Tomato Soup with Greek Noodle Nests (Yunan Şehriye Toplu Domates Çorbası)

I found these Greek thin noodle nests at an international market. They looked so cute that I had to buy them. On the package it was suggested to cook the noodle nests in water with a little bit olive oil and salt, and to serve as a soup with lemon juice. That recipe sounded blend to me, so I decided to use them in tomato soup, and the result was very tasty. The only drawback, which is not actually a drawback, was that I had to eat my soup with the help of a fork. As you can see from the picture below noodles were a bit long for a spoon!



























4 Greek thin noodle nests (the brand I got was Misko)
1 can of organic diced tomatoes processed in a food processor OR 3 tomatoes, processed / blended OR 2 cups of tomato juice
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, sliced (optional)
1 banana pepper or red pepper, chopped
4 cups of vegetable stock or water
1 tsp paprika
1tsp of peppercorns (optional)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped

-Heat the oil in a broad pot. Saute onion and pepper until soft. Add paprika and constantly stir for at most a minute (burnt paprika is useless)
-Stir in the tomato. Bring to a boil. Cook for 5 minutes. Add vegetable stock, black pepper, pepper flakes, and salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Turn down to medium.
-Place the noodle nests. Cook for 5 minutes on low-medium. Do not let it boil vigorously and do not cook more than 5 minutes, you may lose the nest shape.
-After 5 minutes, turn it off and add parsley.

I switched back to parsley again for Weekend Herb Blogging which is founded and hosted by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen. Kalyn is also among the hosts of the Menu for Hope event. For more information visit either Kalyn's blog or Chez Pim.

White Beans (Kuru Fasulye)

White beans with rice is the traditional Turkish dish. It is to us what pasta is to Italians. If you have pickled vegetables, especially cabbage, with it, you cannot expect more. There are variations of this recipe based on what kind of meat you want to use, or you may completely skip the meat part as I do. You can cook white beans with stew beef or lamb, with ground meat, pastrami (pastirma), and/or soujuk (sucuk, Turkish sausage). My favorite kuru fasülye is with pastrami.

Very traditioanl version of Turkish white beans would definitely have stew meat, beef or lamb, and would probably not have green pepper. Since I wanted to make a vegeterian dish, I replaced meat with peppers.

2 cups of cooked cannellini: white kidney: fazolia
beans
or
even better dermason/whit beans(it's always tastier to use dried beans, but if you'll use canned beans do not forget to rinse them well) or 2 cans of those beans
3 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 onions, chopped
2 banana or red peppers, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced (If you want to use canned tomato, prefer petite diced one)
1-2 cup of water
1 tsp pepper flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
dried chili peppers (only if you like spicy food)


























-Soak beans in water over night and then the next day, boil them until soft OR pressure cook dried beans for 35-40 minutes OR use canned beans.
-Heat oil in a pot and sauté onion and pepper until soft: 7-8 minutes. Add tomato paste and stir for another 2 minutes.
-Pour in first beans, then tomatoes, and then water until the water level is 1/2 inch above the beans. Add salt, black pepper, and pepper flakes. Stir once or twice very gently (do not forget the beans are tender now and we don't want to smash them). If you will use dried chili peppers, place them on top. Cover and simmer on low for 25-30 minutes.
-Serve with rice, especially on top of rice. Turkish style white beans are awesome with pickled vegetables like white cabbage, cornichons, carrots, etc.

