Hér Kitchén

SMOKED SALMON TARTAR WITH AVOCADO AND CUCUMBER

2014-02-20T04:40:00.000-08:00

SMOKED SALMON TARTAR WITH AVOCADO AND CUCUMBER

Yet another delicious recipe with smoked salmon and avocado. I love it!

This recipe is from the Flemish TV channel; it also had fresh salmon but I did not have any at hand so I just made it with smoked salmon. I will explain as I made it.

Ingredients

1 thick slice of smoked salmon

2 fresh chives, chopped fine

Juice of half of a lime

Half a cucumber, peeled

Half a ripe avocado, peeled

1 stick of fresh tarragon, chopped fine

Salt and pepper to your taste

1 chive for decoration

Method

I cubed the smoked salmon and put it in a bowl
After I peeled the cucumber, I cut it into 4 pieces lengthwise and cleaned the seeds. After this, I cubed the cucumber pieces.
Except for the avocado, I added all the ingredients in the bowl and mixed them carefully in order not to smash them.
I cubed the avocado as well and added it to the tartar mix in the bowl and mixed it gently and carefully with the rest.
The tartar mix is ready. Now it is up to you to decorate and serve it :-)

Step 2 - cucumber

Step 1 & 4 - avocado and smoked salmon in cubes

Step 4 - tartar mix with smoked salmon, avocado and cucumber

Step 5 - shaping it baby

SMOKED SALMON TARTAR WITH AVOCADO AND CUCUMBER

SMOKED SALMON BONBONS WITH GOAT CHEESE, APPEL AND AVOCADO

2014-01-19T03:39:00.001-08:00

SMOKED SALMON BONBONS WITH GOAT CHEESE, APPEL AND AVOCADO

I love smoked salmon, I love goat cheese and I love avocado. This starter is so easy to make yet so chic and impressive on the table! But most important of all, it is definitely delicious!

My recipe is based on a recipe I saw got on the Flemish TV channel. I explain it as I made it.

Ingredients (enough to fill 4 – 5 mini oven dishes as in the pic)

6 – 8 slices of smoked salmon

1 spoon of oil

Salt and pepper to your taste

For the filling

50 gr. Of goat cheese

Half of a ripe and soft avocado, peeled

Half of a green apple (like granny smith), peeled

1 spoon of lime juice

1 spoon of sour cream

2 fresh chives, chopped

2 leaves of dill, chopped

Extra kitchen material: mini oven dishes + stretch folio

Method

First I prepared the filling: cut the avocado roughly in cubes, add the goat cheese and mix them well by smashing the avocado with the help of a fork
Cube the apple; add it into the avocado goat cheese mixture with the rest of the ingredients of the filling. Mix well and set aside.
Take the oven dishes and brush inside with the oil. Cut the stretch folio in squares which are big enough to come out of the oven dish. Lay the stretch folio in the oven dishes as in the picture.
Lay the slices of smoked salmon in the oven dish and make sure the inside part of the oven dish is covered with salmon. Make also sure that the salmon dangles out of the oven dish. For that, cut some pieces that are big enough to spill out of the oven dish in order to cover the inside walls of the oven dish (see the picture to understand where you have to get :))
Fill the salmon with the filling and cover the filling with the pieces of salmon that dangles out of the oven dish (see the pic)
Fold the edges of the cling film together, pull tight and fasten the plastic (see the pic)
Set it in the fridge for a few hours before serving so that the filling becomes firm.

sliced smoked salmon

Cover the oven dish first with the stretch folio and then with the smoked salmon

chives, green apple and lime

fill the smoked salmon with the goat cheese, avocado filling

Cover the filling with the salmon dangling out of the oven dish

Fold the edges of the cling film together, pull tight and fasten the plastic

Set the bonbons in the fridge for a few hours

SMOKED SALMON BONBONS WITH GOAT CHEESE, APPEL AND AVOCADO

MARINATED MOZZARELLA BALLS

2014-01-19T02:48:00.003-08:00

MARINATED MOZERELLA BALLS

Easy to make, delicious to eat :)

I made those at the new years eve party that I held for the family. They all think it was delicious.

I am not giving any measurements, you will have to experiment with the amounts in order to find the optimum taste according to your liking :-)

Ingredients

Mozzarella balls (see the pic for the approximate amount)

4 – 5 sun dried tomato

For the marinade

Extra virgin olive oil

Fresh rosemary

Fresh or dried thyme

Grain salt

Method

Except the sun dried tomatos I mixed all the ingredients and I let it rest in my refrigrator for a night, covered.
The next day, I boiled water and soaked the dried tomates in the water for about half an hour until the tomatos are really soft (I was busy with other stuff in the mean time so you can be done earlier if the tomatos are soft). I drained the tomatos and chopped them in small bits. I mixed the tomatos with the rest of the ingredients and marinated them for a few hours more until I served them.

mozzarella balls marinated in fresh rosemary, dried thyme, extra virgin olive oil

MARINATED MOZERELLA BALLS

SWISS CHARD DOLMA

2013-02-20T08:05:00.001-08:00

Swiss chard dolma

Ok, I know it has been a long time that I’ve last posted here. I am still writing my recipes but in a Turkish blog. Looking at the traffics of this English blog I thought it is not really interesting to put Turkish recipes on the internet.

Anyway. But I know there are people out there who would and indeed do take interest with what I have to share. Big thanks to Sandra, the English lady in Italy, who genuinely gives me courage to continue with what I have to offer.

I will start putting translations of recipes I’ve posted earlier on my Turkish blog.

Here we go. Again. :)

Well, dolma stuff are really typical Turkish food. I know that in the neighbor countries like Romania, Greece, and Armenia and or even in the Middle East they make dolma. In Europe dolma is called dolmades after the Greek ones.

