Baked Cabbage with Ground Meat (Fırında Kıymalı Lahana)

Baked cabbage with ground meat can be described as either a kind of no-pasta lasagna, börek, or mousakka. However you name it, it is simply delicious and healthy. If not witness the preparation of the dish, it might be even impossible to tell it's cabbage.


1 small to medium cabbage
1/2 lb ground meat
2 medium onions, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced (my addition)
2 big tomatoes, diced or 1 can diced tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
3 tbsp olive oil
1 cup grated mozzarella
1/2 cup ricotta (my addition)
1-2 tbsp basil flakes
1 tsp spicy red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
1/2 parsley, finely chopped

-Take cabbage, discard bad leaves, and break leaves one by one. Wash well.
-Boil water in a big pot with 1 tbsp salt. Cook cabbage leaves in water for 5-7 minutes, or until tender. Preserve 1/3 cup of cooking water.
-Heat oil in a pan. Add first onions and garlic. Stir for a couple of minutes. Then add ground meat and cook until brown by breaking it into small bits.
-Add 1 tbsp tomato paste, black pepper, basil, and salt. Stir for a minute.
-Add diced tomato and cook for 5 minutes.
-Grease an oven safe dish. Layer half of cabbage leaves on the dish.
-Pour the ground meat mix on leaves. Spread ricotta on top and then layer the other half of cabbage leaves.
-Mix 1 tbsp tomato paste well with 1/3 cup of cooking water. Pour it on top of cabbage leaves.
-Sprinkle mozzarella on top.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 380-390F for 20-25 minutes or until cheese is melted.
-Serve with parsley on top.

Savory Spinach and Feta Cake (Ispanaklı ve Beyaz Peynirli Kek)

In several previous posts I have mentioned the importance of afternoon tea time in Turkey and the snacks that we would have with our tea. This cake is a total green deliciousness that my mom used to make for our lazy afternoon tea hours. Years later during another tea gathering with her friends she learned a recipe for sweet spinach cake (I know it sounds weird, but it doesn't taste anything like spinach. Spinach is there just to make it green and distract the ladies from gossip by causing curiosity for the source of its color), and unfortunately stopped making this one. I never cared much about sweet cakes, so this one is definitely my most favorite green cake.

As you can see from the ingredients, it is a very flexible cake. You can add more herbs or take out the ones you don't like; use feta or grated mozzarella or cheddar; use crushed pepper flakes and make it spicy or very spicy. It's all up to you. Because of the spinach puree and the amount of flour this is a moist, spongy cake, not a dry one.



























serves 6-8 people

1 lb spinach
2 cups flour
1 cup oil (olive, canola, or vegetable; I used half olive and half canola)
3 eggs
1/3 cup Turkish white cheese or feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup black olives, sliced (you can use canned olives but they won't bring any flavor to your cake)
1 green bell pepper or 2 green chili peppers, fınely chopped
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tsp oregano leaves
1-2 tsp salt (depending on how salt the cheese is)
2 tsp baking powder


























-Put washed spinach in a food processor with a couple of tbsp of olive oil and make into a puree. You should have approximately 2 cups of spinach puree.
-Beat 3 eggs with salt in a mixing bowl until it doubles in volume.
-Add remaining oil, spinach puree, dill, parsley, peppers, green onion, sliced olives, and cheese to eggs and mix with a spoon.
-Add flour and baking powder to this mixture and mix.
-Grease a baking pan, any shape you prefer, with butter. Pour the mixture and bake in a preheated oven at 350-360F for 45-50 minutes. Baking time might vary with different shapes and ovens. Check with a knife or wooden skewer/toothpick.

Wıth all its greenness this is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging that was started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and is now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once, and is hosted this week by Katie of Eat This.

