Pastırma: the Ultimate Spicy Turkish Bacon Lookalike

Today we had a perfectly lovely day: we were invited to a lunchtime BBQ with old friends including my very special old friend who has now moved to the UK and whom I don't see very often. The sun shone and it was beautifully warm as we sat out on her son's beautiful terrace in one of the new suburbs of Istanbul.

But this evening is the big match – or so I gather – between local teams Fenerbahçe and  Ankara Gücü. Apparently it is critical: Fenerbahçe, our team, must win! What do I know?

pastırma ready to be popped in the oven

It is obviously a rakı evening so just a little something was required: you don’t just drink rakı by itself. What we had that lent itself to the occasion was some pastırma which is a kind of cured beef. This is sometimes mistakenly called the Turkish bacon. Why I am not quite sure as it isn’t pork.  I suppose because it looks like rashers. But there the resemblance ends.

Actually I have to confess it smells divine especially once it is in the oven.  Nothing like bacon which I also adore. This has a spicy zing to it. You buy it either by the gram from a delicatessen or in a packet from a supermarket. There is a further choice: do you want it with an extra spicy edge or without?  Personally, I think, with. This is called çemen: a cumin-based paste including not only cumin but fenugreek, garlic, and hot paprika. Mmmmm.

slices of juicy lemon add to the taste as well as tomato and green pepper



you wrap it up like this

 Anyway, I opened up the packet and laid out all the slices on a large sheet of foil.  On top I put slices of lemon, tomato, and a few green peppers. I then folded the edges over so the contents were totally enclosed and then into the oven preheated at 180C/350F for about 25 mins. I must admit the smell that all those flavours together emitted was positively mouthwatering.

after cooking: all those juices and spices have mingled

Finally I served it to TT who was well installed in front of the TV and he was delighted! He especially enjoyed the presentation on a wooden board with a couple of slices of brown bread.

I guess he liked it!

The match has just finished with a resounding win for Fenerbahçe: 6:0!!!

A Truly Turkish Taste

these are called çağla (pron: char-lar)

In other words, unripened almonds. I think you have to be born Turkish in order to like these!

They are viewed here as an early harbinger of spring not necessarily a delicacy but even so, quite popular.  I find it hard to understand the attraction in the land of baklava and sweet syrupy desserts.

I am almost late posting about these as spring is marching on and of course the almonds are getting riper by the day . But when you see these in the markets, you should be aware  of what they are – and don’t buy them!

çağla on the branch right now in our garden in assos



This what they look like: pale green and furry. You bite into them and split the case with your teeth to find the kernel inside.  At the market on Monday I had one just to have another try, but no, not for me. Most definitely not.  The guys on the stall obviously thought I was mad as I spat it out!

beautifully peeled and chilled fresh almonds

However in the restaurants it’s another story. Don’t be surprised if suddenly a vendor from the street appears at your table bearing a tray like this laden with peeled almonds. This seems to be perfectly acceptable to the establishment and if you so desire, you order a plateful like the one above.

It's a sublime combination of freshness and texture.  And only available now!  

Broad Beans in Olive Oil: a Meze

Zeytinyağlı bakla in Turkish.

This dish reminds me why I am a Seasonal Cook as these beans  - fava in the US - are available for such a very short time.

Since Uzbekistan I have a tremendous urge for fresh, clean tastes and definitely no pilav. Where better to be than in our village house overlooking the sparkling blue Aegean with Ayvacık market beckoning? We are here for Easter. To my great surprise I can’t say that spring has arrived here; the garden is holding back and it is chilly by day and downright cold at night. We have the fire burning and indoors is warm and toasty.

apart from irises and wisteria,the garden is still bare

Yesterday we ventured forth to market and it was a joyous sight with piles of fresh green produce everywhere and a bustling happy crowd. 



 the little side approach to ayvacık market at noon



 This zeytinyağlı dish is hardly original but it is what Turkish home cooks everywhere are putting on their tables right now.