Normally the most common dolma we make is with the grape leaves. You can find freshly picked grape leaves or brined grape leaves. So all year long you can make them :) They also make dolma of any other leaves actually. Like swiss chard, like swiss chard or collard greens. It is the first time I try the swiss chard, but I can assure you that it is delicious. I found that the swiss chard is more difficult to work with than the grape leaves because they are more tender than the grape leaves. You have to be careful not to tear the leaf. But the result is great! I think it might be even more convenient for the palate of the European people because it is so tender. In Turkey we say “it is like eating Turkish delight” when we say that something is soft and tender in the mouth (like a piece of sofly baked meat) and I think swiss chard dolma was also like Turkish delight in that sense :)

Ingredients (see the notes below)

1 bundle of swiss chard, washed and drained

a bundle of swiss chard

For the filling:

1 glass of rice, washed and drained

1 medium sized onion, chopped fine

1 handful of fresh mint, chopped fine

1 handful of parsley leaves, chopped fine

1 fresh onion, chopped fine

Salt to your liking

3 – 4 drops of sumac molasses (see the notes below)

Water

Olive oil

Method:

I started with preparing the filling: I heated the olive oil in a pan and I sautéed the onion for 3 – 4 minutes. Then I added the rice and sautéed it with the onion until the rice became transparent. When the rice was transparent I added half of a glass of water and closed the lid and cooked the rice until it soaked all the water on low fire.
When the rice soaked the water and was half-cooked, I turned off the fire; I added some salt and put the pot uncovered aside so that the filling could cool down a bit.
While the rice was cooling down, I prepared the leaves of the swiss chard: I cut off the stalks of the swiss chard and put them aside. I used my pressure-cooker to steam-cook the leaves and I steam cooked the swiss chard leaves for 2 minutes. I let it aside a bit to let it cool down and squeezed the leaves to get rid of the excess water they had when they were a bit cooler. (see the notes section below)
When the rice filling cooled down, I added the fresh herbs and the sumac molasses and mixed.
Before rolling the dolma, I made sure that I placed the rice filling on the part of the leave where the windpipes are placed. This will ensure a better looking dolma on the outside. Also, on the wider part of the leaf, if not the very middle. I closed the leave from left and right on the filling as if I am making a package. I rolled the pointy upper part on the filling and started rolling the whole leaf (see the pictures). I continued with this process until all the leaves were filled with the filling.
I placed the dolma’s in a pot and poured half a glass of water (or a bit less). On low fire, I cooked the dolmas until the rice is soft. For me it took 15 – 20 minutes.

Step 1 - the filling of the swiss chard dolma

Step 5 - place the filling in the internal part of the leaf where you see the thick windpipe of the leaf

Step 5 - place the filling on the wider part of the leaf.

Step 5 - close the left and right wider sides of the leaf on the filling

Step 5 - close the pointy upper part on the filling; by enclosing from the sides, start rolling

Step 5 - swiss chard leaf rolled around the filling

Step 6 - cook the dolma for about 15 - 20 minutes in half a glass of water so that they don't burn or stick to the bottom

Delicious swiss chard dolma

Swiss chard dolma

Notes:

This amount will only be enough for 2 people for a dinner or lunch.
Alternative to the steam-cooking, you can blanche the leaves of the swiss card. Place them in boiling water and keep them there for 30 seconds to 1 minute; that is, until they are bright green and soft. Squeeze them out of the excess water without tearing the leaves.
If you do not have any sumac molasses available; alternatively you can use pomegranate molasses or half a lemon juice.

HOW TO STOCK EDIBLE PLANTS IN THE DEEP-FREEZE

2013-02-08T01:51:00.000-08:00

In İstanbul the edible plants are not available as long as they are in the Egean region of Turkey. It is usually from April to May only that we can find them on the stalls of the open air markets. However, loving to consume edible plants, I could stock them in my deep-freeze the whole year long without loosing much taste to them. This way I could enjoy my favourite börek the entire winter (click here for the recipe) :)

Back in may, I bought so many edible plants, it was a bit of work to manage all that stocking process because you have to be quick otherwise the plants wilt and loose taste. But it was worth in the end of all that effort.

I used more or less the same process for all the edible plants that I stocked:

mellow,

goosefoot,

wild mustard,

lambs quarters (white goosefoot, pigweed) - see picture below

patience dock,

wild radish (see picture below),

dandelion,

golden thistle,

nettle.

That’s what I did:

Depending on the edible plant, I steam-cooked the plant in my pressure cooker. As an alternative to steam-cooking in the pressure cooker, you can boil some water in a pot and soak the plants in the boiling water and take them out immediately with the help of a strainer. I find the steam-cooking method the most convenient as you don’t have to bother yourself with dripping water all around.

As for the duration of steam-cooking, it depends on the plant: For something quite rhizomorphous like golden thistle it took longer. For all the other kinds of grean leaves like dock I steam-cooked them until they are bright green in colour (meaning 1 – 2 minutes). In the case of plants with harder stems such as mellow, I cut their stems apart and steam-cooked them seperately and for 3 – 4 minutes. You have to see it for yourself because region per region, the same type of plant might have a harder stem or leaves. See the pictures below for a few examples of how the plants looked before and after steam-cooking in the pressure cooker.

After steam-cooking the plants, I squeezed them to get rid of the excess water and put them in the deep-freeze bags in portions that I thought I could use.Time to vacuum-seal the bag: Holding the open part of the deep-freeze bags between my index finger and thumb, I put in a drinking straw in the bag and I sucked the air out of the bag. Without letting much air back in, I sealed the bag with a coated wire. When the plant cooled down a bit, I put the bag in the deep-freeze.

wild radish, jointed charlock, wild charlock

steam-cooked wild radish: bright green after 1 - 2 minutes of steam-cooking

Lambs quarters, white goosefoot, pigweed

steam-cooked lambs quarters: bright green after 1 - 2 minutes of steam-cooking

BÖREK WITH MALLOW, GOOSEFOOT AND FETA

2012-05-11T11:18:00.003-07:00

This is the börek in my dreams! It is extremely delicious!

I used to see goosefoot on the stalls in the open air markets here; but a few years ago I did not like it so much when I tried it raw in the salad. It was too crunchy for my liking. But this plant does just wonders in the börek! A must try!

goosefoot is just delicious in börek

Ingredients: (serves 3 – 4)

2 thin flaky dough (known as yufka or phyllo)

For the stuffing:

A handful of mallow, washed and drained

Half a bundle of goosefoot, washed and drained

200 gr. Feta, grated

grated feta

1 tea spoon of dried red pepper flakes (optional)

For the sauce/milky wash

1 egg white

Half a glass of milk

2 spoons of olive oil

Half a glass of sparkling water

2 spoons of yoghurt

For the top of the börek/ for the glaze

1 egg yolk

Black cumin or sesame seeds

Method:

Keep the stalks and the leaves of the mallow seperately. Steam-cook the mallow leaves for 1 minute. Alternatively you can soak them in boiling water for a minute and take them out immediately. As for the stalks, steam-cook or boil them for 10 minutes as they are harder. Chop the mallow.
Steam-cook the goosefoot for 1 - 2 minutes. Alternatively you can soak them in boiling water for 1 - 2 minutes and take it out and drain.
Mix the ingredients of the filling.
Whisk the ingredients of the sauce. Add 2 -3 spoons of this mixture into the mixture for the filling.
Lay one of the phyllo over a flat area. Cut it into half. Set one of the halves apart in order to use later. Moisten the phyllo with a 3 – 4 spoons of the sauce (or 6 -7 dessert spoons).
Take ¼ of the börek filling and place it on phyllo going parallel to the long end of the phyllo. Fold the left and right ends inside with 1 cm. and start rolling the phyllo over the filling.
Place the roll in an oven dish by giving it a spiral shape.
Apply the same process for the rest of the phyllo; going over the spiral shape in the middle everytime.
Brush the egg yolk over the börek.
Sprinkle the rest of the milky wash over the börek.
Sprinkle black cumin or sesame seeds.
Bake the börek until it becomes golden on top in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees celcius.

Step 1 & 2 - mallow and goosefoot chopped

Step 3

Step 5 - cut the phyllo into two from the middle

Step 6

Step 6 - start rolling

Step 6 - that is what you will get after having rolled each phyllo over the filling

Step 7

Step 8

Step 9 - 10 - 11

börek with mallow, goosefoot and feta - just delicious!

TURKISH STYLE LAMBS MEAT SAUTÉ

2012-05-11T10:37:00.000-07:00

This is one of the simplest yet really delicious recipes of the Turkish home cooking! When I don’t feel like spending hours in the kitchen, that’s something I quickly prepare and it goes very well with a bowl of fresh green salad!

Ingredients (serves 3)

700 gr. Lambs meat, cubed

2 green peppers, ringed (if you have paprika at hand to use, then use max 1 paprika)

2 – 3 tomatoes, peeled and cubed

2 – 3 cloves of garlic, sliced

1 pinch of cumin

1 pinch or less of pimento

Pepper and salt

Method

Take the meat in a pan and sauté on high heat until the meat releases some water and soaks this water back.
Add the garlic and the peppers and sauté for 3 – 4 minutes.
Add the tomato and the salt, close the lid and cook on low heat for 2 -3 minutes more.
When the tomatoes are cooked, turn off the fire. Add the spice and mix.

Step 1

TURKISH STYLE LAMBS MEAT SAUTÉ

FENNEL WITH BLACK EYED BEANS AND MEAT

2012-05-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

Delicious!

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 su cups of black-eyed beans, soaked in water overnight

black-eyed beans

250 – 300 gr. Lambs meat, in small cubes

meat in cubes

1 fennel, washed and cubed

fennel cubed

1 onion, cubed

1 dessert spoon of tomato paste

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

1 – 1.5 warm water

Salt

Method:

Take the black-eyed beans in the pressure water, add water just to cover the beans and cook them soft for 10 – 15 minutes in your pressure-cooker. When they are soft enough, drain.
Take the olive oil in a pan and heat. Add the onions and saute for two to three minutes.
Add the meat and saute until the meat releases some water and soaks the water back again.
Add the tomato paste and saute for 2 -3 minutes more.
Add the fennel, the black-eyed beans and the water and mix. Close the lid and cook over low heat for 15 – 20 minutes until the fennel gets soft. Add the salt.

Step 3

fennel with black eyed beans and meat

TURKISH STYLE MEAT AND VEGETABLE STEW

2012-05-11T08:48:00.000-07:00

Something typical for Turkish home cooking! It is delicious!

I suggest you to combine it with this delicious bulgur pilaf and green cacik; it will be a typical Turkish dinner :-)

Ingredients (Serves 4)

2 aubergines, peeled in stripes and in big cubes

3 courgettes (I remember that the courgette in Belgium was bigger than the ones in Turkey, so you can limit the courgettes to two)

250 – 300 gr. Beans, washed and the strings should be cleaned

150 – 200 gr. Lambs meat, in small cubes

1 onion, cubed

1 spoon of tomato paste (turkish “salça”; please consult your Turkish or middle eastern supermarket)

1 dessert spoon of pepper paste (turkish “biber salçasi”; please consult your Turkish or middle eastern supermarket)

2 peppers, sliced in big pieces

2 – 3 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

1 – 1.5 warm water

Salt

Method:

Soak the aubergines in salty water for 10 minutes. This we do in order to get rid of the bitter taste of the aubergines.
In a deep and big pot, heat the olive oil. Sauté meat until it soaks the water that it releases. Add the onion and the garlic and sauté two or three minutes.
Add the pepper and continue sauteing for 3 – 4 minutes.
Add the salça (tomato and pepper paste) and continue sautéing for 2 -3 minutes more (or until you do not smell the raw odor of the tomato and pepper pastes.
Add the aubergines, the courgette and the beans and mix. Add the water and close the lid. Cook over low heat for 15 – 20 minutes.
When the vegetables are soft enough, add the salt and mix.

step 1

Turkish style meat and vegetable stew

GOLDEN THISTLE WITH LAMBS MEAT

2012-05-11T06:25:00.000-07:00

In the past weeks I discovered the golden thistle plant :) I tried three different recipes with it and I guess my favourite one will be this one (Click here for the golden thistle recipe with chicken); it is delicious!

I notice that I have not posted the other recipe with golden thistle yet but it will be here soon!

Ingredients (serves 4 – 5)

1 kg golden thistle, washed and drained. Cut roughly into 2 – 3 pieces

1 onion, cubed

300 gr. Lambs meat, cubed

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

1.5 – 2 glasses of warm water

Salt

For the liaison

1 egg yolk

1 spoon of flour

The juice of 1 lemon(you may consider adding more or less than this amount depending on how much you like sour)

Method:

Take the meat to the pressure cooker and saute it on high heat. When the colour turns a bit and the meat sticks to the cooker, add the olive oil and mix; cook the meat a few minutes more until it releases some water and soaks that water back again.
Add the onion and sauté 2 – 3 minutes more.
Add the golden thistle and saute for 2 minutes more.
Add the warm water and close the lid and pressure-cook it for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the creamy sauce: whisk the liaison until the flour dissolves well.
When the golden thistle is cooked, take a soup ladle of the water in the pressure-cooker and mix it fast into the liaison. After that, pour the liaison into the pressure cooker and mix. Cook for 2 – 3 minutes more until the smell of the flour disappears. Add salt, mix and serve.

