Simple Yet Stylish: a Smoked Salmon Starter

smoked salmon on a bed of green leaves

Christmas is all about tradition, and some things like the Christmas menu never change.

 The main course is a foregone conclusion but what about the starter? What do you do?

I do sometimes think about having  something different  but  in the end, I really do believe that some lightly dressed salad leaves with cucumber and tomatoes draped with  a slice of smoked salmon to make it special, is the best.  It looks elegant, everybody loves it, and best of all, it can be prepared in advance. No need to change!

The festivities are not over so you may like the idea of starting yet another party dinner with this: all you need is a packet or two of smoked salmon, some lettuce – I favour marul/romaine as I love the crispness of the leaves and the way they hold their shape – mixed with some different types for both colour and texture contrast. Roka/rocket is also good. I slice them fairly thinly.

preparing the ingredients including spring onions too beforehand

I buy the small çengel-type cucumbers, probably known as Lebanese abroad, as  they are firm and not watery like other varieties. I wash them but apart from trimming the ends, don’t peel them. Get out the mandolin slicer and slice them paper thin. That dark green skin looks decorative.

Christmas lunch with the salmon in place

Buy the kokteyl domates or little cherry tomatoes: at this time of year they taste much better than the other sorts. But apart from anything else, halved, sometimes quartered if a little big, they look pretty. I’m a great one for appearance! I like to use dereotu or dill for this very reason: those delicate  green feathery fronds add an elegant touch to any salad, especially lightly sprinkled round the edge of each plate.

afiyet olsun!

In the kitchen beforehand, then, I get out my huge wooden salad bowl a couple of hours before we are due to eat, put the washed and dried salad leaves in it and cover with a slightly damp tea cloth.  Whatever you do, don’t add any dressing until the last minute as the whole lot will go soggy. I don’t add any  of the other ingredients either.

Rather, I prepare them, place them on single plates and cover with clingfilm to await further developments.  I wash and chop the dill finely and do the same. I take the jar of capers out of the fridge and set out the individual plates I am going to use. You could use little quail eggs  or black olives too.

dividing the salad ingredients and the smoked salmon onto individual plates

I also prepare the salad dressing in a jam jar so I can give it a good shake before using.  I usually make a  vinaigrette with olive oil, lemon juice and French mustard, well-seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper. However, this year, I didn’t. I actually used a ready-made dressing! This is something I NEVER do but we recently had dinner with friends and the salad there was beautifully seasoned. I asked what the dressing was and lo and behold, it was one of those little Knorr packets, this one  was basil or fesleğen, simplicity itself. And of course being Turkish, she gave me several to take home with me. Well, folks, this may be the beginning of the end, but I highly recommend this ready-made dressing!

When the time comes, I am all ready: into the kitchen, a vigourous shake of the dressing in its jar so that all the ingredients are well mixed, and pour it over the lettuce leaves. Mix them well then divide up and serve on each plate.

Take your other ingredients and arrange them decoratively on top and finish with the slice of smoked salmon. A little drizzle of extra olive oil may be a good idea here as well as another grind of black pepper as it looks good. After adding the final touch of the chopped dill, away to the table they go!

Quince - Ayva - Crumble Tart

Quince Crumble Tart - from BBC Good Food magazine

Apple crumble? Plum crumble? How about an aromatic rich quince crumble then?  Here’s a familiar concept with a twist – a crumble on a tart base.

here's what you need for this recipe: 3 ayvas and 1 lemon

Here in Turkey you see the ubiquitous ayva tatlısı or quince dessert everywhere in winter, served as it always is with kaymak or buffalo cream. It’s delicious but oh so predictable which is why I  pounce on new quince recipes.

fabulous quinces at my local market last week

I  asked TT what ekmek ayvası meant and he said it referred to a type that can easily be eaten raw. Literally it means bread quince.  I tried it, it can!

