Gavurdağı Salatası - Turkish Tomato Salad with Walnuts & Cumin

Gavurdağı Salatası at Sahan Lokantası, Bağdat Caddesi, Istanbul

I have been building up to a post on this spicy tomato salad for some time now. It’s one of our favourite mezes when we are out and now I know how easy it is to replicate , I can see it's going to become part of my regular repertoire at home!

delicious juices to mop up with bread

The tomato season is just starting: as summer advances so their taste improves. Things can only get better!

Gavurdağı makes a good addition to the rakı table!

Gavurdağ  (dağ/ pron: dah) is actually the name of a mountain in the Taurus range down in the south of Turkey and this salad originally hails from Gaziantep, one of the  major cities in that region, as so many delicious Turkish dishes do. I wasn’t certain about the addition of the cumin but I found that it  goes brilliantly with the tomatoes and gives the salad an exotic Middle Eastern flavour. It’s eaten with meat or kebabs, not fish.

....and at Develi Kebab, Kalamış, Istanbul

Ingredients for  Turkish Tomato Salad with Walnuts & Cumin -Gavurdağı Salatası

Based on a recipe from Refika’s 'Cooking New Istanbul Style'

Serves 4

4 tomatoes

1 ½ onions

1-2 cups parsley

3 cloves garlic

2 tbsp walnuts/ ceviz

2 tbsp olive oil – extra virgin will taste the best

1 tbsp pomegranate molasses/nar ekşişi

1 tbsp cumin/kimyon

1 tbsp flaked red pepper/pul biber

1 tbsp dried mint/kuru nane

Juice of ½ a lemon

1 tsp black pepper

Salt to taste

Method

·        Wash and deseed the tomatoes before chopping into small pieces.

de-seeding the tomatoes; peel them too if the skin is thick

·        Discard any excessive juice (otherwise the salad will be too ‘wet’).  Place the tomatoes in a bowl. Chop the onions and parsley and add to the tomatoes.

the first time we used spring onions which was fine

we also added some chopped green pepper (optional) and not included in Refika's recipe

·        Scatter the cumin, black pepper, flaked red pepper and mint on top and mix gently.

assembling all the ingredients before mixing

·        Crush the garlic and mix with the pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice. Place in a jam jar and shake to blend.

the dressing for the Gavurdağı Salatası ready to be shaken

·        Add this dressing at the last minute to the tomato mixture in the bowl.

·        Arrange the gavurdağı salad on a shallow serving dish and scatter the chopped walnuts over it all.

ready to serve!

·        Refika recommends adding a little nutmeg too and then letting the salad rest for 10 minutes for all the tastes to combine.

I think next time I won't chop my walnuts quite so small - I prefer the look of the slightly larger pieces. I also recommend using less flaked red pepper than specified here as this made the salad very hot! But maybe you like it like that ...

Afiyet olsun!

I highly recommend this salad! Don’t make it too much in advance as it will become very liquid. It doesn't keep either so make sure you finish it up in one go.

We Say Goodbye to Olympos ....

It all has to come to an end. Our week is over ...

The last swim ...

from this beach ...

I know this isn't related to cooking but I just love this picture ... love the Med ...

The last dinner...

Daughter No 2 and me, TT and SIL

the starter, shrimps on a skewer

our main dish: grilled levrek or sea bass

The last fresh lemonade drinks on the house made by our favourite Muammer ...

non-alcoholic but oh so sophisticated!

What a place! We loved it! We actually rave about it!

 And where were we?

Olympos Lodge in the south of Turkey, 80 km west of Antalya.

with a dramatic backdrop of Mt Tahtalı

Turkish Breakfast by the Sea

I think I am in heaven.

the breakfast buffet centrepiece

Actually I am in Olympos down in the south of Turkey beside the shimmering Mediterranean. We are all here, little Eva too. It is very hot and unbelievably humid but as a result everything is green and lush. The gardens of this place are artfully overgrown, the beach is just beyond.

the dining area

Ducks waddle around the breakfast tables, two cats entranced with each other go everywhere together and we wonder idly if they like olives... There are peacocks that cry raucously, sometimes so loud that they are disturbing. Chickens and doves ... a hedgehog ambled by at dinner and there was a tortoise in the undergrowth this morning.  Eva at just one, is a bit too young to take it all in.

soul mates

To date my most popular post ever has been The Great Turkish Breakfast. Let me tell you about this morning’s and you will see why breakfast is by far and away my favourite meal in this country.

