Around the World Series: Turkey

A little while ago, I bought some fresh figs. I realized they’re not my favorite to eat plain, but I made a really good dessert with them- Turkish Fig Cake! This dessert was accompanied by Gozleme and Turkish Cacik (cucumber yogurt kind of dish). This was a fun meal! After dinner we dreamed of our future house and ended up deciding on how we would like our driveway. After that we packed up for an early rise and leaving for Virginia the next day. And for the record, when trying to get egg whites stiff without beaters, it can be a challenge, haha!

Gozleme is a turkish hand rolled pastry. One common version is spinach and feta, I made that with a little more elaboration. I found this random recipe with a dough that I wasn’t too sure of. I had never made a dough out of only flour, water, and salt before- I’ve always added oil or butter or eggs or something else. It worked out in the end, but would have been better if I had a rolling pin. I also cheated-we bought  a lamb meal at the greek festival. I shredded it and used that precooked meat.

Turkish Gozleme

Dough: 1 ½ c flour, 3/4c water, dash salt

Filling: spinach, onion, olive oil, lamb or beef, chili powder, garlic, pepper, red pepper, feta

Directions:

1. Clean spinach, then cook in a little water until wilted.  Then dry on paper towels. Chop onion and red pepper.
2. Cook onions. Add spices and meat until browned.
3. Make the dough by adding the flour, half the water, and salt. Slowly add more water until a ball forms, then knead the dough on a lightly floured surface. Let rest for a few minutes then divide into three balls.
4. Roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Add spinach, meat mixture, red peppers, and feta to one side and fold over. Cook in olive oil for about five minutes, flipping every minute.

For the cacik:

Mix a cup of yogurt with 2 cucumber (seeded, peeled, and diced), 3 tbsp chopped walnuts, 2 tbsp dill, 1 tsp lemon juice, and a garlic clove. Drizzle 1 tbsp oil on top.

Turkish Fig cake. Have you ever tried to whip egg whites into stiff peaks with a whisk? Have you ever tried it with a fork? We have. The recipe called for stiff peaks, and without having a blender or a whisk, it can be difficult. We whipped the whites for no joke, a half an hour… and ended up with soft peaks. The trick is using a whip motion that pulls air into it. This was a really good recipe and could use any fruit on it. Next time, I want to try it with beaters and a springform pan so it can be about quadruple the thickness. Mmm.

Turkish Yogurt Fig Cake

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

½ c sugar

3 TBSP sifted flour

1 ½ c Greek yogurt

1 lemon, grated and juiced

Orange zest

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 fresh figs, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour and mix until combined.
3. Add yogurt, orange and lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
4. Whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into yogurt mixture (Do not overmix.)
5. Grease springform pan. Pour into pan and arrange fig slices on top. Bake 45-60 minutes until browned.

Mmmm, Cauliflower Steak and Indonesian-Style Fried Rice

We had a good, flavorful dinner tonight with lots of fresh ingredients. I made cauliflower steaks and fried rice.

To make the cauliflower steaks, I literally took the head of a cauliflower and sliced two meaty cross sections out of the middle of the head, it was about half of the cauliflower. The other half, I used in an earlier recipe of cauliflower mac n cheese. Then rubbed on some olive oil and spices (I used oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper) and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, flipping once and baking until tender. Other flavoring suggestions are: tomatoes, olives, onion, basil, parsley sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, and olive oil or olive oil, lemon juice and paprika. Patrick even said he wanted to try it with a gravy, like salisbury steak.

I found a recipe for Indonesian-Style Fried Rice, well actually I watched a video on it (from America’s Test Kitchen) and my own version with the ingredients I had readily available. My version: Saute half a chopped onion in olive oil and add 2 chopped serrano peppers. Add some garlic, then add leftover cooked rice, soy sauce, sugar (they called for molasses, fish sauce, and dark brown sugar but I only had sugar). Meanwhile, Using 4 eggs (I used 3 whole, 2 whites), add some milk, salt, and pepper and mix. Then cook the eggs in butter in two batches, forming 2 omelets. When the omelets have cooled for a min or two, roll them up (like a crepe) and cut into strips/spirals. Now time to serve. Put some fried rice on the plate with egg spirals and garnish with tomatoes and cucumbers.