Always read a new recipe through to make sure you understand the steps and that you have all the ingredients. How often have I been caught out because I didn’t do exactly that! Cooking isn’t difficult if you are prepared and have the right equipment to hand. If a recipe calls for eggs, take them out of the fridge beforehand to come to room temperature. Same with butter.

Making a crumble topping is easy and more to the point, quick.

it's a question of adding and rubbing in the ingredients



 Making pastry is also not difficult but I know that not everybody thinks that way. All it needs is for somebody to show you and then to persevere and make some yourself.  Once you know how, you are all set and a vast array of culinary delights,both sweet and savoury, opens up before you!

Quinces are a bit of a chore to peel but the reward is that they cook easily and become  a sweet aromatic soft mass with no trouble at all.

Ingredients for Quince Crumble Tart

Serves 8

For the quince purée

1kg/2lb 4oz quinces, cored and roughly chopped (I used 3)

175g/6oz caster sugar (I use regular toz şeker)

Zest and juice ½ lemon

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tbsp cornflour

For the pastry

140g/5oz butter, diced

200g/7oz plain flour

50g/2oz ground almonds/toz badem

75g/2 ½ oz caster sugar

Zest 1 lemon

1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk

For the crumble topping

100g/4oz plain flour

75g/2 ½ oz rolled oats/yulaf ezmesi

75g/2 ½oz caster sugar

140g/5oz butter, diced

Method

·         To make the quince purée, put the quinces into a large pan with 350ml water. Cover with a lid and simmer for 1 hr or until the quinces change colour and are pulpy. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then whizz with a stick blender until smooth. Pass the quince purée through a sieve into a clean pan and stir in the sugar, lemon zest and juice, and cinnamon. Cook the purée until it is reduced by one-third, then mix the cornflour with a little water and stir into the purée until it’s thick. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. (TIP: I made this purée the day before).

here is the purée in the tin: it's so easy ....

·         Heat oven to 160°C/140°C fan/gas 3. To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour and almonds. Add the sugar and zest, then the egg and the egg yolk. Bring everything together, wrap in cling film and chill for 15 mins.

·         Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to line a 22cm tart tin. Place in the tin, trim the edges of the pastry if required, and chill for 15 mins. Line the pastry with baking parchment and baking, then bake blind for 20 mins. Remove the beans and paper, then cook for a further 15 mins until the base is biscuity. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly.

·         Increase oven to 180°C/160°C fan/gas 4. Meanwhile, to make the crumble topping, mix the flour, oats and sugar with a pinch of salt, then rub in the butter until you have an uneven crumbly mix.

·         To assemble the tart, pour the quince purée into the tart shell so it comes just below the top, sprinkle over the crumble topping and cook for 25 – 30 mins or until the crumble is golden and the quince is bubbling around the edges. Serve warm with cream or custard if you like.

quince crumble tart

Afiyet olsun!

If you like quince, why don't you try:

Quince dessert/ayva tatlısı

quince jam/ayva reçeli

Celeriac and quince in orange and olive oil/Ayva ve portakallı zeytinyağlı kereviz

It's Christmas! Mince Pie Time Again ..........

my courdon bleu mince pies

It has all been such a rush and here we are right at the point of Christmas itself. Here in Turkey we have to work at it a bit as the rest of the world around us is oblivious to the approach of our most special day in the whole calendar. But we do our best ....

In practical terms this means decorating the house, getting out the tree,  writing cards furiously, and of course spending time in the kitchen and creating those aromas that spell only one thing: CHRISTMAS!

Son Cem was due in from London late Tuesday night so the whole morning was spent cooking all those things that I know he likes. This involved two kilos – yes really! – of zeytinyağli barbunya/ beans in olive oil. I had frozen 3 kilos of borlotti beans at the end of the summer, shelled, in plastic bags, so there they were all ready to haul out. I realise they are not at all Christmassy but he misses them .... A huge pan of mercimek/red lentil soup. 18 mincepies. 18 chewy oatmeal raisin cookies. I thought that would keep him going till the next day!