Green Olive Rolls (Yeşil Zeytinli Rulo)

In Turkey patisseries are real life savers with their wide range of offerings that include baklava, böreks, cakes, cookies, meringues, milk puddings, poğaças, syrupy desserts, Turkish delights, etc. When you're late for work or school and do not have enough time for breakfast; when you're in need of sugar; when you want to bring dessert to a dinner party; when you are having people for a tea party; or when you just want to have some sort of pastry, you know there is a patisserie around the corner. Although they may differ in terms of their specialties--for example, one patisserie may not carry baklava and syrupy desserts and the other may not offer eclair and puddings, without exception all patisseries would serve small savory and sweet snack pastries. These butter loaded crispy pastries are generally referred to as kuru pasta in Turkish, which translates as "dry pastry." Even the smallest, not too fancy neighborhood patisserie would have at least six different kinds of pastry, 3 savory and 3 sweet that are usually baked in the afternoon just in time for the tea parties.

The olive roll pastry was my neighborhood patisserie's specialty, in those good old days when I used to live in Ankara. Hand fulls of buttery crispy rolls with pitted black olives in the middle were what we used to grab from the patisserie twice a week on our way to the coffee house that I and my friends frequented after school to play backgammon and cards.

I replicated the recipe, but was too lazy to pit olives, so in stead of black olives I used cocktail olives. The result was delicious. However, the dough should be a bit thinner than it is in the pictures. Not surprisingly, I didn't do a good job rolling the dough.


























makes approximately 50 rolls
3 1/2 cups flour
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup crumbled white/feta cheese
1/4 cup plain yogurt
~ 50 cocktail olives
1 egg yolk, beaten
nigella and/or sesame seeds



























-Make a smooth dough with flour, melted butter, feta, and yogurt.
-Roll the dough to o.2 inch thickness (don't take my rolls as an example, I couldn't locate the roller so had to use a glass jar!).
-Cut 1 X 3 inch rectangles.
-Place an olive on the rectangle shape dough and roll. Place the rolls on a greased pan making sure the fold would be at the bottom.
-Brush the rolls with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle nigella and/or sesame seeds.
-Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes.

Zucchini Salad with Yogurt (Yoğurtlu Kabak Salatası)

Zucchini salad with yogurt is a favorite sumer time cold delicacy. It is served as a side dish at afternoon tea gatherings along with any kind of pogacas or filo dough pastries, or as a meze/appetizer at dinner. It is quite easy and quick to make and truly delicious. Even those who do not like zucchini enjoy this salad. In Turkish cuisine to have a zucchini dish without fresh dill or mint is unheard-of. For this salad it's common to use both fresh mint and dill. If you do not like one of them you can leave that one out, but only one. Zucchini salad has to have at least one fresh herb.



























serves 3

3 medium size zucchini, coarsely grated (makes approximately 3 cups)
2/3 cup thick plain yogurt
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cloves of minced garlic, depending on how much you like garlic
1/2 cup crushed walnuts
1/8 cup or as much as you want fresh dill, finely chopped
1 tsp mint flakes or 1 tbsp fresh mint, finely chopped
salt and black pepper

optional
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

-Grate zucchinis in a bowl. Squeeze grated zucchini by hand and drain excessive juice.
-Heat olive oil in a pan. Add zucchini and cook for 5-6 minutes or until tender stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool down.
-Mix yogurt and minced garlic well in a bowl.
-When zucchini cools down, add zucchini, walnuts, dill, mint, salt, and pepper to the garlicy yogurt and mix well.
-Serve cold.

This recipe is for Weekend Herb Blogging that was founded by Kalyn and is hosted this weekend by Simona from Briciole.

Baked Zucchini with Feta (Fırında Peynirli Kabak)

Except for white cheese that's used to stuff zucchini halves, this recipe doesn't seem very Turkish or very authentic Turkish. However, I've never had this dish anywhere other than in Turkey. My mom and I usually had this kind of zucchini and baked zucchini as light summer lunches, yet I have seen it served to impress guests at parties numerous times.

























4 small-medium zucchinis
1/2 cup white cheese or feta
1/4 cup mozzarella or cheddar, grated
1 egg
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped or 1/4 cup fresh mint, finely chopped
1/4 or 1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
red pepper flakes
salt (depending on feta you are using)
olive oil, approximately 1 tbsp or less


-Wash zucchinis and boil them until tender but firm. Let cool down.
-Cut them in halves lengthwise to make boats. Scoop out the seedy part and save half of it to use for stuffing.
-In a bowl, mix egg, feta, mozzarella or cheddar, dill parsley, black pepper, and half of the seedy part of zucchinis until creamy.
-Load zucchini boats with the stuffing.
-Sprinkle a couple of drops of olive oil and red pepper flakes on each.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 10 to 15 minutes until cheese melts. Then broil for a couple of minutes to have a crispy top.
-Serve hot.