Step 2

Step 4

GOLDEN THISTLE WITH LAMBS MEAT

HOME MADE MULBERRY JAM

2012-05-11T05:32:00.001-07:00

Last week the mulberries that I bought were a bit too much so I made some jam with them.

I browsed the internet for the recipe. For jam, they talk about at least 1 kg of sugar for 1 kg of fruit. For the mulberries this is 1.5 kg sugar. As it was the first time I made jam, I used the amounts indicated. But oh boy! I should have know; it is Turkish style: sickeningly sweet! I regret that I added so much sugar really. Next time, I will add less than 1 kg of sugar for the mulberries; because they are sweet enough anyway!

Ingredients:

1 kg of mulberry; washed (throw away the bad ones as they will only ruin the taste of your jam)

Max 1 kg of sugar (please note the comment above)

Juice of 1 lemon

Method:

In a big deep sauce pan, take the ingredients by placing them layer by layer: one layer of mulberry, and one layer of sugar over it. Let the mulberries rest for 2 hours with the sugar.
Heat the mulberries with the sugar and the lemon juice on low fire until the sugar melts. Let it boil. Continue boiling for 10 minutes more. Skim off.

Step 1

Step 2

home made mulberry jam

KNOTGRASS

2012-05-04T05:47:00.002-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Madimak otu yemegi tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

I posted a recipe with knotgrass before (a year ago or so).

The recipe I am posting now is not much different from the past one, but I still wanted to have it here as last time I did not know that I had to clean the stalks off and only cook the leaves of the knotgrass! The stalks never get soft!

Ingredients (serves 3 – 4)

Half a kilo knotgrass leaves (pick the leaves and throw the stalks away)

we will use the leaves of the knotgrass, therefore clean the stalks off of the knotgrass

knotgrass leaves

1 big onion, cubed

2 spoons of bulgur (alternative: rice)

5 – 6 slices of sujuk (Sujuk is a Turkish spicy sausage. A substitute would be the Spanish merguez)

2 – 3 tomatos, pureed

1 - 1.5 glasses of warm water

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

Salt

Method:

Heat the olive oil in a pan and sauté the onions in the olive oil for 3 – 4 minutes.
Add the sujuk and continue sautéing for 2 – 3 minutes more.
Add the knotgrass and mix until it shrinks a bit.
Add the tomato puree, bulgur and the warm water, close the lid and cook over low heat for 10 – 15 minutes. Add the salt.

Step 2

Step 3

knotgrass dish

knotgrass with sujuk and tomato

knotgrass with sujuk an tomato

STUFFED BORAGE LEAVES IN TOMATO SAUCE

2012-05-04T05:05:00.003-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Domates sosunda hodan dolmasi tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

When I made this delicious dish of borage, I kept some leaves apart in order to make dolma! (Btw, I know that in English the Greek word “dolmades” is the common term used for what we call “dolma” here. But as the Greek word is also derived from the Turkish word, I kind of find it absurd to call it “dolmades” in my English blog. FYI: Dolma comes from the verb dolmak (to fill/to stuff) in Turkish and this way dolma means “stuffed”)

I tried to make pictures of the process of rolling the borage leaves, but none of the pictures were clear; therefore I cannot post any here! I will try to explain in words!

Actually I know nobody that makes dolma of the borage leaves. I got the inspiration to use a few borage leaves to make dolma from a food magazine in Turkey. However, I did not like the recipe that had for filling; therefore I browsed the internet to see if there is anything worth trying. I saw only two recipes which were similar but not interesting. Therefore I created my own filling! And it was simply delicious! Too bad I have used the minced meat that came out from my deep-freezer, otherwise I would have kept the dolma’s in the deep-freeze in order to serve to my guests! The combination with the tomato sauce was also very successful; the tomato sauce just completes the taste of the dolma! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients (serves 3 – 4 people)

20 – 25 borage leaves, small leaves if possible.

borage leaves, the ones I had were quite big!

For the stuffing:

150 gr. Minced meat

A handful of dill, chopped fine

A handful of parsley, chopped fine

A handful of çeçil cheese (I did not find the English word for this specific cheese of Turkey. But that’s what I found on the internet: http://davescupboard.blogspot.com/2009/03/turkish-cheese-3-cecil-peyniri.html) , chopped. On the link it is said that “Çeçil peyniri's flavor is very similar to young, mild cheddar”, therefore you can substitute this specific cheese with young cheddar)

çeçil cheese

çeçil cheese, chopped

1 egg

Flaked red pepper to your liking

2 spoons of corn flour
1 garlic tooth, crushed

1 spoon of olive oil (in case you use low fat minced meat)

Salt to your liking (take the salty taste of the cheese into account)

For the tomato sauce

1 spoon of olive oil

1 teeth of garlic, chopped

2 – 3 tomatos, pureed

Salt

1 spoon of pomegranate syrup (optional if you do not have any, but it’d be a pity if you did not have any because it tastes great and takes the simple tomato sauce into another level! :) )

Method:

Steam-cook the leaves for a few minutes. Alternatively you can boil water, soak the leaves in that water for a minute and take the leaves out of the water and drain by squeezing a bit.
If your leaves were as big and as thick-veined as mine, fold the leave from the middle where you see the thick vein and cut the vein off without damaging the leave. The dolmas should be small, not too big; therefore I cut the big leaves into two or sometimes three pieces. Cut a medium sized leave into two in the middle where you just cut the vein off. If the leave is too big, then measure three fingers up from the pointy end of the leave and cut the leave from there. You can divide the rest of the leave into two by cutting from the middle.
Mix the ingredients for the stuffing.
Time to fill the leaves with the stuffing: put the shiny side of the leave down and the veiny side up. Take a spoon of the stuffing and place it on the veiny side of the leave, give it a tubular shape. Take the upper end of the leave (if you cut your leaves into 2 – 3 pieces as I explained above, then place the stuffing on the longest end of your leave) and roll it under the stuffing (if not totally under, it should at least cover the whole stuffing.) roll once, and bring the left and right ends in, tuck them in, roll a bit more and tuck the unrolled part of the leave in and roll until you have the dolma.
I steam-cooked the dolmas for about 15 – 20 in my pressure-cooker. Alternatively, you can place the dolmas in a Teflon pot, add a few spoons of water and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes. Cook some more if not soft enough.
For the tomato sauce: Heat the butter and a drop of olive oil in a sauce pan; sauté the garlic for a minute. Add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes until you have a sauce. Add the pomegranate syrup and mix and turn off the heat.
Take the dolmas to a plate and pour the tomato sauce on the dolmas!