If you click on the highlighted texts here, you will find my past posts with the recipes for the following: give them a go, I'm sure you'll love them just as much as Son Cem does!

mince pies

barbunya beans in olive oil

lentil soup/mercimek çorbası

thick, chewy oatmeal raisin cookies - from  the wonderful blog Smitten Kitchen

It is hard to believe that here we are almost at the end of another year but we are:

Merry Christmas to you all from this Seasonal Cook in Istanbul!

Hamsi / Turkish Anchovies



hundreds and hundreds of wonderful hamsi in Kadıköy çarşı

Mmm, I really like these and I’m willing to bet you do too!

Winter is the time of plenty for hamsi (pron: hum/see) or anchovy here in Istanbul. They are mostly fished in the frigid waters of the Black Sea from October on and are readily available in their beautiful silvery grey multitudes from all local fishmongers here. At source so to speak, little Black Sea towns like Amasra and Sinop will be serving almost nothing else during the season which is now.

another fish stall in Kadıköy

You really want to buy them already gutted  because there is no denying that it’s a pain if you have to prepare them yourself.

.....like this

It may be more romantic to buy them from an old guy like this one but it's a lot more work!

an old balıkçı in Üsküdar selling hamsi beside the wall of the ancient hamam

If your fishmonger isn’t rushed off his feet, he will do it for you with pleasure but on a busy Saturday morning with throngs of shoppers clamouring for their fish, forget it. Hamsi are very cheap: 5 or 10 lira a kilo. You need a kilo for 4 people, I reckon.

Basically, as with all small fish, fried  or tava is best. The hamsi are dipped in flour or cornmeal and simply fried in oil – any oil but not olive.Grilled is nice but trickier to do because the fish are so small they slip through the bars of the grill. Baked in the oven is also nice.

But you can’t beat fried.

You can either fry them whole after flouring, heads and all, and eat them with gusto  with your fingers, or what you can do is put two prepared hamsi  together, sprinkled with flour so they stick together, and fry in a little oil.

...like this

You can then have them as a sandwich in crusty fresh bread:

with a traditional side of red onions with parsley and sumac.

slice and then squeeze the red onion with your hand in order to release the juices

Or, if you don't want to fry your hamsi, you can spread them out in a single layer on a baking tray, season with salt and pepper, add some lemon slices, a couple of bay leaves, and perhaps a sprinkle of kekik/dried thyme, and then the tiniest drizzle of olive oil just to moisten, and bake in a pre-heated oven for about 20-25 mins at 180C/350F.


my idea of slimming hamsi



served with a simple mixed salad: rocket/roka and marul with grated carrot and radish/turp

For we lucky people who live in Istanbul, here is a marvellous link that I discovered today: it's from Istanbul Eats and gives their favourite places in the city to eat hamsi.  I can't wait to eat my way through them!



Afiyet olsun!

Tender Braised Leeks

tender braised leeks with green olives and parsley

I love leeks - pırasa in Turkish - and when I saw the picture of this dish in a BBC Good Food magazine, complete with sliced green olives and chopped parsley, I knew I wanted to make it. Of course used as I am to Turkish zeytinyağli dishes, I found the amount of olive oil specified in the recipe quite laughable so I increased it. This is actually the second time I make these leeks. The first time I did use white wine as we were having guests  but today, just for the two of us, I thought I’m not going to open a bottle of wine just for this, so I just used water.The leeks still tasted great.

leeks in the pazar or market

Olives are never a problem for us as we always have a huge supply of both black and green, thanks to Mehmet and Hatice in Assos. The greens are particularly delicious and much tastier than the black ones and they both taste and look appetising. Here they are optional but I recommend using them along with the parsley. I also have a never-ending supply of thyme or kekik from the village but it’s dried, of course. So that’s what I use rather than rush out to buy a little plastic box from the supermarket at vast expense.