Broad beans should be podded unless they are very young and tender as they are right now.  Keep away from limp, discoloured pods; smaller is better.  In this recipe they are cooked whole; later you can pod them  and pod them again.  They keep well in the fridge for 2-3 days. 1kg yields approximately 350g shelled beans.

LOCAL bakla, fresh, firm and green: this is what I bought

knobbly and arthritic- looking: what not to buy

I checked out quite a few recipes and saw that they are all pretty similar. The one I used is from Binnur’s Turkish Cookbook. I didn’t find the recipe all that precise but I realised that it doesn’t really matter as nothing too drastic can happen.

Ingredients for Zeytinyağlı Bakla

400g broad beans in the pod/ bakla

2 cups water with 2 tbsp lemon juice

1 small onion, chopped

75 ml olive oil (half for cooking, half for later)

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp flour

¼ cup fresh dill/dereotu (half for cooking, half for later)

Salt

they don't do things by halves around here: dill

Method

·         Wash the beans. Trim both ends and shave along the sides with a knife. Cut into 2-3 pieces.

the prepared bakla in lemon water

·         Place in the 2 cups water with the lemon juice so that the colour of the beans won’t darken later.

·         Sauté the onions with ½ the olive oil in a medium-sized pot. Add the beans with 1 cup of lemon water and the remaining ingredients.  If needed, add the second cup of lemon water.*

·         Cook for about 20-25 minutes on medium-low heat, half-covered with the lid.  Check for doneness and season with salt.

2 stages of cooking

·         Place on a serving dish and drizzle over the remaining olive oil. Garnish with the remaining fresh dill.

·         Serve at room temperature with garlic yogurt.

zeytinyağlı bakla

Tips

1.       *I  found that I definitely needed the extra lemon water. Also I cooked the beans for an extra 10 mins.

2.       The amount of fresh dill can be adjusted to taste. It is so decorative that more is good!

As the beans were cooking, TT sniffed approvingly and said ‘It smells like the real thing!’ With encouragement like that, I  certainly recommend giving this meze a try! Afiyet olsun!

HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!

my ancient assos mortars and pestles

The First Artichokes of the Season

Monday = market day in Selami Çeşme!

So earlier this week despite a rather fearful sky, off I set. Would there be any signs of spring in terms of produce,  I wondered or was it still a bit early?

After all those carrots and potatoes, onions and leeks, it did the heart good to spy piles of  enginar or artichokes. These are a real treat here as the hearts, sold in plastic bags containing acidulated water to stop them discolouring, are beautifully cleaned and prepared on the spot ready for cooking.  They are graded and priced according to size.  The biggest and best today were 2.50 TL each: about £1 so not given away. Apparently these early ones are coming in from N. Cyprus ie where the climate is milder. Later the bayrampaşa ones will make an appearance and they are magnificent both in size and flavour. It is still very much early days.

anyone for artichokes?

Occasionally  I fly against tradition and buy the artichokes whole. Then I boil them and we eat them with a sharp vinaigrette of olive oil and lemon juice mixed with French mustard, sucking each leaf tip one by one, the heart the tantalizing jewel in the crown to be eaten with a knife and fork after pulling out the spiky choke.  It’s a bit of a process: this way is definitely not Turkish!

Turkish-style is zeytinyağlı or done in olive oil, filled with chopped potatoes, carrots, and peas. This is the mix you find everywhere and the veg is cubed. Or perhaps broad beans once they are in season which is any minute now.  I like this slightly different presentation that Alev Kaman describes in her book Modern Türk Mutfağı: instead of peas, there are little pearl onions, and  the potato is shaped into beautiful globes with the help of a melon scoop. A sprig of fresh dill sets the dish off perfectly and makes enginar an ideal starter. We find the taste just exquisite.

I also like the look of little hearts done in the same way when they are one of several meze. Big ones are better on their own. One of my friends rebelled against the traditional filling a couple of years ago and substituted shrimps instead! Which of course works very well but again, not Turkish.