Step 5 - I steam cooked the dolmas

Step 6 - tomato sauce

Step 7 - take the dolmas on a serving plate...

Step 7 - Pour the tomato sauce on the dolmas! Ready to serve!

CRUNCHY YOGURT DESSERT WITH BLACK MULBERRIES

2012-04-30T08:11:00.000-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Karadutlu yogurt tatlisi tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

It is something that I make for myself when I am desperate for some quick dessert. I just love it (though my husband does not like it at all :p) and I keep making it. I decided to post it because I think simple yet delicious recipes should be shared!

Ingredients (for 1 person)

1 bowl of black mulberries, washed

black mulberries, looking good, tasting great!

1 small package of vanilin sugar (5 gr packages of Dr. Oetker – you can add as much as you like)

3 – 4 spoons of strained yoghurt (or greek yoghurt)

2 – 3 spoons of milk

4 spoons of cornflakes with red fruit

Method:

Mix the yoghurt, the milk and the vanilin sugar.
Take a big glass; add one spoon of cornflakes, then a few black mulberries on top and then some yoghurt. Continue with this process until your glass is full. I never have the patience to do so but I believe storing in the fridge before serving the dessert would work out fine as well!

Step 1

crunchy yoghurt dessert with black mulberries

PURSLANE AND LENTIL SALAD WITH HALLOUMI AND SLICES OF PEAR

2012-04-30T07:39:00.000-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Mercimekli semizotu salatasi (hellim peyniri ile) tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

I love purslane! It never disappoints, never! In Turkey we make yoghurt dip with purslane, or green salad with purslane or purslane dish with chickpeas and some garlic. All delicious!

This time I wanted to make something different with purslane; so I created this delicious salad! I found it delicious indeed and my husband could only agree – that’s why I decided to post it! Hope you will enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients (Serves 2)

The leaves of ¾ of a bundle of purslane (or simply said: purslane as much as you want :p )

2 cups of lentil, soaked in water the day before and boiled

2 spoons of balsamic vinegar

2 spoons of pomegranate syrup (optional)

150 gr halloumi cheese, sliced

8 slices of pear (I peeled off the skin)

A handful of walnuts

A handful of dried cranberries

2 spoons of olive oil

Note: as the halloumi is quite salty kind of cheese, I do not add extra salt to the salad.

Method:

Share the purslane leaves into the salad bowls.
Add 5 spoons of the boiled lentil in each bowl and mix with the purslane leaves.
Mix the balsamic vinegar with the pomegranate syrup and pour over the purslane mix.
Garnish with the pear slices (4 slices to each bowl), the rest of the lentil, the walnuts and the dried cranberries.
Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the halloumi on low fire. I like them golden-brown. Alternatively, you can grill the cheese! Share the cheese into the salad and serve!

Step 5

the very delicious purslane and lentil salad with halloumi

BEANS WITH FENNEL

2012-04-27T07:20:00.001-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Arapsaçli kuru fasülye tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

Quite easy. Quite tasty. Quite healthy as well!

bundel of fennel I bought from the bazaar

Ingredients (serves 4 – 5)

300 – 400 gr beans, soak them in water the night before.

1 bundle of fennel foliage, the hard and old stalks and leaves cleaned, cut into 2 – 3

fennel, cleaned

1 big onion, cubed

2 tomatos, peeled and cubed

1 spoon of tomato paste (optional)

1 spoon of olive oil (you can use more if you like)

2.5 – 3 cups of warm water

Salt

Method:

Drain the beans and boil them until they are soft. I boiled the beans for half an hour but I think the beans I had were a bit old; therefore some of them came apart and some were still not that soft.
Warm the olive oil in a pan and saute the onions on warm heat.
Add the tomatoes that you cubed and saute for five minutes more.
Add the warm water, close the lid and let the water boil.
When the water boils, add the fennel foliage and cook for 5 minutes more.
Add the beans and the salt ; cook for 15 minutes more.

Step 1

Step 3

Step 5

Step 6

Beans with fennel

ARABIAN CACIK (ARABIAN TZATZIKI)

2012-04-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Arap cacigi tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

Here in Istanbul, there is a kebab restaurant that we visit every now and then. There they serve this meze which they call “Arap cacığı” (Arabian Cacik) - something we like! I am not sure anymore how they prepared it but this did not stop me from trying their Arabian cacik at home! So I am not sure what they call Arabian cacik is the same as mine, but who cares? I can assure you that what I made at home had this mild taste that was really good and accompanied the vegetable dish that I made very well! I think you can serve this cacik next to anything!

The restaurant serves their cacik with tiny bulgur balls that are fried. I had some bulgur balls in my deepfreeze from the other day that I made some bulgur balls in sour sauce (click here for the recipe). I had put them already boiled, so the only thing I did with them was to defreeze them in the microwave. If you don’t have any bulgur balls available at hand, you can try to serve this yoghurt meze with meatballs or so as well. Or just omit the bulgur balls! I think it will still be very tasty!

Ingredients (makes 1 small plate of mezze)

1 courgette, in small cubes

I cubed the courgette

3 – 4 spoons of strained yoghurt (or greek yoghurt)

Coriander / cilantro, as much as you like, chopped fine (I added as much as seen in the picture but I really love coriander and cannot get enough of it! But if you do not want the strong taste of coriander dominating every other taste so much, then I suggest you to add much less than the amount as in the picture!)

coriander

As many bulgur balls as to spread over the meze plate (10 - 12 of them if they are as big as mine) For the recipe of bulgur balls you can click here

1 – 2 cloves of garlic, crushed

Salt

Method:

Steam-cook the courgette cubes for about 10 – 15 minutes. Set aside to cool down.
Distill the strained yoghurt with water to your taste. Add the crushed garlic, the coriander and the salt and mix.
When the courgette cubes cooled down a bit, mix them into the yoghurt mixture.
Garnish with the bulgur balls and serve.

Step 1 - I steam-cooked the courgette in cubes

Arabian cacik

MALLOW WITH SPINACH AND MINCED MEAT

2012-04-23T08:33:00.003-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Kiymali ispanakli ebegümeci tarifi için burayi tiklayin.)

Finally the old guy who sells all sorts of herbs and legumes is back in the bazaar! That means that the season is on! This week I bought some dock, some fennel foliage and something I’ve not tried before: mallow!

a bundle of mallow

mallow

I am hoping to make the fennel foliage with some beans. If I am not too lazy, I am hoping to make filled dock this time.

