tsp baking powder

5-6 spring onions/taze soğan

Flatleaf parsley and dill,chopped

3 eggs

½ cup olive oil

*10-15 ripe walnuts,chopped

Salt and black pepper

Nigella seeds/çörek otu

Method

·         Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F. Grease a  12-muffin baking pan.

·         Wash the courgette and using the coarse side of the grater, grate without peeling.   Put into a bowl. Grate the carrot, chop the spring onions, parsely, dill and mix with the grated courgette.

all the vegetables in a bowl

·         Grate the cheese and add to the mixture. Add the olive oil, eggs, salt and pepper and mix together.

the original recipe specified one tea glass oil: this equals half a cup

·         Finally add the flour and baking powder, and then the chopped walnuts.

·         Spoon into the muffin pan and sprinkle with the nigella seeds.

·         Bake in the preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until the muffins turn an attractive light brown.

off to the hospital we go

Tips

1.       I actually baked mine a further 10 mins.  It is important that the oven is hot enough. Check your muffins before removing. The colour should be an inviting  warm light brown. I guarantee the smell will be irresistible!

2.       *I put the walnuts in a plastic bag and beat them with my rolling pin to crush. It hardly seems worth it to put them in the food processor.

like this

Do try these: I'm sure you will love them just as much as we did!

Afiyet olsun!

Julia Child's Navarin Printanier

Julia Child's succulent navarin printanier- lamb casserole with spring vegetables

 In an old farmhouse deep in Provence outside the little village of Pélissane on any given day you will probably find my cousin in the kitchen. Especially when the weather is fine and children, partners, children’s children are gathered or stray cousins like me. Meals are important there and the preparation of lunch for the crowd starts right after breakfast.

When I saw this recipe, this is the scene that sprang to mind, with my cousin yelling out ’Qui veut goûter ma sauce?’ – Who wants to taste my sauce? This navarin or spring casserole of lamb is exactly the kind of dish that she would make: it can feed a crowd, most of it can be prepared in advance- always an advantage - and uses the kind of fresh vegetables that we have here in Turkey and she has there in France. But the essence of it is the sauce .... mmmmm, I had forgotten how delicious a good French sauce is because sauces are not a feature of Turkish cuisine.

So I had a very good feeling while I was making this navarin, a warm reminder of good cooking and my French family and many happy meals like this that we have shared - what better than this Julia Child recipe? 

Ingredients for Julia Child’s Navarin Printanier- Lamb Stew with Spring Vegetables

Serves 6

3lbs/1.5k lamb, cut into 2’’/5cm pieces

2-4 tbsp cooking oil

1 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tbsp flour

2-3 cups/500-750ml lamb or beef stock

1 cup/250gr chopped fresh or canned tomatoes, or 3 tbsp tomato purée or paste

2 cloves, crushed

½ tsp fresh thyme or rosemary

1 bay leaf

24 new potatoes (OR 6-12 boiling potatoes)

24 baby carrots (OR 6 regular carrots)

12-18 baby onions or shallots

1-2 turnips

1 cup/225gr fresh or frozen green peas

1 cup/225gr haricot verts

Method

·         Preheat oven to 450°F/220°C.

·         Brown the meat a few pieces at a time in hot oil in a pan. As they brown, place them in a large covered casserole.

·         Sprinkle the lamb in the casserole with the sugar and toss over a moderately high heat for 3-4 mins until the sugar has caramelised. This will give a fine amber colour to the sauce.

·         Toss the meat with the salt and pepper, then sprinkle with the flour. Set the casserole uncovered in the middle of the preheated oven for 4-5 mins. Toss the meat and return it to the oven for 4-5 mins more. This browns the flour evenly and coats the lamb with a light crust.

preparing the lamb

•  Remove the casserole and turn oven temperature down to 350°F/180°C. Add 2 cups of stock to the pan in which you browned the lamb. Bring to the boil and scrape up the coagulated sauté juices. Then pour the liquid into the casserole. Bring to the simmer for a few seconds shaking and stirring to mix liquid and flour. Add the tomatoes or tomato purée and the  other ingredients. Bring to the simmer for 1 min, then add more stock if necessary; the meat should almost be covered by liquid.

I used one and a half  of these tomatoes

·     Put the lid on the casserole and set in the lower third of the oven; regulate the heat so that the casserole simmers slowly and regularly for 1 hour.

While the lamb is simmering, prepare the vegetables as follows:

• Scrub and/or peel the potatoes and cut in half lengthways if large.
• Peel the baby carrots. If using larger ones, cut into 1 ½’’/4cm lengths.
• Peel the onions.
• Peel and cut the turnips into 1’/2.5cm chunks. 

·         After the stew has simmered for an hour, pour the contents of the casserole into a sieve set over a bowl. Rinse out the casserole. Remove any loose bones and return the lamb to the casserole. Skim the fat off the sauce in the bowl, correct the seasoning, and pour the sauce back into the casserole.

·         Nestle the vegetables into the casserole around and between the pieces of lamb. Baste with the sauce. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove, cover and return to the oven. Regulate heat so the liquid simmers slowly and steadily for about an hour longer or until the meat and vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork.

before adding the peas and beans

as fresh as they come

·         While the casserole is on the final simmer, drop the peas and beans into boiling salted water and boil rapidly, uncovered, for 5 mins, or until the vegetables are almost tender. Immediately drain into a colander. Run cold water over them for 2-3 mins to stop the cooking and to set the colour. Put aside until ready to use.

·         *The navarin may be prepared ahead to this point. Set casserole aside, cover askew. Bring to the simmer on top of the stove before proceeding with the recipe.

adding the green veg

• Shortly before serving, place the beans and peas in the casserole on top of the other ingredients and baste with the bubbling sauce. Cover and simmer for about 5 mins until the green vegetables are tender.

Tips

1.   This may seem like a lot of directions but each step is not difficult, perhaps just a little time-consuming. You just tell yourself you are making something truly delicious!

2.   The turnip season has finished here in Turkey so I couldn’t use any. However I thought Julia wouldn’t have minded as all the other vegetables were bought that very day from my local market so they couldn’t have been fresher. I also used a different green bean as the type specified here doesn’t exist.

3.   Turkish lamb is excellent and now is the time to eat it. This particular lamb came from Balıkesır, an area renowned for its succulent meat.

Bon Appétit!

Today is the first Friday of our culinary adventure and here we are with our Julia Child recipes! These are the three other blogs that are participating:

One Perfect Bite

Eats Well With Others

More Than Burnt Toast