The meal was so delicious. The flavor combination was surprising with the warm rice and steaks mixed with the cold tomatoes, cucumbers, and pear, but it was great!

Mediterranean Dishes

I prepared some food for the drive and made some things today. It was all fresh Mediterranean food, and was awesome. We had Falafel and Baba Ganoush on the drive and more of it along with pita, Greek Dip, and Cucumber Yogurt for lunch. For dinner, I prepared Fattoush.

Falafel (Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

•  1 15.5 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 small yellow onion, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 tablespoons chopped mint
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander (I didn’t use)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
• 1/2 cup safflower or canola oil
• For serving: pita bread, sliced tomatoes, thinly sliced red onion, romaine lettuce leaves, and store-bought tahini sauce.

Directions

1. Place half of chickpeas in food processor and pulse a few times until chopped, transfer to a large bowl.
2. Place remaining chickpeas in food processor with garlic, onion, herbs, spices, baking soda, salt, and lemon juice. Pulse to a thick, chunky paste, about 30 seconds. Transfer to bowl with chopped chickpeas.
3. Add egg and sesame seeds to bowl and stir to combine. Cover and chill batter in fridge 30 minutes.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil shimmers, drop heaping tablespoons of batter into skillet and gently press batter into 2-inch-round patties. Cook, turning once, until deep golden brown on both sides, about 4 minutes total. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate to drain.

Baba Ganoush (food.com) (Patrick said it was the best baba he’s ever had, an we’ve purchased it a few times.)

Ingredients

• 1 large eggplant
• 1/4 cup tahini, plus more as needed
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, plus more as needed
• 1 pinch ground cumin
• salt, to taste
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Tip: Salt first for less oily eggplant. Eggplant soaks up oil like a sponge, but you can reduce its ability to absorb oil by salting the cut flesh and letting it sit for 30 min. or more. Then drain, pat dry, and proceed with cooking. This “sweating” the eggplant also helps it to tenderize the flesh’s texture and to reduce some ot the naturally occurring bitter taste.

1. Wipe the eggplant clean and slice them in half lengthwise. With the tip of a knife, score the flesh deeply in a diamond cross-hatch pattern by making two or three long cuts, cutting at a steep angle, and then rotating the eggplant to make another set of similar cuts. Press on the edges of the halves to open the cuts and sprinkle salt (1 to 1-1/2 tsp. total for all the halves) over the surface and into the cuts. Set aside, cut side up, for 30 min. Heat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment.
2. Over the sink, gently squeeze the eggplant to extract the salty juice and wipe them dry with a paper towel.
3. Place the eggplant on the foil, cut side down. Place in the oven and roast large, fat eggplants for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the size; small, narrow Japanese eggplants (and other varieties) should be roasted for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven when skin has begun to shrivel, the edges and cut surface are browned, and the eggplant has softened but not collapsed. Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and peel off and discard the skin.
4. Place the eggplant flesh in a bowl.Using a fork, mash the eggplant to a paste.Add the 1/4 cup tahini, the garlic, the 1/4 cup lemon juice and the cumin and mix well.Season with salt, then taste and add more tahini and/or lemon juice, if needed.
5. Transfer the mixture to a serving bowl and spread with the back of a spoon to form a shallow well.Drizzle the olive oil over the top and sprinkle with the parsley.Serve at room temperature.