As it is the first time that I used mallow in my kitchen, I would like to note the following: In my cooking book, the way to clean and process the stalks of the mallow seemed a bit too long for me. If the end parts of the stalks that look like Y are too thick, then they are not desirable and are advised to be peeled off or chopped off. I didn’t peel of anything, to be really honest, and neither did I throw away the too thick Y-looking-like ends of the stems. Instead, I separated the stalks and the leaves and I steam-cooked the stalks in my pressure cooker. But after 10 minutes of steam cooking, I noticed that the stalks are indeed hard, and I continued to steam-cook the stalks some 10 – 15 minutes more.

In my cooking book, the recipe did not include any spinach. However I had some at hand which needed to be consumed as soon as possible. Adding spinach is also a good idea if it is the first time you’ll taste mallow and you don’t know what to expect of the taste! Smooth first-encounter!

I am very very happy with the result! What I cooked tasted delicious, and I am looking forward to cooking some more mallow soon when it is still the season and when the plant is apparently so healthy! Needless to say, it tastes 1000x more delicious with some yoghurt and garlic sauce!!!

Ingredients (serves 4 – 5)

1 bundle of mallow, washed very well; stalks and leaves separated and chopped roughly

I seperated the leaves and the stalks of the mallow

mallow leaves

mallow stalks - I chopped them roughly

200 – 300 grams of spinach, washed well, and chopped roughly

1 big onion, cubed

150 – 200 grams of minced meat

2 spoons of bulgur (can substitute with rice, but count in that the rice cooks slower than the bulgur so I suggest you soak the rice in water a few minutes beforehand)

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

1 glass of warm water

Salt

Method:

Steam cook the stalks of the mallow. Because of the reasons I mentioned above, I suggest you start with 15 – 20 minutes of steam-cooking first and steam-cook some more if needed.
Sauté the onions in the olive oil for a minute or two.
Add the minced meat and sauté until the meat changes colour and it is cooked.
Add the spinach leaves and the mallow leaves bit by bit (as it is always too difficult to fit them in the pot at one time). When the leaves sink a bit, add the stalks that you steam-cooked.
Sprinkle the bulgur over, add warm water and close the lid. Cook on low heat for about 15 – 20 minutes lid closed. When the dish is cooked, add salt, mix and voila! It is ready to serve!

Step 1 - I steam-cooked the stalks

Step 3 - Saute the minced meat with onion

mallow with spinach and minced meat - ready to serve!

mallow with spinach and minced meat - with yoghurt and garlic sauce next to it!

BULGUR BALLS IN SOUR SAUCE (KURDISH BULGUR BALLS)

2012-04-20T10:07:00.002-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Eksili bulgur köftesi ya da diger adiyla Kürt köftesi için burayi tiklayin)

It’s just one of those things that I love to eat! It’s so tasty to me that I can keep eating it!

I am not going to tell you guys that it is an easy recipe; the ingredients are easy to find indeed, however the process of preparing the bulgur balls takes some patience and time. However, it is definetely worth the effort!

You can serve it warm or cold, as appetizer, as mezze or as the simple main dish – like you want!

I’d like to mention that the trick is in kneading the bulgur mixture! If you are patient there, then your bulgur balls will stick to each other. If you kept this process not long enough, then you might run the risk of your bulgur balls dissolving in water leaving a slurry mixture behind.

The first time I made this dish at home, unfortunately my bulgur balls dissolved in water! Since then, I got the habit of steam-cooking my bulgur balls. Less risky and I think more efficient too!

I put a bit more than the half of the bulgur balls that I made into the deep freeze as it is too much for two people at a time! Of course, I reduced the amount of the ingredients to half for the sour sauce!

Ingredients (serves 5 – 6)

2 glasses of fine bulgur

1 small onion, chopped really fine (I purees the onion in the food processor)

1 spoon of red pepper paste (Turkish red pepper “salça”)

3 spoons of semolina

3 spoons of flour

3 eggs

1 desert spoon of cumin

2 glasses of boiling water

Some extra warm water

Juice of 1 lemon

Salt

For the sour sauce

2 – 3 cloves of garlic, chopped

3 – 4 tomatoes, pureed in the food processor

1 spoon of tomato paste (Turkish salça)

1 – 2 spoons of pomegranate syrup (visit your local Turkish supermarket and ask for “nar eksisi)

1 drop of sumac syrup (optional)

A handful of parsley leaves, chopped fine

Salt

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

Method:

We’ll start with the bulgur balls: take the fine bulgur into a bowl and soak in two glasses of boiling water. Cover and let it rest for at least 20 minutes (20 – 30 minutes should be enough)
When the bulgur soaked the water and is soft, add the red pepper paste, the cumin, the onion puree and the salt and start kneading. Add a few of warm water drops every now and then.
Add the semolina and continue kneading. I added a few drops of water again in order the semolina to get soft quicker. But be careful with the amount of water you add; we don’t want soup, we want balls!
Add the flour and the eggs. Knead until the mixture is very well combined. You should knead at least for 10 minutes after you add the flour and eggs.
Take small bits of bulgur mixture (as big as grape) and roll in your palm into a small ball. Press the ball in the middle with a finger. Continue with this process until all the bulgur mixture is finished.
Now we’ll cook the bulgur balls. You can boil the bulgur balls in water and lemon juice mixture. Alternatively, you can steam-cook the bulgur balls (and again in water and lemon juice mixture). In both cases, 10 minutes should be enough.
Start with the sour sauce: saute the garlic in the olive oil for 30 seconds.
Add the tomato puree and tomato paste and cook until the mixture becomes a thick red sauce. Add the pomegrenade syrup, the sumac syrup (if you have it) and salt.
Add the bulgur balls into the cooking sauce. Cook for one minute more.
Add the parsley, mix and serve!

Step 1 - the bulgur soaked all the water

Step 2

Step 5 - bulgur balls!

Step 6 - boil in water or steam-cook the bulgur balls

Step 8 - the tomato sauce becomes red and thick

Step 8

Step 9

Step 10

bulgur balls in sour sauce...

...or also known as "Kurdish bulgur balls"

PASTA IN TOMATO AND PARSLEY SAUCE

2012-04-20T02:37:00.000-07:00

(The recipe in English is below. Domates ve maydanoz sosunda makarna tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

That’s Turkish grandma style pasta for you! It is really delicious!

