Turkish Beach Food

There you are at last, stretched out under a sun umbrella, the sea a dazzling blue in front of you, a cloudless sky above,  and what is your heart’s desire? Seems to me it would surely be something like a choc ice or vanilla wafer with a Cadbury’s Flake stuck into it. Hot dog?  Smoothie?

But surely never, never, mussels stuffed with rice!!  Yet this is a staple of the Turkish beach crowd: midye dolma. Literally mussels back in their shells surrounded by a tasty rice filling sold singly or however many you want. They come with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and as in this picture, a paper napkin too!

midye dolması

When you are on a Turkish beach, you will see these guys flogging up and down in the heat selling their wares  displayed on trays which they carry on their heads. Believe me, there is a receptive audience. The mussels will be prepared in private homes and over time, these will acquire a reputation for being both tasty and for being prepared under hygienic conditions.

a midyeci posing with his tray of stuffed mussels

After the midyeci, we have the mısırcı, the corn-on-the-cob vendor who pushes his little cart. In this area, the beaches are very stony so he has a hard time of it and I feel quite sorry for him.  He doesn’t of course grill his corn but this time boils it. I’m not sure how hygienic this is but he manages to sell a lot. Corn is always popular.

a mısırcı on Kadırga Beach, Assos

And the third seller in this beach scenario is the simitçi. He performs a balancing act with his tray of round simit on his head. When he spies a potential group of buyers, he opens up his trestle legs and rests his tray on top of it. Simit are delicious: not sweet but more in the bread category and are amongst every Turk’s favourite foods. They are sprinkled with pre-toasted sesame seeds which adhere to the pekmez or grape molasses in which the pastry is briefly dipped before baking. Usually eaten for breakfast instead of bread with jam or cheese, or in the late afternoon traditionally with kaşar peynir/kaşar cheese and çay or Turkish tea.

a simitçi on the same beach, same afternoon

I shouldn’t forget to say that when you are on a Turkish beach,  as the sun’s rays start to lengthen, and everybody is feeling mellow after a day at the seaside, best of all, çay is brought round  – a very civilized custom - and everyone chats with everyone else.

More Bottling of Summer Tomatoes

I say 'more' because I tried it last summer.

Bottling tomatoes is something that even the faintest-hearted cook must surely feel like doing if she lives here. The urge to capture some of the flavour of this lovely hot summer and impart it to winter meals is something I dearly want to do.

jewel-red bottled chopped tomatoes cooling in their jars

 Tomatoes in all their glory are everywhere, in the neighbours’ gardens, on their stalls in the markets, piled high on the backs of kamyons down at the beach. The price is rock-bottom right now: 75 kuruş per kilo – about 30p for 2.2 lbs. In the winter months the price will soar and we will be back to those uninspired little greenhouse numbers from Antalya. Even in Turkey those are hard and tasteless.

Daughter No 2 and I, plus baby, have been going to the market regularly twice a week and buying these tomatoes in huge amounts. Sometimes she goes to get the car while I wait in the shade with the booty as all those kilos not only of tomatoes but other fresh fruit and veg are too heavy to carry.

They are so juicy that that is the problem! My first load of 7 ½ kilos made a mere 9 jars!! And the last 2 were almost pure juice. Hmm I thought. Next time round, I boiled them quite vigourously so that the liquid would evaporate a bit. Better.

preparing the tomatoes and then cooking them

But now I have received a great new tip from  Lutfi and Beyhan at  Biber Evi/Pepper House, a  charming little boutique hotel here in Assos,  where they bottle in massive quantities every summer. I asked Beyhan about this and she said what they do is literally squeeze the tomatoes before they chop them up and chuck them into the pan. I had of course been removing seeds and juice with a teaspoon but this was the business! Cut them in half and using your hand, squeeze with all your might, all the liquid plus seeds will come pouring out and you will be left with the pulp which is what you want.

Last year I attempted bottling for the first time and enjoyed the process thoroughly but I wasn’t entirely happy with the sterilizing as some jars did not keep which was most disappointing.

 Again I set the oven to 100°C, washed the jars in warm soapy water, rinsed them and set them on an oven tray to dry out in the oven for 40 minutes. I synchronized the boiling of the tomatoes so that they were ready at the same time. The trick is to fill the jars while hot, and tighten the lid immediately. The next part is the important part: keep the newly-filled jars upside-down till completely cold to complete the vacuum process.  

I have done this religiously. Each jar takes about 750 gr fresh tomatoes! Amazing! One jar is enough for one Turkish-style yemek or meal! I have bottled 30 jars so far and only have another 22 to go! There were 52 jars and lids in the box that Lutfi got me.