Celery Root à la Turque (Zeytinyağlı Kereviz)

Who likes celery root? It's a complicated issue. People who think it has a very strong smell can handle celery stalks. And there are also people like me who cannot have even a single bite from celery stalk because of its smell, but love celery root. So you have to try to see if you like it or not. As if having one strong smelling plant is not enough, this recipe requires another one: dill, the odor of which, to some, is less agreeable than many other herbs like fennel or cilantro. Although some fictitious characters like Beavis and Butt-Head use "dillweed" as an insult, the term "dill" comes from an Anglo-Saxon word, dylee, that means to lull or soothe. Strong smells of celery root and dill create a perfect harmony. Celery roots usually look like this when they are not cooked:



























1 medium size celery root, peeled and diced
1 big onion, diced
2 carrots, cut in quarter-rounds
1 potato, peeled and diced
1/3 cup olive oil
1 can of green peas (15 oz- 400 gr.) or frozen peas
1 tsp sugar
salt
1 bunch dill, chopped
water

-Pick a strong knife to peel and chop celery root; it's a little bit hard. And make sure among all the ingredients it's the last thing to chop. Peeled celery root darkens pretty fast.
-Put everything except for dill in a broad pot. Add water to barely cover the ingredients.
-Cook on low for 25-30 minutes. To see if it's cooked taste the carrots.
-Let it cool down. Garnish with dill.

This recipe of celery root is an olive oil recipe, and it is best when it's served cold. However, it's good when it's warm, too.


This is another dill recipe for Weekend Herb Blogging created by Kalyn and hosted by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once . Just like fava beans, to serve celery root without dill would be a crime.

Ezo the Bride Soup (Ezo Gelin Çorbası)

Ezo was a real person who lived in the south eastern part of Turkey, close to Syrian border, in early 20th century. She had two miserable marriages, and died in Syria, homesick. There are films based on her hard, unfortunate life. But I have no idea why this soup is named after her.

The most important trivia about Ezo Gelin soup is that you cannot find a single Kebapçı (Kebab Restaurant) in Turkey that doesn't serve this soup. It's the best starter before kebap-you have to have the soup, and whatever you do at home, Ezo Gelin soup is always better at a Kebapçı, even at a sloppy one. Also, it's famous for being a perfect hangover cure, after Tripe Soup (İşkembe Çorbası).

traditional ingredients:
1 cup red lentils
1/3 cup rice or bulgur
1 tbsp pepper paste
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tbsp dry mint leaves
1/4 tsp black pepper
pepper flakes, as much as you want
1 tbsp olive oil
salt
60 oz water

optional ones:
I usually add 1 small potato and 1 carrot

-If you have a pressure cooker and a hand blender, put everything in pressure cooker (chop onion, potato, and carrot in reasonable pieces) and cook for 25 minutes on medium heat. Then, use the blender to smoothen the soup.

-If you don't have a pressure cooker, you can still boil everything together until lentils and rice are soft.

-If you have neither a pressure cooker, nor a blender then you need to finely chop the onion; make sure it's really finely chopped. You can also finely chop the potato and carrot, but I prefer grating them. Garlic should be minced. After all the chopping and grating, recipe is the same: put everything in a pot and cook until lentils and rice are soft. Stir every 5 minutes.

For the sauce:
-Heat olive oil or butter (1 tbsp for 2-3 servings) in a skillet
-When oil starts sizzling (if you're using butter, try not to burn it) add 1/2 tsp paprika and after approximately 30 seconds remove from the heat. Pour over the soup.

-Squeeze lemon on the soup before you eat

Zucchini with Beef and Garbanzo Beans (Kabak Bastırması)

I saw this recipe in a Turkish food blog, chez Ayşenur, and immediately decided to make it. Garbanzo beans and zucchini: how could it be bad? It certainly is delicious. Ayşenur says that this is a local recipe from Kilis, a city in Turkey near the Turkish-Syrian border.