Ingredients for Zeytinyağlı Enginar or Artichokes done in Olive Oil

Serves 8

8 artichoke hearts

2 carrots

2 potatoes

16 pearl onions

½  cup olive oil

2 tbsp flour

3 cups hot water

Juice of 1 lemon

4 sugar lumps

1 tsp salt

Sprigs of fresh dill to decorate

afiyet olsun!

Method

·         The artichoke hearts will discolour if left too long. Prepare the carrots: chop into small pieces and then using a melon scoop, scoop out balls of potato, trying to keep the rounded shape as well as possible. Peel  the onions and leave whole.

·         Pour the olive oil into the pan. Using a wooden spoon, add the flour and stir. Add the 3 cups hot water, salt, sugar, and lemon juice. When the liquid begins to boil, add the potatoes, carrot, onion and artichoke hearts. Cover the pan with lid. Cook for 30 mins on medium heat. Then lower heat and cook for a further 20 mins. Leave in the pan to cool.

·         To Serve: place the artichoke hearts on the serving dish and distribute the cooked vegetables in each.

·         Decorate with the sprigs of dill. Serve at room temperature.

Tips

·         I have seen nice little airtight bags of prepared rounds of  carrots, onions, and potatoes in the main supermarkets eg Carrefour, which would speed things up in the kitchen.

I don’t know how many of you can view this post. If you can, it is thanks to my sister Alison in California who is posting for me. The ban in Turkey is still on as I write. The advice I have been given is to hang on for the moment. Followers in Turkey may be able to see my blog/other blogspot blogs if they use an unblocking website first eg www.unblocked.org . Right now, I can’t comment on my own blog, I mean physically my comments don’t go through. But yours can! Hopefully the ban will be lifted very soon and we can all go back to our lovely blogging world.

Celeriac Carpaccio

This is what happens when a young Turkish cook applies her culinary creativity to the traditional zeytinyağlı kereviz /celeriac meze and successfully gives it a modern twist. Traditionalists, beware!



celeriac carpaccio



Kereviz, kereviz/ celeriac, celeriac, carrots, potatoes and cabbage. And pumpkin.  And more of the same. A winter market in the heart of Istanbul.

 Monday morning in my area of Fenerbahçe means market day so routine being routine, off  I went.  I didn't waste time: straight to ‘my’ stall, carefully avoiding what used to be ‘my’ stall.  I thought everything was a bit pricey, I found eg little cucumbers at 5TL per kilo which is £2. That’s a lot to my mind. But I got them for 4TL. That’s what being a regular customer does for you. I like to think they give me a break sometimes!

Luckily I like vegetables including all the winter ones. The celeriac or kereviz looked attractive despite their odd shape:  fresh, white and firm. I had this new recipe in mind so bought 2 big ones. They are obviously a popular vegetable as the vast pile was already on the wane and it was only 9.30. This recipe is from my young friend Refika Birgül’s book Cooking New Istanbul Style. The recipes sometimes leave a lot to be desired in terms of clarity but they make up for it in sheer joy and ebullience.

Ingredients

Serves 6

2 large celeriacs or 3 medium

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 orange* magic ingredient

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, sliced thinly

1 dessert spoon brown sugar

½ lemon

Rocket leaves, washed and dried

Parmesan cheese, grated

2 tsp salt

6 tbsp olive oil

Coarse black pepper

A little grated nutmeg

1 tbsp pine nuts

Method

·         Pour the olive oil into a wide pan and gently heat. Put the chopped onion, garlic, carrot and pine nuts into the pan and gently saute till softened. Cut the celeriacs into thin rounds (3-4mm), add to the pan and saute a couple of minutes. Halve the orange and squeeze. Squeeze the lemon half. Pour the juice of both onto the celeriacs. Add sugar and salt.

ingredients ready to go

the sliced kereviz

·         Pour 1 ½ cups boiling water over the contents of pan, cover, and cook gently for 15 mins. Let cool in pan.