Another Lutfi tip is to use the jamjar lids only once, which I will strictly do.

Procedure

·         Treat your jamjars as above (about 8-9 for 7-8 kilos tomatoes)

·         Wash, peel and  cut the tomatoes in  half. Squeeze out excess seeds and juice. Roughly chop and place in large saucepan. Add 2 tbsp salt and bring to the boil. Depending on the amount of liquid, keep on boiling till at least some has evaporated.

·         Fill the hot jars with a spoon and put the lid on immediately. Tighten and place upside-down in a suitable place. Leave like that till completely cold. Store in a cool, dark place or even the fridge if space allows, till needed.

10 more kilos from today's market! I will see this project through!

Pizza with Fresh Tomato and Cheese

just out of the oven: pizza with tomato and cheese

We have been perfecting our pizzas using dough from the local bakery/fırın as in my recent post as we find that along with a green salad, these make a lunchtime offering that everyone loves.

But  here it is Ramazan, all good Moslems are fasting from dawn until dusk with not a crumb or trickle of water even in this heat passing their lips.  In this rural area this means that life slows down as people do the minimum in order to conserve their energy.

The speciality of this month-long period is pide (pron: pee-day), a special round-shaped bread sprinkled with sesame and nigella seeds. When you buy it hot from the  fırın, it is absolutely irresistible: you can demolish one or half a one without even trying.

half a pide

So when I asked for my ekmek hamuru,  to my surprise, a little ball of dough, much smaller than the one I had had before, appeared in a plastic bag. Why so small, I asked, ahhh they said, it’s pide dough. So I asked for one more which was perfect. It made a crispier base than the regular bread dough and cooked that little bit quicker.

The fridge was full of fresh tomatoes from Ayvacık market so this quick method of making a tomato topping was ideal: grating them instead of peeling and chopping, and then adding an amount of tomato purée to the juice.  The taste of that tomato sauce is indescribable. The cheese was Turkish dil peyniri which melts beautifully so use something similar. Mozzarella, perhaps? A few capers, garlic pounded with salt, a scattering of green olives, a bit of olive oil and some dried thyme, that was really a topping fit for a king. Some fresh basil would have been nice at the end but I only had parsley which had to do.

Ingredients for Pizza with Fresh Tomato and Cheese

Serves approximately 6

I bread dough OR 2 pide doughs if you live in Turkey/ whatever you would normally use for a pizza base

4 tomatoes

4 large strips of dil peyniri or other suitable melting cheese

5 cloves garlic

1 handful green olives

2-3 heaped tbsp tomato purée

Thyme, fresh or dried

Fresh basil

Olive oil

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

·         Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

·         Cut the tomatoes in half and grate them. Add the tomato purée. Crush the garlic with some salt and add pepper. Add some olive oil and a few leaves of basil and stir. Combine with the tomato sauce and stir again.

·         Sprinkle some flour on the counter and roughly roll out both the pide doughs as one,  adding some flour for ease of handling.

·         Transfer to a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and sprinkled with flour. Don’t worry if the dough doesn’t fit or if it tears a little, you can gently tease it into shape with your fingers.  Continue flouring your fingers if the dough is sticky. Eventually it will stretch to reach all four corners of the baking tray.

·         Brush the dough with 2/3 of the tomato sauce, then add the cheese, green olives, capers and thyme. I added a chopped up green pepper which I had in the fridge. In fact, the joy is that you can add whatever takes your fancy on top of that tomato sauce and cheese if you feel like it.

the cheese on top of the first layer of that tomato sauce

having added the second round of tomato sauce

·         Then pour over the remaining tomato sauce, season to taste, and put in the pre-heated oven. It will take about half an hour to cook.  When ready, add more basil and drizzle some more olive oil and serve.

It will be a hit, I promise you!

And so will the pizza below which is a combination of the tomato sauce in this recipe with the caramelised red onions from the previous recipe. As you can see, it looks just great! The taste was even better! I think it's our favourite.

a pizza with the same tomato sauce covered in caramelised red onions

Afiyet olsun!

Stuffed Marrow: an English dolma!

A few days ago the garden gate creaked and the familiar figure of our nextdoor neighbour Leyla appeared round the corner. She was bearing a tepsi/tray full of produce from her garden and what a sight it was:  sunshine yellow courgette flowers, a few shiny purple aubergines, a bunch of mint, some cucumbers, and a huge marrow or kabak, all freshly picked and just for me!