Ingredients for Tender Braised Leeks

Serves 4

6-8 leeks/pırasa

1 tsp olive oil (I used 2 tbsp)

2 tsp coriander seeds/kişniş

3 fresh thyme sprigs OR use  2 good pinches dried kekik

2 bay leaves/ defne yapraği

125ml/4 fl oz white wine OR water

1 garlic clove with the skin on, *bashed (I used 3)

Pinch caster sugar

85g/3oz green olives, very roughly chopped (optional)

Large handful chopped flat-leaf parsley/maydonoz, to serve (optional

Method

• Trim the darkest green part off the leeks and strip away the first two layers. If they are English leeks, cut in half lengthways, but keep attached at the root. If they are Turkish leeks, cut as in the picture. Wash under cold running water and set aside.

• Tip all the other ingredients, except the olives and parsley, into a wide shallow pan with 200ml water, some cracked pepper and a sprinkling of salt.

• Slip the leeks into the pan, cover and place over a low heat. Gently simmer for 20 mins, turning them occasionally until very tender - a knife blade should slip in easily. Leave to cool until just warm, then stir through the parsley and olives, if you like.

ready to serve: tender braised leeks

• Serve the leeks as they are with crusty bread or with roast chicken or fish.This makes a really nice side dish!

Afiyet olsun!

* bashed: this is how Jamie does it and it is very effective: simply take your garlic clove and hit it firmly with something hard like a rolling pin. The skin will shoot off all by itself, thus simplifying the task immeasurably!

Christmas Buns

one Christmas Bun, glazed and drizzled

 

This is the first time I have ever in my life used yeast.

 Yes, the first time ever. I feel as if I missed the boat because of course I should have been using it for years. But yet, no. Don’t forget, when I came to Turkey in the 70s, there was no internet, no TV with cooking programmes, no English bookshops with English cookbooks  and noone around me cooking with yeast!

But I do remember feeling sad when we would return to Turkey after spending the summer in the UK with my parents. The children would have been eating currant buns, Chelsea buns, Bath buns ...and thoroughly enjoying them. I remember vowing to learn how to make them once I returned to Ankara where we were living then but just not knowing how to go about it.

So let’s fast forward ....... here we are in a Turkey that is virtually unrecognizable in culinary terms with so many more items available on the supermarket shelves.  Items that resonate with me like Gold Blend, chocolate chips, mincemeat, Golden Syrup, and pineapple rings. Now in the supermarkets we have maya or yeast in little packets clearly marked as to type and quantity. All I had to do was take my courage in both hands and buy it! It was that simple.

This is my very first attempt to bake with yeast and I am certainly not saying there is no room for improvement. But it was exciting, really exciting. Waiting for the dough to rise. Wonder of wonders, it did! And the smell was just as it was supposed to be: doughy, yeasty, warm, and redolent with promise!

So certainly not seasonal in the sense of Turkish seasonal but rather English seasonal: Christmassy with the dried cranberries and apricots, the aroma of cinnamon wafting through the kitchen, a forerunner of the approaching holiday. From this month's issue of BBC Good Food Magazine,

here is the recipe:

Ingredients for Christmas Buns

Makes approx 9

500g/ 1lb1 1/2 oz strong white flour, plus extra for dusting (I use Sinangil)

7g sachet/ 1packet fast-action dried yeast/kuru maya

300ml/ 10 fl oz milk

40g/1 1/2 oz unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 egg

Vegetable oil for greasing

FOR THE FILLING

25g/1oz unsalted butter, melted

75g/3oz soft brown sugar (if you don’t have it, use granulated sugar with a little pekmez)

2 tsp ground cinnamon/ toz tarçin

100g/3 1/2 oz dried cranberries/yaban mersini

100g/3 1/2 oz chopped dried apricots/ kuru kayısı

the exact amount you will need

FOR THE GLAZE

50g/ 2 oz caster sugar ( I used regular toz şeker)

FOR THE LEMON ICING

Zest 1 lemon

200g/ 7 oz icing sugar/pudra şekeri

Method

·         Put the flour and 1 tsp salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the yeast. Meanwhile, warm the milk and butter in a pan until the butter melts and the mixture is lukewarm. Add the milk mixture and egg to the flour mixture and stir until the contents come together as a soft dough (add extra flour if you need to).