5 Layer Greek Dip

-Hummus

-red bell pepper

-kalamata olivws

-cucumber

-feta cheese

-fresh dill

1. Finely chop olive, bell pepper, cucumber, and dill.

2. Spread hummus about 1-2 inches thick in the bottom of a wide serving dish.

3. Sprinkle the vegetables evenly over the hummus.

4. Crumble feta cheese on top.

5. Sprinkle bits of dill and serve with warm pita slices. Enjoy!

Cucumber Yogurt Dip Recipe (Khiyar bi Laban)

Ingredients

• 4 persian cucumbers (or equivalent), finely chopped
• 4 cups of plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup of water
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• a few leaves of green mint finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon of dried mint powder
• a dash of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice (optional)

Preparation Method

1. In a bowl, whisk the yogurt, water, crushed garlic, salt and lemon juice well.  If you’re preparing this in summer, you can add 2-3 ice cubes in the mix to cool the yogurt and make it even more refreshing
2. Finely Chop the cucumbers into cubes of ~ 1/3 inches, add to the mixing bowl
3. Add the finely chopped green mint or the dried mint powder and salt, mix well
4. Serve in small soup bowls as an appetizer or snack.

Fattoush (Lebanese “Crumbled Bread” Salad with Sumac and Pita Chips)

Makes 4 large main-dish salads or 6 small side salads
Ingredients:
2 whole wheat pita pocket breads, cut into strips about 3/4 inch wide, then toasted and crumbled
1 tsp. chopped garlic (2-4 cloves garlic)
1 tsp. salt (I used fine grind sea salt)
1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice, about 2 large lemons (I love lemon, so adjust the amount to your own taste)
1 tsp. powdered Sumac, plus more for sprinkling on individual salads if desired)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 heads Romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion
1 cup diced tomatoes (let drain a minute or two if extra juicy)
1 cup diced cucumber (same size as tomatoes)
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley (leaves only, no stems)
optional ingredients: chopped green pepper or radishes (I didn’t use either of these but Lori’s recipe had green peppers and I saw several recipes that added chopped radishes.)Instructions:

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400F/200C. While oven heats, mash together the chopped garlic and salt using a mortar and pestle, or the side of a knife or spoon. Put garlic-salt paste in a small bowl, then add lemon juice and 1 tsp. Sumac. Whisk in olive oil and set dressing aside. (You can also make the dressing in a glass jar and shake to combine.)

Cut whole wheat pita into strips about 3/4 inch wide and arrange on baking sheet. (Some recipes call for brushing the pita with olive oil, but I didn’t do that.) Bake until pita strips are crisp but only barely starting to brown, less than 10 minutes. Watch carefully because they can go from crisp to overly brown rather quickly.Remove outer leaves from Romaine, trim stem end, then wash and spin dry or dry with paper towels. Cut Romaine into fourths lengthwise, then turn and chop crosswise into small pieces. (If you have a salad spinner, you can chop the Romaine first, then wash.) Put chopped Romaine into salad bowl large enough toss all ingredients.Chop tomatoes, green onions, cucumbers, mint, and parsley and add to lettuce. Add about half of the dressing and toss, then add crumbled pita chops and toss again with more dressing. (You may not want all the dressing, but this salad should be quite wet.) At this point the salad should sit for a few minutes (or longer) to let flavors blend and so the pita chips absorb some of the dressing. To serve, arrange salad on individual plates and sprinkle with a bit more Sumac. You can also serve it in a large bowl with the Sumac sprinkled over.

When I first tested the recipe I made enough for two large salads, ate one for dinner, and put the rest in the fridge overnight. I was surprised how great it still tasted the next day, even though the vegetables were fairly wilted. When I made this for guests I tossed the salad together before they arrived, and it was perfect when I served it about 30 minutes later.

Lunches

Mmmm. Today is the second day in a row I made this for my lunch- Grilled Cucumber and Cheese Sandwiches! Here’s the recipe that I got the idea from: Havarti Dill and Cucumber on Rye Recipe

All I did to make mine was to cut a slice of bread in half. Place “strings” of mozzarella string cheese on each side- or whatever kind of cheese you’d like. Sprinkle dill and top with cucumber slices (I also used hot pepper flakes). Fold both sides together and toast or grill until cheese is melted.

And another lunch I made last week involved chickpeas (I love chickpeas)! It’s pretty simple and they suggested to serve on crusty rolls or pita bread with lettuce and tomato…that would have made it taste really good!

Vegetarian Chickpea Sandwich Filling