I know that those courgette flowers are very delicate and should really be given attention immediately but I didn’t have the parsley or dill to make a tasty stuffing. The alternative was to fry them but there was outcry from the family: they didn’t want fried!  Other matters caught my attention and the time that elapsed was the kiss of death for the courgette flowers: they close up and then wilt.Even though marrows are made of sterner stuff than this, I was determined not to let mine go the same way  so I decided there and then to stuff it.

like this: delicious stuffed marrow

I have to say that marrows are not usual here: is it a huge courgette? One that got away? I don’t know. I have never seen one as big as this. However, all my dolma-making years stood me in good stead; all I had to do was check the best way of cooking this one as I certainly didn’t want it to become soft and watery. In fact, you don't actively cook them at all: simply lower into a pan of boiling water and then turn off the gas and leave to sit.

Stuffed marrow is an English dish so I was easily able to find a BBC Good Food recipe from The Hairy Bikers: Mums Know Best.  I had all the ingredients including the mince which I had had the foresight to defrost before going out in the morning. The stuffing didn’t  include rice but did have cheese which turned it into something English as opposed to a Turkish dolma recipe.  It also included eggs which Turkish dolma never do. We were surprised at it how rich and moist the finished stuffed marrow  was! Daughter No 2 discovered the remains of the stuffing in the pan, licked her lips and promptly finished it off! I will definitely be making this again if I am given another whopper marrow.

Ingredients for Stuffed Marrow

I medium marrow, cut in half widthways

5 garlic cloves

3 tbsp chopped fresh thyme (I used dried)

3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for brushing the marrow

2 large onions, roughly chopped

500g/1lb beef mince

2 tbsp tomato purée

2 tbsp sun-dried tomato paste OR 1 x 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes

3 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsely, plus extra for serving

3 eggs, beaten

75g/2 ¼ oz  parmesan, grated, plus extra for serving

75g pecorino, grated (I used a local cheese instead)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a large roasting tin with foil, leaving the ends hanging over the edges of the tin.

• Bring a large pan of water to the boil – the pan needs to be large enough to hold the marrow halves. Season the water lightly with salt.
• Scoop the seeds and stringy pulp from the marrow halves using a spoon, and discard. Scoop about 120g/4½oz of the flesh from the inside of the marrow, creating a large hollow, and put to one side.

two marrow monoliths

• Carefully lower the hollowed marrow halves into the pan of boiling water, immediately turn the heat off and leave them sitting in the hot water until you are ready to use them.

• Crush the garlic and fresh thyme in a pestle and mortar and add salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the onions, followed by the garlic and thyme, and then fry until soft. Add the beef mince and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly until brow

• If using fresh tomatoes, prepare them whilst the beef is browning: place the tomatoes in a bowl. Pour over boiling water, and leave for 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon, run under cold water, and peel the skin from the flesh. Discard the skin, and chop the peeled tomatoes roughly

• Add the tomato purée and sun-dried tomato paste (or chopped sun-dried tomatoes if using) to the browned beef mince, and cook for another 5 minutes. Chop the reserved flesh from the marrow and stir it into the sauce, stir in the chopped tomatoes, and parsley and cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

making the sauce

• Take the sauce off the heat and let it cool briefly before stirring in the eggs (if the eggs are stirred in too soon they will scramble).

• Add half of the parmesan and pecorino or other cheese to the pan and stir until well combined.

• Carefully remove the 2 halves of marrow from the hot water, draining any water from the centre, and place them in the baking tin. Spoon the sauce mixture into each of the marrow halves until they are full.

stuffing the two hollowed-out halves

•  Gently push the halves together, and brush the skin with olive oil. Sprinkle the remaining half of the grated cheeses over the top of the marrow. Wrap the sides of the foil around the marrow to hold it together, leaving a small gap at the top.

the two halves sprinkled with cheese and ready for baking

• Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, increase the temperature to 200C/400F/Gas 6, open out the foil and cook for another 5 minutes so the grated cheese can brown and become crispy. Remove from the oven, and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

next time I'll be much more generous with the cheese

• To serve, slice the marrow into rings, and sprinkle with extra parmesan and parsley to serve, if you like.

very nice for supper!

afiyet olsun!

You may have noticed that I am not cooking along with the 50 Women Game-Changers in Food  with the other group of wonderful blogger cooks who post every Friday. It is just not possible for me right now but I hope to re-join later on! You can find out who they are by going to Mary's blog One Perfect Bite. You are in for a treat!

Caramelised Red Onion and Anchovy Pizza with Black Olives

caramelised red onion and anchovy pizza with black olives

Yes, you're right. This  is not a Turkish recipe but with these ingredients, it could easily be which is why I leapt at it.

Turks of course are familiar with the pizza concept thanks to chains like Pizza Hut and Domino’s. Yes, we even have them here. But not in this village where I am, that’s for sure!