Cold Soft Wheat Berry Soup (Soğuk Buğday Çorbası)

I'm back from Turkey with great memories and recipes. The first recipe is "cold soft wheat berry soup." Although this dish is called soup, it might be served as an appetizer or a side dish. However it's served, it's a great refreshing and healthy dish for hot and humid summer days. During most summer days, my mom keeps cooked soft wheat berries ready in the refrigerator (they are usually good for at least a week). The last week of July was unbearably humid generally in Turkey and especially in my hometown; so hot and humid that our favorite pass time activity was to sit motionless in front air conditioners. During those painful days, cold soft wheat berry soup and ice cold watermelons were the only two things we could have for lunch and both felt sooo good.






















soft wheat berries
yogurt
water
dried-mint flakes or finely chopped fresh mint
oregano leaves
red pepper flakes
olive oil
salt

-Boil wheat berries with a good amount of water until cooked. (You can cook more than you need for the day and keep the rest in the refrigerator for at least a week)
-Take as much as you need in a big bowl and add yogurt on top enough to cover the berries when mixed. (We always add a little more than necessary to cover berries)
-If you like a thick bowl of soup, do not add water, but if you like it thinner add some water. With this soup, everything is up to you; you can add more or less of everything.
-Sprinkle mint, oregano, pepper flakes, and salt on top.
-Add 1 or 2 tbsp of olive oil.
-Mix and serve cold.

This recipe with the dried herbs is for Weekend Herb Blogging. WHB was founded by Kalyn and is hosted by Zorra from Kochtopf.

Baked Okra (Fırında Bamya)

Among the numerous delicious vegetables that I hated as a kid, okra is the only one that I still don't like. After college, I started to eat, cook, and deeply love leek, fava beans, artichokes, etc., yet even the idea of tasting okra gave me shivers. Okra is fuzzy. Okra is slimy, very slimy. Based on observation I can say people either love it or hate it. Also, okra lovers seriously believe that others would like okra if they eat a well cooked okra dish and that sliminess is due to bad cooking. What's a good way of cooking okra I don't know. The only okra dish I knew is some sort of stew. In Turkey in my house and in every other house I know okra is cooked with tomatoes, onion, and lemon juice in olive oil: nothing exciting and still slimy.
That's why I was really excited to find a new (to me) okra recipe in Sarah Woodward's book, The Ottoman Kitchen. I cannot say I liked the book. But in the end it won my favor with one recipe; for the first time in my life I ate 7 okras and really enjoyed it.









1 lb fresh okra (not the huge woody ones)
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 red bell pepper, cut in thin strips
1 green bell pepper, cut in thin strips
2 onions, chopped finely
3 tomatoes, sliced in rounds
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
ground black pepper1/2 cup water
crushed red pepper flakes
-Wash okra and dry well. Trim off the end of the stems, but be careful not to cut into the pod.
-Put okra in a large flat dish and sprinkle vinegar with generous amount of salt. Make sure both sides are coated well. Let it marinate for at least half an hour.
-Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a skillet and cook onions until golden brown.
-Rinse okra well. Place them in rows in an oven dish; sprinkle onions.
-First put tomato slices on okras, and then crisscross pepper strips on tomatoes.
-Scatter the parsley over.
-Season with plenty of black pepper and pepper flakes. (Be careful with salt; remember okras were soaked in salt and vinegar)
-Finally pour the rest of the olive oil evenly and water.
-Bake at 375F for almost an hour. Pick one to taste; it should be soft but not very soft.
-Let it cool in its own juice and serve barely warm.7 okras! Pretty amazing for someone who hasn't eaten even one until now. With every single bite, I wondered why I could eat okra now. The answer is the combination of vinegar and parsley. For the sake of parsley, this recipe is for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging which is hosted by Rachel's Bite this week.