I have to tell you this: in Turkey we usually consume pasta with a dressing we make of strained yoghurt mixed with a few cloves of crushed garlic (unless the pasta is with cheese of course)! In Rome, I asked the restaurant if they had any yoghurt in their kitchen (I had ordered Arabbiatta!), but the waiters was quite in shock :) My husband who got used to this Turkish habit and who eats his pasta in tomato dressing with yoghurt sauce still tells it to this day how funny the situation was! Yes, I really like my pasta that way! :)

You may notice that I talk about butter in the recipe; I think pasta cooked with butter is really delicious! That’s also quite grandma style of cooking pasta here, needless to say!

Ingredients (Serves 2)

200 gr farfalle tonde

1 small green pepper, chopped fine

1 – 2 tomatoes, pureed in the food processor

A handful of parsley, chopped fine

1 spoon of butter + 1 drop of olive oil (alternatively, you can use 2 spoons of olive oil)

Water to boil the pasta

Salt

Method:

Boil the pasta by follow ing the instructions on the package and drain.
Saute the peppers in the butter for one or two minutes.
Add the tomato puree and salt; cook on low fire until the tomato sauce becomes darker in colour and thicker. When the sauce is ready, turn off the fire.
Add the parsley into the sauce and mix.
Add the pasta into the sauce, mix and serve!

Turkish style pasta in tomato and parsley sauce

GOLDEN THISTLE (SPANISH OYSTER PLANT)

2012-04-16T03:13:00.000-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Sevketi bostan tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

I am very happy to be able to find the Aegean greens:/herbs in the supermarkets these days! I haven’t seen any yet on the stalls in the open air market but those days will come too; but till then I’ll have to do with the supermarket stuff.

Anyway, yet another edible plant that I kept hearing of from our friends from the Aegean region of Turkey and the only thing they would say that it is really delicious! Being a plant that is quite difficult to pick, the price is quite high in comparison to the other edible plants in Turkey which are sometimes almost for free, you’d think!

golden thistle (spanish oyster plant)

Anyway, it is indeed a delicious plant! I am quite happy to have something different on the table as well!

Browsing on my cooking books and the recipes on the internet, I found out that there are recipes of salad and warm dish with meat. Having recently had this mezze feast at home, I went for making the warm golden thistle with meat. Regarding the meat, the recipes mention either lambs meat or chicken. There was this recipe posted by a lady who was saying that she used chicken legs as this was what she had available at home. So I conclude that you are free with the choice and type of the meat you use (of course you are :p)

Ingredients (serves 3 – 4 p)

500 gr. Golden thistle; washed very well and chopped roughly (I soaked the plant in water with some vinegar a couple of times. I also cleaned the dark muddy part off of from the heads of the plant)

I washed the golden thistle well and chopped them roughly

300 gr. Chicken meat, cut into medium size cubes

chicken meat

1 medium size onion, cubed

1.5 – 2 glasses of warm water (I actually made the dish with 1 glass of warm water and I think it’d be better with some more to keep a better texture)

2 – 3 spoons of olive oil

For the roux turkish style

1 egg yolk

1 spoon of flour

The juice of 1 or ½ lemon (depending on how much you like sour)

Method:

Take the olive oil in a pressure cooker and warm it. When it is warm, saute the onions in the olive oil for 2 – 3 minutes.
Add the chicken and continue sauteing for a few minutes more (I sauted till the chicken turned into white)
Add the golden thistle and continue sauteing till it changes its colour.
Add the warm water and pressure-cook it for 10 – 15 minutes.
In the meantime you can prepare its roux (quite Turkish style): place the egg yolk, the flour and the lemon juice in a bowl and whisk until the mixture becomes even and smooth.
When the dish is ready, take a ladle of the water of the dish and add it into the bowl with the flour mixture and whisk very well! We do not want to have the egg yolk cooked in the dish, therefore we have to follow this procedure a few times before we finally pour the flour mixture into the pressure cooker!
Add the sauce into the golden thistle and stir a few times on low fire for one minute or two.

Step 2

Step 3

golden thistle with chicken

MULBERRY MUHALLABIEH OR YOGURT DESSERT IN MULBERRY SAUCE

2012-04-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Dut serbeti sosunda iki alternatif: sakizli muhallebi ya da yogurtlu tatli tarifleri için burayi tiklayin)

Here’s two alternatives for dessert! They are both quite easy to make, and tasty! As I love yoghurt, I’d prefer the yoghurt dessert!

ALTERNATIVE I: MULBERRY MUHALLEBIEH

Ingredients (4 – 5 bowls)

For the mulberry sauce

8 – 10 dessert spoon of mulberry sherbet (or 2 glasses of mulberry juice. In this case, just omit the water in the list given for mulberry sauce)

6 – 8 desser spoon of rice flour

2 glasses of water (omit the water if you are going to use mulberry juice)

For the muhallebieh with gum flour

2 glasses of milk

4 – 5 dessert spoon of rice flour

2 small bags of vanillin with sugar, gum flavoured

3 – 4 dessert spoon of sugar

For decoration: red fruit (I used fried cranberries)

Method:

For the mulberry sauce, take the sherbet in the sauce pan and add 1 glass of water and the rice flour and whisk into a creamy mixture. Cook the sauce slowly on slow fire. The sauce should neither be too thick nor be too thin; therefore while cooking the sauce add the rest of the water slowly while stirring well. When the sauce is ready, set aside to cool.
For the muhallebieh: Take one glass of milk in a pot and stir over medium heat. Dissolve the rice flour in the cold milk and as soon as the milk on the oven starts boiling pour the rice flour mixture in it and stir very well. Add the vanillin and the sugar. Set aside to cool.
Pour into deep glasses or bowls: one spoon at a time first of the muhallebieh and then the mulberry sauce.
Place in the refrigrator before serving. Garnish with red fruits.

muhallabieh with gum flavour

mulberry sauce

mulberry muhallabieh

ALTERNATIVE II: YOGURT DESSERT WITH MULBERRY SAUCE

Ingredients: (4 – 5 bowls)

For the mulberry sauce

8 – 10 dessert spoon of mulberry sherbet (or 2 glasses of mulberry juice. In this case, just omit the water in the list given for mulberry sauce)

6 – 8 desser spoon of rice flour

2 glasses of water (omit the water if you are going to use mulberry juice)

For the yoghurt dessert:

250 gr labneh cheese

8 spoons of strained yoghurt

1 – 2 small bags of vanillin sugar with vanilla flavour

¼ cups of sugar

Half a glass of milk

1 – 2 dessert spoon of rice flour

Method:

For the mulberry sauce, take the sherbet in the sauce pan and add 1 glass of water and the rice flour and whisk into a creamy mixture. Cook the sauce slowly on slow fire. The sauce should neither be too thick nor be too thin; therefore while cooking the sauce add the rest of the water slowly while stirring well. When the sauce is ready, set aside to cool.
For the yoghurt dessert: take the milk into a sauce pan and mix the rice flour in it. Stir over medium heat. Add the vanilin and the sugar. Set aside to cook.
Mix the strained yoghurt with the labneh cheese. Add the milk mixture in it and stir one or two times. The more you stir it, the watery the yoghurt will get – something we don’t want.
Pour into deep glasses or bowls: one spoon at a time first of the muhallebieh and then the mulberry sauce.
Place in the refrigrator before serving. Garnish with red fruits.

yoghurt dessert in mulberry sauce

WILD MUSTARD SALAD

2012-04-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Hardal otu salatasi tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

Yet another herb that is edible in Turkey; wild mustard! It is mainly consumed in the west coast as a salad or mezze.

wild mustard plant

It was the first time I’d make it and eat it so I was curious. The raw plant has a very bitter taste so having bought 500 grams in the supermarket, I thought “ouch!”. But luckily the taste got softer and milder as I steam-cooked it!

All the recipes I read of such edible plants talk about soaking the plants in boiling water for 3 – 4 seconds and take them out and squeezing them when they are a bit lukewarm. But being lazy to go through all these procedures, I steam-cooked the leaves that I chopped in the basket of my pressure cooker! I didn’t have to bother with warm wtaer dropping everywhere or burning myself. I think steam-cooking is the best thing you can do with edible plants if you want to keep their vitamins, minerals or their shape in tact. With wild mustard I think it took 2 - 3 minutes till they were soft; I am not sure because I was busy with chopping in the mean time :-) You will have to see it for yourself how long you have to keep them!

I steam-cooked 500 gr of wild mustard: one portion to put on the table and the rest split into two and put in the deep freeze in frefrigrator bags

Anyway; I was going to put a small plate of wild mustard salad as cold starter on the table, after having steam-cooked the plant, I kept one portion away and the rest I divided into two refrigerator bags and put them in the deep freeze. I read in one of the food magazines that the edible plants in their seasons could go into the deep freeze and keep their taste. We’ll see that!

Now, as it was the first time I worked with the wild mustard, I didn’t want to take any risks so I separated the leaves and the stems; and steam-cooked these separately as well. You can chop the plant before or after you steam-cook it.

Now time to post this very simple recipe as it is made in the west coast!

Ingredients (serves 2 – 3):

150 – 200 gr wild mustard, washed very well and steam-cooked

2 – 3 spoons of lemon juice (or as much as you want)

2 – 3 spoons of extra virgin olive oil

Salt to your liking

Method:

Mix the olive oil, the lemon juice and salt into a salad dressing.
Take the wild mustard on a plate and pour the salad dressing over it.

wild mustard salad

CHICORY WITH HAM FLEMISH STYLE

2012-04-11T04:41:00.003-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Felemenk usulü firinda hindiba tarifi için burayi tiklayin)

Chicory is something I discovered in Belgium. In Flanders, they have this grandma style dish – it is just so simple and yummy!

Being typical myself in the kitchen, I added some extra ingredients to the recipe: sausage and spanish pepper. But you are free to omit them if you would prefer to stay true to the recipe! This is a Flemish dish however it's also Spanish and/or Turkish inspired as well :-)

I hope you enjoy it guys!

Ingredients (Serves 1 - 2):

3 chicory, the outer leaves are taken away and the bitter base cut out

3 pieces of ham (6 if you are in Turkey as the ham is smaller here)

1 merguez sausage (optional)

1 red spanish pepper (optional)

150 – 200 gr. grated cheese

Water to boil

For the Béschamel sauce:

1 – 2 spoon(s) of butter

1 – 2 spoon(s) of flour

1 – 1.5 glasses of milk

Method:

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees celcius.
Boil the chicory in water and keep apart until it releases some water.
For the beschamel sauce: melt the butter and add the flour to it and stir until the flour is incorporated in the butter (or until you don’t smell the flour anymore). Pour in the milk very slowly and bit by bit by whisking it. When you have a creamy thick texture, your sauce is ready.
Roll the chicory in the ham.
Pour the half of the Béschamel sauce in an oven dish.
Scatter half of the sausage and the peppers over the sauce.
Place the chicory rolled in ham in the oven dish.
Scatter the rest of the sausage and the peppers and pour the rest of the Béschamel sauce over the chicory.
Scatter the rasped cheese on the dish and cook in the oven at 180 degrees celcius until the cheese turns light brown (15 – 20 minutes)

step 6

step 7 and step 8

Flemish style chicory with ham

SPINACH ROOT MEZZE (SPINACH ROOT SALAD)

2012-04-11T03:42:00.002-07:00

(Recipe in English is below. Ispanak kökü salatasi/mezesi için burayi tiklayin)

This recipe is inspired from a recipe in the book called “Cibalikapi”; published by the owner of one of our favourite taverna in Istanbul (the English version of the book you can find here, in case you are interested.)

The original recipe did not have red pepper however I added some. I also steam-cooked the spinach roots instead of boiling them in water as the book advices.

We really liked this mezze! Worth trying the day you don’t know what to do with the small amount of spinach roots you have at hand (you don’t throw them away, do you? :p) If you have a lot of spinach roots, check this recipe out for a full dish!

Ingredients (Serves 2 – 3)

The roots of two bundles of spinach, washed very wel and the head parts are cleaned

the spinach root is..errmm...beheaded!?

1 dessert spoon of soy sauce
2 - 3 spoons of lemon juice (optional to your tasting)

1 clove of garlic, crushed or chopped fine – you decide

Half of a red pepper, chopped fine (optional)

Method:

Steam-cook the spinach roots (or boil them in water)
Mix the soy sauce, the lemon juice, the garlic and the red pepper into a salad dressing.
Take the spinach roots on the plate and pour the dressing over.

spinach root steam-cooked (Step 1)

steam-cooked spinach root (and the red pepper anxiously waiting to be chopped - fine!)

spinach root mezze (spinach root salad)