With the family  coming and going,  I thought having something like this all ready to go would be the answer. The actual recipe from Woman&Home magazine calls for something far beyond my ken: ciabatta bread mix. Here, what we do is go along to the local fırın or bakery and ask for an ekmek hamuru or bread dough. They are always happy to sell it to you and it makes the perfect pizza base. You just have to make sure you use it the same day, preferably as soon as you get home as it gets stickier by the minute.

the pizza warm and appetising

 

I have friends in Istanbul who do this when they have friends coming round for tea: this would be the tuzlu component of the tea.

The particular combination described here is very popular with cookery magazines and the like right now – well, I like it too, I must admit.It’s a modern take on traditional pizza.  I love that red onion marmelade and the melted mozzarella or dil peyniri on top with the distinctive salty tang of the anchovies and black olives. I know that anchovies are not everybody’s favourite so if that is the case, simply omit. Red onions have a delicious flavour especially after being cooked long and slowly, their taste being so different from regular onions: sweet and sticky, not sharp or bitter at all. They contrast well with the anchovies and the black olives that also have their own unique taste.

Ingredients for Caramelised Red Onion and Anchovy Pizza with Black Olives

Serves 6 as a main or 12 as a snack

500g/1lb 2oz ciabatta bread mix OR 1 bread dough/ekmek hamuru

50g/2oz butter

5 red onions, finely sliced

7 tbsp red wine ( I didn’t have any, shame on me)

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp brown sugar

100g/4oz anchovy fillets in olive oil, drained

300g/10oz mozzarella/dil peyniri, torn into chunks

100g/4oz black olives

3 thyme sprigs, leaves removed/ kekik (I used dried thyme)

Olive oil, to drizzle

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 220°C/425°F.

• Check your anchovies. If they are heavily salted, drain, wash and soak in milk till required.

• Sprinkle flour on a work surface and lightly flour your rolling pin. Gently roll out the bread dough to a general shape to go on your baking tray. Line the tray with greaseproof paper and sprinkle with flour.

• Lay the dough on top and spread with your fingers towards the corners without tearing. You can divide the dough into 2 if you prefer and make 2 pizzas.

bread dough divided into two

this is my other pizza: tomato and cheddar with capers

• Meanwhile heat a sauté pan and melt the butter then add the onions, and cook very gently for 30 minutes, until softened and caramelised. Do not rush this.

• Turn up the heat and add the red wine, vinegar and sugar with a generous amount of seasoning, and bubble briskly until the liquid has reduced to a sticky syrup and the onions are very deep red. Check the seasoning and set aside.

stages of gently sautéing the red onions all the way to sticky

• Spread the onions over the surface of the dough, then arrange the anchovy fillets in diamond patterns over the onions, then arrange the anchovy fillets in diamond patterns over the onions, add the mozzarella or dil and scatter over the olives and thyme.

one pizza ready to be cooked

• Drizzle with olive oil and cook in the oven for 10-12 mins. If you are using Turkish bread dough, it takes longer. Mine took about 25 mins. Serve immediately.



the cooked caramelised red onion and anchovy pizza with black olives

Afiyet olsun!

Patlıcan Salatası: A Classic Aubergine Meze

beautiful shiny aubergines

 Aubergine salad is a classic of the Turkish meze table. Patlıcan Salatası (pron: putt-ler-jun) or Ezmesi /purée .  A in Turkish is pronounced u like in umbrella and c is j. You will be served it everywhere: in restaurants and in private homes. And in my home.

patlıcan salatası/aubergine salad

If I do seem to be having a bit of an aubergine fest these days, forgive me but living out here in our village, meals are 100% dependent on what’s available at the market. Right now it’s the height of the season and  it’s aubergines and tomatoes plus peppers, both red and green, - and more aubergines and tomatoes! If you don’t do something with these, you will starve!

In  the recent recipe for Ali Nazik, I grilled the aubergines over the gas flame on top of the oven. You can also bake them inside the oven if you prefer: less mess but the taste won’t be so good. Make sure you slit them otherwise they may explode and then you really will have a huge mess on your hands.  By far and away the best method of grilling aubergines is on the barbecue: easy as you just throw them on while your meat is cooking, and the flesh acquires a delicious smoky taste, the mark of an authentic patlıcan salatası. If you have a Turkish husband, he will love you forever if you do it like this.

patlıcan grilled on the barbie

Apart from the grilling and subsequent peeling, making this meze is simplicity itself:

Ingredients

Serves 4-6

4 large aubergines

4 garlic cloves, crushed with salt

Juice of ½ lemon

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp creamy yogurt

Salt and freshly ground pepper

Sprigs of parsley for garnish

Black olives for garnish

Method

·         Grill the aubergines, rotating from time to time. Cook till charred and blistered.