Antalya Bean Salad (Antalya Usulü Piyaz)

Piyaz is what we call bean salads in Turkey, but the term is actually Persian and means "onion." Piyaz is usually prepared with northern beans and kneaded onion; dressed with olive oil and vinegar; spiced up with pepper flakes; and decorated with tomatoes, parsley, and hard-boiled eggs. Depending on the region, piyaz might have green onions or sumac. However, in Antalya, a beautiful city with magnificent beaches and historical places on the Mediterranean coast, piyaz is made differently than the rest of Turkey. The difference is tahini and garlic, which, to my surprise since I'm not a great tahini fan, enriches the taste incredibly. In Tekirdag, my hometown, piyaz is served always with Tekirdag Meatballs. However, with tahini it can be a main dish as well.
2 cups of cooked northern beans
1 onion, cut finely in half-moons
1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp crushed pepper
1 or two hard boiled eggs, sliced
1 tomato, diced

1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 cloves of garlic, minced











-Soak the beans over night. Bring them to a boil and then on medium heat cook them until soft. Or use canned beans.
-In a bowl mix tahini, vinegar, lemon juice, and garlic for the sauce/dressing. It shouldn't be too runny or thick. Since different tahini brands have different density, it's hard to find the perfect mixture. If the dressing you make with the measures above is thick, add some of the water that you used to cook the beans or use the juice in the can. If it's runny than you can thicken it with more tahini.
-Pour the tahini dressing over the beans and mix them well.
-Slice the onion thinly julienne style in half moon shape. In a bowl knead it with 1 tsp salt. Rinse.
-Mix the beans with onion and parsley.
-Decorate the bean salad with tomatoes and slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Puff Pastry Bundle (Üçgen Milföy Börek)

Börek is a general name for phyllo pastry filled with various things most common of which are feta cheese, ground meat, potato, and spinach. It's usually easy to find phyllo dough in Turkey since there's a yufkacı, phyllo dough store, in every neighborhood. However, if it's a Sunday or a vacation day when yufka places are closed or if it's an emergency (an unexpected guest for tea) or if you're out of Turkey where it's hard to find phyllo dough, then you have puff pastry. They're easy to handle; just follow the instructions on the package to thaw and bake them. You can fold them into squares, rectangles, or triangles. The choice is yours.

I made these puff pastry bundles for tea time and used two different stuffing: black olive and feta cheese.


























2 square sheets of puff pastry
1 egg yolk
black seeds

black olive stuffing
1/3 cup pitted black olives
1 roasted red pepper
1 small tomato, diced
1 green onion, chopped finely
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley, chopped finely
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)

-Coarsely blend the olives and roasted red pepper in a food processor.
-Add the rest of the ingredients and mix.

feta cheese stuffing
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 tbsp fat leaf parsley, chopped finely
1 tbsp dill, chopped finely
1 tsp pepper flakes

-Smash feta with the back of a fork.
-Mix with parsley, dill, and pepper flakes.














For triangles, I divided each puff pastry sheet into 9 equal squares. I filled first 9 squares with olive stuffing and folded them into bundles. Brushed them with beaten egg yolk and put black seeds on top to tell them apart from the feta ones. I filled the other 9 squares with feta stuffing, again folded them into bundles, and brushed the tops with egg yolk.
Bake them at 400F until golden brown.

This recipe with flat leaf parsley and dill is perfect for tea time as well as breakfast, and also for Weekend Herb Blogging which was founded and is hosted by Kalyn of famous Kalyn's Kitchen.

Turkish Feta-Potato Rolls (Fırında Sigara Böreği)

Sigara Böreği literally means "cigarette pastry" in Turkish and they are usually deep fried. However, I didn't want to have a heavy snack, so instead I baked them with instructions from my mom.

Yufka, Turkish filo dough, is not as thin as the Greek one that you can find frozen at the stores here in States; it is usually round 15-20 inches in diameter. It is not easy to find Turkish filo dough here, but the Greek one is too thin and delicate for me to handle. So I decided to go online; the Turkish filo dough I used for these cigarette pastries is available at Tulumba.