It’s an open buffet in the garden, everything beautifully presented in wooden bowls and  woven baskets,  and on huge wooden platters with a hint of the Far East.

the sight that greets us when we go for breakfast

A wide selection of shiny black olives, various jams, yogurts, fruits, and cheeses are all displayed with flair.  To protect them from dust and insects, everything is meticulously covered with cling film. On one side there are the breads and freshly baked poğaça and kurabiye. The smell alone is so tempting that you can’t help taking one.

the poğaça - savoury pastries with cheese inside

warm and fragrant kurabiye fresh from the oven - they
melt in your mouth!

unusual local olives/zeytin. The white line is a çizik or slit made with a knife

the pale green one is acur, a kind of cucumber that you don't find in the big city

I love the presentation

freshly boiled eggs

It looks like something out of a fairy tale.

the beach at Olympos

Mediterranean Salmon

June is always pretty hectic as it’s the perfect time in Istanbul for friends and family to come and visit.  And we love it! This past week has been like that: marvellous times, memories in the making and busy on the cooking front!

Mediterranean Salmon: doesn't this look fab?

I always think salmon is a good choice – how about you?

After my last post about meat-stuffed vine leaves, you will think I have this kind of dish on the brain. You may be right!  What I do like is the idea of several flavours all working together. Some people may not like the idea of the olives but personally I do. Black olives especially Turkish ones have a very distinctive taste that goes well with basil which also has a strong taste, combined with the beautiful sun-dried tomato that always reminds me of  warm summer days. All very Mediterranean indeed.

This recipe comes from our friend Gordon Ramsay and he does have some great recipes. He recommends alternative flavours for ‘studding’ the salmon: grilled red pepper, garlic slivers and pieces of anchovy in the basil leaves instead of the sun-dried tomatoes and olives, for example. But I recommend this.

This dish is super easy: you can prepare it in advance, always a plus, and bring it to the table just warm when it’s at its best. I served it  for dinner a few nights ago with potato wedgies sprinkled with flaked red pepper and dried thyme, and a green salad. Oh yes, I also had a fresh beetroot salad with onion and parsley tossed in a mustardy vinaigrette so there was a nice contrast of both flavours and colours. For starters we had artichokes/enginar.

It was an ideal early summer menu that we all enjoyed:

Ingredients for Gordon Ramsay's Mediterranean Salmon:

Salmon Fillet Studded with Black Olives rolled in Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Leaves

Serves 6

1 whole salmon fillet, about 800g, skin on and well-trimmed (mine was actually 960g)

9 marinated sundried tomatoes, halved

18 black olives, pitted (Gordon says preferably Niçoise but I say Turkish!)

18 basil leaves

3 tbsp olive oil

 

Method

·        Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Lay the salmon on a board and using an apple corer, make 18 holes in rows of three on the salmon fillet, just going through the skin but not cutting all the way through.

making the holes with the apple corer

·        Take a piece of sun-dried tomato and an olive and, using a basil leaf as a wrapper, roll up into a tight little parcel. Each parcel should be just big enough to plug into one of the holes.

rolling the olive and sundried tomato in a basil leaf

·        As you roll each parcel, stuff them into the holes until they are all filled.

oh so easy

·        Place the salmon fillet on a piece of greased foil on a baking tray, then season with salt and pepper and drizzle with the olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20 mins until just cooked. Remove from the oven and leave to cool until just warm, then carefully lift the salmon onto a serving dish and serve, or leave to cool completely.

transfer to an attractive serving dish and you have the makings of a
very impressive dinner!

Afiyet Olsun!

Gordon's Tips

1. To transfer the fish from the roasting tray to a platter, loosen the fillet by drawing a palette knife between the fish and the foil, then use a palette knife and a fish slice to lift onto the platter. Don’t worry if some of the skin stays stuck to the foil.
2. The flavour of the dish is best when it’s served lukewarm, but it’s also delicious cold if made the day before. If you do make it ahead, chill the salmon on its serving platter and serve with a lemony mayonnaise.