2/3 cups of garbanzo beans
1/2 pound stew beef (I preferred beef but y0u can also use lamb)
2 zucchinis, medium size cut in half-rounds
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 banana peppers or 1 bell pepper, chopped
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp spicy pepper paste
3 cloves of garlic, minced
juice of one lemon
1 tbsp dried mint flakes

-Soak garbanzo beans overnight. The next day cook garbanzo beans and stew beef in a pressure cooker with 5-6 cups of water for 45 minutes. If you don't have a pressure cooker, then you should cook them for at least an hour or until the garbanzos are soft. Or if you want to use canned garbanzo beans then cook them for approximately 30 minutes (until the beef is cooked). Take the garbanzos and beef out and keep the water; do not throw it away.
-In a big pot heat the oil and add onions and pepper. Stir until they're soft.
-Add the tomato and spicy pepper paste, stir for a couple of minutes. (if you cannot find spicy pepper paste, just use tomato paste and pepper flakes)
-Now it's time to add garbanzos, beef, and zucchini. Add 3-4 cups of the water you saved from garbanzos and stew beef. Salt to your taste. Cook for 30-40 minutes or until zucchini is tender on low.
-Mix minced garlic and lemon juice and stir in when zucchini is cooked. Simmer for 2-3 minutes and turn it off. Sprinkle dried mint , cover, and let it sit for 10 minutes before you serve. You won't believe how tender the beef will be.

Ayşenur suggests that it should be served with bulgur pilaf. I have a bulgur pilaf recipe, but it would be too flavorful for this. You can also serve it with white rice. But if you want to try it with bulgur, here's how to make a simple bulgur pilaf: Heat 2 tbsp butter in a pot. Add bulgur and stir a minute (the ratio of bulgur you will use to water should be 1:2). Add 1 tbsp tomato paste (or more) stir for another minute. Add water and salt, bring to a boil, and then cover and cook on low until bulgur soaks the water.

Cinnamon Tea (Tarçın Çayı)

It's dark, cloudy, cold, rainy, in other words, miserable outside. Perfect time for cinnamon tea.

2 cinnamon stick
4-5 cloves
honey

-Pour 2-3 cups of boiling water on 2 cinnamon sticks and 5-6 cloves. Let simmer for 15 minutes. Cover the teapot or French press with a towel to keep it warm. Sweeten with honey.












optional: add 4-5 black peppercorns

Pastirma-Leek Potato Gratin (Pastırmalı Pırasalı Patates Graten)

This is an "almost" Turkish recipe because of the pastirma. It is not easy to find Turkish or middle eastern pastirma in states, but it's not imposssible either. I buy pastirma from international markets. To see what pastirma looks like click here.

-pastirma is optional

1 pound/bag of baby potatoes, red or golden peeled and sliced thinly
2 leeks, chopped finely
10 strips of pastrami, cut in thin slices (you can have more or less)
1 cup cream
1 1/2 cup vegetable stock
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
black pepper
pepper flakes
salt
1 cup or more crumbled feta or grated cheddar cheese

-Grease an oven pan (I used an 11 X 9 inch one) and place one layer of potatoes. Season with salt, black pepper, pepper flakes, and garlic. Sprinkle half of the leeks and pastrami. Put another layer of potatoes. Season with salt, black pepper, pepper flakes, and garlic. Add the other half of leeks and pastrami. Finally, put the last layer of potatoes. (With less ingredient, you can easily have only two layers of potatoes)
-In a little pot mix cream, stock, and bay leaves. First bring them to a boil and then turn it off.
-Top with grated cheese. Pour the creamy mixture on top (take the bay leaves out). Bake in a preheated oven at 400 F for 40-60 minutes loosely covered with an aluminum foil. For a crispy top, uncover and broil for 5 -10 minutes or until lightly brown.

This is a recipe I tried for a Turkish food blogging event "Patates Ye" (Eat Potatoes) which is hosted by Evren of Annemin Mutfak Kokusu (the smell of my mom's kitchen).

Fava Beans à la Turque (Zeytinyağlı İç Bakla)

I wasted 25 years of my life without eating fava/broad beans, but I had my reasons. The first time I tried fava beans, they were not podded. The pod has a weird fuzzy feel and I sure cannot stand it. Years after that first experience, I tried podded fava beans, and it's been one of my favorite olive oil dishes ever since. I still cannot eat them in the pod.