1 pack of Turkish triangle filo dough (there were 28 pieces)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbsp yogurt
2 eggs (put aside one egg yolk to brush the tops)

for stuffing
2 medium size potatoes, peeled and boiled
1/2 cup crumbled feta
1/3 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp black pepper (optional)

black seeds
sesame seeds

-Mash the potato, feta, parsley, and spices with the back of a fork (you can use only potato or feta for stuffing. you don't need to salt the stuffing if you'll use feta, but if not, make sure you salt it)
-Mix olive oil, yogurt, and 2 eggs(-1 egg yolk; we're saving one egg yolk for brushing). Put one layer of filo dough and brush with the mixture. Put the second one on top and brush it again (not to have dry pastries, we need two layers of filo dough wetted with oily yogurt sauce). Place one spoonful of stuffing on the wide side of filo dough. Fold the sides and roll. (Wet the tiny end with the yoogurty sauce if it doesn't stick) Place them on a greased oven tray.
-After you roll all of them, beat the egg yolk that you set aside. Brush it on top of rolls and sprinkle sesame or black seeds, or both.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for 20-30 minutes until they're golden brown.


























If you want to try them deep fried, you don't need the olive oil+yogurt+egg sauce. Take only one layer of filo dough, put the stuffing, roll, and deep fry it in a ligther oil like vegetable, corn, or canola oil until golden brown. ( Wet the tiny end of filo dough with water to stick) Place on a paper towel to soak excessive oil.

These pastries are good for breakfast or/and with tea. They're good for storing for emergencies, too. Just put them in the freezer seperately until frozen, then gather them in a bag/box until they're needed.

I don't know if you like savory and sweet things together, but you should try dipping your cigarette pastry in any kind of jam (my favorite is cherry), which is, I guess, a very Thracian thing to do in Turkey.

Potato Salad à la Turque (Patates Salatası)

Another parsley recipe for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging which is hosted by Sher of What Did You Eat? Although parsley seems to be the dominant herb in this salad, the recipe shows the friendship of herbes

4 medium potatoes--in Turkey this is made with yellow potatoes since we don't have red ones over there; however, I love it with red potatoes,too--peeled and diced (actually the number of potatoes depends on how big a salad you want)
1 small onion
1/2 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cucumber, cut in quarter rounds
2 banana peppers (or any other green/red pepper), chopped finely
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
1/4 cup dill, chopped
1/3 cup fresh mint, chopped or 2 tsp dried mint flakes
1/2 tsp red crushed pepper
1 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp sumack
1/2 tsp black pepper
juice of one and a half lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
salt

-Peel, dice, and then boil the potatoes in salted water for approximately 10 minutes. Drain and let cool
-Cut the onion in half lengthwise and then chop it into very thin half moons. Put the chopped onion in a bowl and knead it with 1 tsp salt until the onion is soft. Rinse the salt off the onion
-Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl

Serve as an appetizer, salad, or as a side dish for meat

Richardson Family Guacamole

Actually measuring ingredients is somewhat counter to the spirit of this recipe, but counting them is central. The eight components are:
ripe avocado
pressed or diced garlic
tomato salsa
lemon or lime juice
chili powder
plain yogurt
mayonnaise
salt

Smash 1 large avocado with 1/2 clove garlic. Add some (1/2 table spoon?--see what I mean?) mayo, similar amount of yogurt, and 2 tablespoons salsa. Squeeze in a bit of lemon juice and spice and salt to taste.

In general, I add everything, mix it up, taste it, and allow one round of adjustments. Serve with tortilla chips and 3 friends.
Aaron

Fava Paste (Fava)

1 can of fava beans (or you can soak 1/2 pound dry fava beans in water over night and then boil them for a couple of hours)
1 clove of garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
pepper flakes (only if you want in spicy)
juice of one lemon
some parsley, chopped finely or dill (it depends how much parsley or dill you want)

The only way I know to make fava paste is with a hand-blender or a food processor.
Put fava beans, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, pepper flakes, and salt in the blender and let it do its magic. If the mix is too thick, you can add a little bit of water. Put fava paste in a bowl and garnish with parsley or dill.