·         Tip the dough onto a well-floured surface. Knead for 5 mins, adding more flour if necessary, until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticky.

·         Lightly oil a bowl with the vegetable oil. Place the dough in the bowl and turn until covered in oil. Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size. Lightly grease a baking sheet and set aside.

before and after

·         For the filling, knock the dough back to its original size and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll it into a 1 cm-thick rectangle. Brush all over with the melted butter, then sprinkle over the sugar, cinnamon and fruit.

·         Roll up the dough into a tight cylinder, cut into 9 x 4cm slices and position on the prepared baking sheet, leaving a little space between. Cover with a tea towel and set aside to rise for 30 mins.

·         Heat oven to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Bake the buns for 20-25 mins or until risen and golden brown. Meanwhile, melt the glaze sugar with 4 tbsp water until syrupy.

·         Remove from oven and glaze. Set aside to cool on a wire rack. Once cool, mix the zest and icing sugar with about 2 tbsp water to drizzle over the buns. Serve.

the icing sugar and lemon zest

and here they are: Christmas Buns!

 Make sure you eat them the same day as they don't keep.

Enjoy!

PS If you have any tips to share with me about using yeast, I would love to hear them!

My Garlicky Crunchies with Flaked Red Pepper

This is a great idea: you will love it! We did. It’s a kind of Middle Eastern version of garlic bread but crispy, crunchy and light.

here they are: my garlicky crunchies with flaked red pepper, courtesy of Oya's Cuisine

 Deliciously garlicky with a hint of spicy chili. Just right for drinks or with soup.  Perfect to offer your friends with tea at 5 o’clock before a slice of cake.

I made these crunchies for friends the other night and served them instead of bread with tomato soup made with those beautiful  big fat juicy Çanakkale tomatoes I bottled this summer in Assos.  It was an irresistible combination and I was glad that I’d used all three sheets of lavaş in my packet as they all disappeared.

What exactly  is lavaş (lavash)?

It‘s a soft thin flatbread  apparently the most widely eaten type of bread in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran.  In English it is also known as cracker bread but I think that nowadays we are all familiar with the name lavash.  Here in Turkey it is most commonly used with kebabs to make dürüm wraps. It is readily available in packets in the supermarkets. Make sure you keep it wrapped if you want to keep it pliable as it will dry out and become hard and brittle if you leave it exposed to the air.

Ingredients for My Garlicky Crunchies with Flaked Red Pepper

3 lavaş/lavash

3 tbsp soft butter (room temperature)

2 tbsp or to taste flaked red pepper/ pul biberi

2  big cloves garlic or to taste, crushed

3 tbsp grated parmesan or eski kaşar peyniri

Method

·         Pre-heat oven to 180°C/350°F.

·         Place the  butter in a bowl and mash with a fork to make sure it’s soft.  Add all the other ingredients and mash till well blended.

spreading the softened buttery mixture over the lavaş

·         Using a knife, spread  the mixture over a sheet of lavaş making sure to spread all the way to the edges. With a knife or pizza cutter (preferable), cut into triangles. Actually, the shape and size are up to you. They don’t have to be uniform.

cutting the lavaş

·         Place in a single layer on a baking tray and put in the middle of your pre-heated oven. Cook for 5-7 minutes. Keep your eye on them as they can easily burn.  Remove and cool on a wire rack.

cooling on the rack

Tips

The ingredients are extremely flexible in terms of quantity. You don’t have to be exact here.  The recipe specifies 3 lavaş but everything depends on their size.  I wouldn't worry about it.  Adapt as you go.

The possibilities are endless for further versions: how about dried thyme/kekik or cumin/kimyon scattered with sesame/susam seeds or nigella/çörekotu?

Afiyet olsun!

Try these the next time you have visitors round!