 

Vine Leaves Stuffed with Rice and Meat - Etli Yaprak Sarma

Here are the leaves I picked a few days ago after it stopped raining......

........from the vine in our Assos garden.

It’s been a very wet spring and this past week was punctuated by thunderstorms and pouring rain. But the garden has loved it. The leaves on this vine were perfect for rolling: young and fresh. This is ideal as later on they toughen up and become difficult to roll. You can also buy these leaves preserved in brine.  If so, soak them thoroughly in hot water and leave for ten minutes to remove the salt. Rinse under cold running water. If you buy fresh leaves which aren’t  necessarily the first ones of the season, do the same to soften them up: just a few minutes in hot water will suffice before rinsing.

These are called sarma in Turkish because they are rolled and not stuffed. If they were, they would be dolma!  So we have cabbage and chard sarma but tomato, aubergine and courgette dolma. This recipe is with meat so they are eaten hot with yogurt as the main course. When the filling comprises only rice, they become a zeytinyağlı  or olive oil dish, and always eaten cold without yogurt.

The idea of this filling is basically minced lamb or beef with onion and a  little rice, with other flavours added to the mix.  Personally I think lamb is better here. As with all these savoury dishes, I wouldn’t worry too much about exact quantities.

One of the several recipes for this that I browsed through happened to mention that if those little sour greenplums are available – which they are – scatter a few on top of the sarma. Their taste changes dramatically in the cooking and I really recommend following this tip! TT remembers his mother doing this.

One last point: to be honest, rolling these vine leaves is a bit fiddly especially the small ones. Not difficult but  a little time-consuming until you get the knack. But if you have made sigara börek or rolled up chard leaves, you’ll find it very similar. And practice makes perfect! After the first 10 or so, you’ll be rolling like a pro!

I started out with 32 vine leaves. I ran out so had to pick another 10, still had extra filling so had to rush out into the garden for the third time! In the end I must have made about 50 sarma.

Ingredients for Vine Leaves Stuffed with Meat and Rice/Etli Yaprak Sarma

Based closely on a recipe from Özlem’s Turkish Table:

Serves 4 -6

30 grape vine leaves

350 gr/12 oz minced lamb or beef/kuzu veya dana kıyma

2 med onions, finely chopped

115 gr/4 oz long grain rice, rinsed and drained

1 large tomato, grated + 1 small tsp tomato paste (both optional)

1 bunch/approx 150g fresh dill/dereotu, finely chopped

 1  good handful parsley/maydonoz, finely chopped

5 ml/ 1 teaspoon dried mint/kuru nane

45 ml/ 3 tbsp olive oil

Salt and ground pepper to taste

8 fl oz/ 1 cup water to cook the stuffed vine leaves

 6 tbsp or more plain yogurt to serve

8-10 sour green plums/yeşil erik (if using)

Method

Before starting, line the base of a heavy saucepan with some torn or otherwise spoilt vine leaves (this is to prevent sticking)

like this

Prepare the vine leaves as above and then snip off the stalks and the main vein if tough. If left, the leaf will tear when rolled.

here we are

·        Place the minced beef or lamb in a bowl and stir in the onions, herbs and spices. Add the grated tomato and tomato paste if using. Season, combine with 1 tablespoon olive oil and knead well.

well-kneaded

·        Lay one of the vine leaves with the matte side facing you on a flat surface and spoon some filling in the middle of the leaf. Pull the leaf over the filling, fold in the sides, then roll into a tight log (try not to overfill, as the filling may ooze out). Arrange the vine leaves, seam side down, in a deep wide pan. Pack them tightly together, layer by layer. Scatter the green plums if using.

about to roll

first left then right, tucking in the filling all the time

the plums were from a neighbour's tree

·        Mix the remaining oil with 1 cup (8 fl oz) water, then pour over the vine leaves. The water should almost cover the top layer, so you may need to add more.

·        Place a heavy plate over the rolls and put the pan on medium heat.

this is to prevent the rolls from unravelling

·        Once it starts to bubble, lower the heat, cover and cook gently for about 40 minutes, until the rice and meat are cooked.

·        Serve hot with yogurt and a slice of crusty bread.

Afiyet Olsun!

 Many thanks to Özlem’s mother for this great recipe!

Go on, give it a go! They're delicious!