The only place I found fresh fava/broad beans in pod here in the states was Seattle Pike Place Market, but I haven't been trying hard. I buy them frozen and podded from an international market here in Bloomington.

1 pound frozen or fresh fava beans
1 big onion or 2 medium ones, finely chopped
1 bunch of green onions, finely chopped
1 bunch dill, chopped
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 bunch fresh mint, chopped or 2 tbsp dried mint
1 tsp white sugar
salt, a little more than 1 tsp
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup of water
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)

-Mix well all the ingredients except for water in a pot. Choose a broad pot; you don't want your fava beans to get too intimate and as a result fight, break, or be smooshed.
-Add water; water should barely cover the beans. Bring it to a boil on medium and then turn it down to low and simmer for 35-40 minutes.
-Let it cool down before serving, because like all Turkish olive oil dishes fava beans are served and best when cold.

This dish is usually served with a garlicy yogurt sauce, but it's still delicious without it. By now I'm well aware that the idea of (plain) yogurt with garlic doesn't sound good to most of the Americans; however, you should give it a try, at least with fava beans.

Garlicy Yogurt
For every cup of yogurt use 1/2 clove minced garlic. If you can handle garlic, raise the amount. Do not go beyond 1 clove per 1 cup of yogurt; others may not handle the garlic on you. Mix yogurt and garlic well, salt to your taste, and serve this sauce on the side of fava beans or on top.

This is my second dill recipe for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging which is hosted by Meeta of What's for Lunch Honey? this week. Although dill is not the only herb in it, the recipe cannot survive without dill. A fava bean dish without dill is simply unheard-of.

Chicken in a Bag (Fırın Torbasında Tavuk)

This is the easiest and yummiest chicken ever. You need whole chicken legs, thighs, drumsticks, or wings--bonny and fatty parts of chicken. This recipe doesn't go well with less fatty parts like breast.

6 chicken thighs
1 oven bag
juice of 2 lemons
paprika, enough to cover the thighs
1 tbsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp oregano leaves
3 cloves of garlic, minced
salt

-Place the chicken in a big bowl and squeeze lemons on top. Make sure every piece is covered with lemon juice. If you don't like the chicken smell like me, lemon juice takes it away. Add paprika(don't be stingy with it), oregano, black pepper, garlic, and salt. Mix them well with chicken. Let marinate for at least half an hour. Do not forget, the longer you marinate it the more tender it will become.
-Place an oven bag on a oven dish/tray so that its opening will be facing the side. Put marinated chicken in the bag side by side. Close the bag with a twisty tie. Make a couple of small holes on top with a knife. Bake it in preheated oven at 400 F for 45 minutes.
-If you want a very crispy top, after 45 minutes cut the oven bag on top and broil the chicken for 5-10 minutes.
-After you put the chicken in the bag, if you still have room put a couple of potatoes (cut in halves) and carrots (chopped into two or three pieces). They will be very very delicious.

Garbanzo Beans with Vegetables (Sebzeli Nohut)

1 cup dry garbanzo beans or 1 can of organic garbanzo beans
1 big onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup fineley chopped cabbage
1 carrot, garted
1 potato, grated
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp pepper paste (optional)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp pepper flakes
1/3 cup olive oil
1 cup vegetable stock
salt and pepper

-If you want to use dry beans, either soak them over night and then boil them until soft or use a pressure cooker. I pressure cooked 1 cup of garbanzo beans with 6-7 cups of water for 40 minutes. If you're using canned ones, just open the can.
-Sautee onions and peppers with olive oil in a pot until soft. Stir in cabbage, carrot, potato, and cumin seeds. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
-Add tomato / pepper paste and stir for another minute.
-Add garbanzo beans, salt, blackpepper, pepper flakes, and stock. Add water just to cover the beans. Cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes.
-Serve with any kind of rice.