·         When cool enough to handle, strip off the blackened skin. Roughly chop the soft inner flesh and put in a colander, allowing any bitter juices to drain away.

stripping off the skin and then scooping out the soft flesh

·         In a bowl, combine the aubergine, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and yogurt. Season with salt and pepper and mash into the consistency of a purée. You could use the food processor if you prefer a smoother consistency.  Refrigerate until required but ideally serve at room temperature.

decorated with parsley sprigs and black olives

·         Serve garnished with parsley sprigs and black olives as a meze or appetiser.

Tips

1       I have used Angie Mitchell’s recipe from Secrets of the Turkish Kitchen but basically the ingredients of this salad are to taste: add more garlic or lemon juice if you like, or an extra spoonful of yogurt, it really doesn’t matter.

  2.   If you leave out the yogurt, you can ring the changes by adding a little chopped tomato,onion, and parsley. 

to show the texture of this aubergine salad

Why don't you try this meze? It's easy!

Afiyet olsun!

Sigara Böreği: Crispy Cheese and Herb Filled Pastry Rolls

sigara böreği ready to be fried or baked in the oven

All of us who live in Turkey are very familiar with the myriad dishes that come under the heading of Börek.  They are all made with yufka, the Turkish equivalent of filo/phyllo pastry and filled with either white cheese/feta ,spinach, or mince. No Turkish gathering is complete without a börek in some shape or form!  To tell you the truth, I have not got into them in any big way simply because they are not exactly slimming. I know that TT, bless his heart, probably yearns for them because whenever we are out at Turkish friends’ homes and there is a börek, he enjoys it so.

But.

There is one form of börek that I have been making for years and it is this one. According to Angie Mitchell, the Otttoman Palace kitchens ‘devised these tasty treats in order to tempt the precious little princes.’ I highly recommend having a go because everybody loves them, they look great, and of course they taste delicious and go well with drinks western-style. When we lived in Tokyo, I used to make them with great aplomb and even gave a few lessons to my foreign friends as to how to make them. A few months back I was asked to demonstrate how to make them at my local IWI Neighbourhood Coffee Morning and we had a lot of fun with everybody trying their hand.

Here in Turkey we are fortunate as buying yufka is easy.  I recommend buying it from the little local speciality shops as opposed to the supermarkets where it comes in pre-packaged sellophane packs. Yufka must be fresh otherwise it doesn’t work.  I mean it breaks and cracks. Even when fresh you must treat it with respect as it mustn’t dry out so keep it covered with a slightly damp teatowel at all times while working with it. I usually buy 3 at a time and make a lot. The extra freeze beautifully and come in really handy when you need them.

You buy the white cheese at the same place as the yufka usually. Ask for böreklik peynir as it is slightly different in texture to the regular kahvaltalık or breakfast variety. But if you can't get it, then it isn't that critical.

yufka comes unceremoniously wrapped like this

I have tried filo and it is not the same thing at all. It is much finer for a start so you need to use at least 2 layers at a time if not 3. Also check the size. Our yufka comes in a large circular shape while filo seems to come in decorous little squares.Little triangles work better than this roll shape.

Anyway TT came back from Japan a few days ago and I thought I would have these ready for when he surfaced from his jetlag:

Ingredients for Sigara Böreği

3 sheets yufka/phyllo/filo pastry

1 block/kalıp of soft white Turkish cheese/böreklik peynir, or feta

1 handful chopped parsley or dill

1 egg

A small bowl of cold water for sealing the ends of the pastry

Sunflower oil for frying

Method

·         Mash together the cheese, egg, and parsley or dill to a smooth consistency.

·         Fold one yufka in half then in half again, and then fold over one more time. Cut into 3 long triangular shapes. Pizza cutters work a treat. Don’t forget to keep the pastry covered while you are working.

·         Take one triangular piece of pastry and place a little of the cheese mixture along the wider end. Fold over the pastry on either side to seal in the filling and then roll up tightly like a cigarette.  Wet the end of the pastry with water so that it seals. Continue with all your pieces of pastry till finished.

·         Either freeze in plastic bags at this point or heat the sunflower oil in a shallow pan and fry the börek over a medium heat till golden brown and crispy.

·         Serve hot as part of a meze spread. If you let them get cold, they may go soggy.

·         If preferred, the börek may be brushed with oil and baked in a moderate oven for 20 mins.

about to be demolished!

 Afiyet olsun!