I usually cook garbanzo beans Turkish style, but this time I tried something different. I had a small amount of cabbage in the fridge from a pickling experiment that I couldn't throw away, and I was trying to find a way to use it. Since I had cooked garbanzo beans with grated celery root once, I thought they might be good with cabbage as well. I was right; it turned out to be delicious. However, you don't have to cook with cabbage. You can make variations. Vegetables to be experimented on might be zucchini, squash, celery root, celery, turnips, etc.

Dill-Feta Poğaça (Dereotlu Peynirli Poğaça)

Poğaça, a kind of savory pastry / bread, is a traditional baked good in Turkey and Eastern European+Balkanic countries which at some point in history were under the Ottoman rule long enough to adopt its cuisine. Poğaças are best with (black) tea. In Turkey, people would have them for breakfast from a neighborhood patisserie on their way to work or school, or for afternoon tea time.

Usually poğaças are made in half-moon shape. Several pieces of round dough, 3-5 inch in diameter, would be filled with stuffing (variations on stuffing are numerous: feta cheese, potato, ground meat, spinach, cheddar, onion, etc) and folded in to two for the half-moon shape. This recipe, however, doesn't require the traditional half-moon shape.

1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup oil (vegetable, corn, or conola)
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs (egg yolk of one should be set aside to brush the tops of poğaças)
2 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 - 3 cup flour
1 cup crumbled feta
1 bunch dill, chopped finely
1/4 cup (Turkish) black olives, pitted and sliced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)
black and sesame seeds


















-Except for one egg-yolk and black + sesame seeds, mix all the ingredients.
-Using your hands make small balls of dough and place them on a greased baking sheet.
-Brush them with egg-yolk and sprinkle black or sesame seeds on top.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F for 40-50 minutes or until the pogacas are slightly brown.






















Try definitely with tea.

This week's Weekend Herb Blogging is hosted by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen who is the founder of the event. After three recipes with parsley, I decided to give a chance to another precious herb: dill.

Sparkling Chicken (Maden Suyuyla Tavuk)

8 boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 little bottle of Perrier or 1-1 1/2 cups of any sparkling (mineral) water
1 tbsp chopped dill
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp paprika / red chili powder
1 tsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped thinly in rounds
any kind of fresh pepper, chopped (I used small sweet yellow Italian peppers)
mushroom, chopped - as much as you want
juice of one lemon or lime
1 tbsp flour
2 tsp peppercorns
salt

The main ingredients for this recipe are chicken and onion. You are free to add fresh peppers, mushroom, corn, carrots, etc. I try it with different ingredients every time, but fresh peppers and mushroom are the best.

-Marinate the chicken in a bowl for 20-30 minutes with sparkling water, 1 tbsp olive oil, dill, garlic, paprika, and ground black pepper.
-In a deep skillet, heat the oil and add onions. Stir for a couple of minutes and add peppers and mushroom. Drain the chicken and add in the skillet with peppercorns when mushroom looks cooked.
-In a small bowl, mix well 1 tbsp flour with juice of one lemon. Add this in when the chicken is cooked. If it gets pretty sticky with flour, you can add a little bit of hot water. Stir for 2-3 minutes and your sparkling chicken is ready.

Moist Cocoa Cake (Kakaolu Islak Kek)

1/2 cup milk
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup oil (vegetable, corn, or canola)
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup crushed walnuts
1/4 raisins
1/2 petite diced apple

These ingredients are for a 9.5 X 4 inch cake pan.





















-Mix eggs, sugar, milk, oil, and cocoa in bowl. Set 1/2 cup of this mixture aside; you will need that mixture to moisten the cake.
-Add flour, baking powder, walnuts, raisins, and diced apple in the bowl. Mix well. Grease the bottom and sides of the cake pan and pour the batter. Cook in a preheated owen at 350°F (175°C) for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
-Right after you take the cake out of the oven, pour the 1/2 cup cocoa mixture that you set aside over evenly. To have the cake absorb the mixture, you can make tiny holes on the cake by inserting a knife.
-Let it cool down and serve with coffee.