To serve:

Pile the rocket  in the centre of your serving dish and arrange the slices of celeriac decoratively around it. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and a little nutmeg. Grind some coarse black pepper over the assembled dish and add a little olive oil to the rocket.

The celeriac can also be arranged on individual dishes if you prefer.

Comments

So what's the verdict? I liked this recipe as it is an original take on the same old ingredients and the standard zeytinyağlı kereviz recipe. The addition of pine nuts was innovative, the parmesan cheese modern, and the orange juice, although not a new idea, added to the taste. The lemon juice helps to keep the celeriac from discolouring.

Give it a try and let me know.

By the way, you will see a new widget  - I think that's the correct term - right below this: you can now print off the recipe simply by clicking on it. This is thanks to Daughter No 2 who declared she was tired of lugging her laptop into the kitchen each time she needed a recipe.

And while I am at it, there is a second new widget that I hope will be helpful: on the right of the blog you will see Get Your Recipe Updates via Email and a place to put your email address.  Do this, click OK, and the posts will automatically be sent to your email.  You won't have to go to the website every time.

 Hope that helps! Enjoy!

Seasonal Celeriac: a Meze

Celeriac is such an odd looking vegetable, round and knobbly, with  a delicate taste and a powerful smell which tends to linger in a not unpleasant fashion.  When I first set eyes on it, I had no idea what on earth it was,  let alone what to do with it as we certainly never had it at home when I was growing up. Apparently it was originally classified as a herb, full of vitamins and mineral salts, and highly valued for its medicinal properties, but over the centuries, it has taken two very distinctive forms through selected breeding: one is what we know as celery, with frondy leaves and crunchy stalks, which hardly exists here; and the other is commonly known as a root vegetable like the carrot or turnip although it is actually a corm, the celeriac. In Turkish there is only word for both varieties: kereviz.  At this time of year, it is most commonly used in this olive oil dish but can also be grated into salads either on its own or with carrots, used to flavour soups,  or made into gratins and delicious creamy mashes with potatoes.  I had it in my head to look out for them at my weekly market yesterday as despite the warm sun, autumn is in the air: I was not disappointed. There they were, along with mountains of cabbages and cauliflowers, pumpkins and pomegranates, heralds of the colder months which lie ahead.

Ingredients for Zeytinyağlı Kereviz/Celeriac in Olive Oil

Serves  8

4 medium celeriac

2 carrots

2 medium potatoes

1 onion

3 sugar lumps

¼ cup olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1 cup hot water

1 gently heaped tbsp salt

Method

1.       Put the juice of half the lemon and 2 cups of water into a pyrex bowl.  Trim and peel the celeriac, cut into rounds a little thinner than your finger, halve these, and place in the bowl. Trim and scrape the carrots, then using a fork, make a pattern as in the picture. Peel and cube the potatoes. Peel and chop the onion quite finely. Wash all of them and put into the acidulated water along with the celeriac so that none of them discolour.

preparing the carrots

the chopped vegetables and the kereviz in the lemon water



2.       Drain all the vegetables and put them in a wide pan along with the salt, sugar, remaining lemon juice, olive oil, and 1 cup of hot water. Cover with a lid and cook on a low heat for 40 minutes till the vegetables are soft.

everything is here



3.       Leave to cool in the pan before transferring to a serving dish.

zeytinyağlı kereviz

Traditionally this kereviz dish is eaten as a second course, after a hot dish, but it also makes a fine starter which is easier carefully served with a slotted spoon onto individual plates.  A little of the cooking liquid can be spooned over each.

Tips

§  The lemon and water is to keep the peeled kereviz white so don’t leave them exposed to the air too long as they will turn an unappetising brown!

§  I did prepare the carrots with the fork as required in this particular recipe by Alev Kaman in Modern Türk Mutfağı , but it is certainly not essential. They can simply be sliced in thin rounds or on the diagonal.

§  As with many zeytinyağlı dishes, I always feel the urge to grind some pepper over the finished dish, for aesthetics as much as anything. However, this is not part of Turkish cooking. In traditional restaurants one doesn’t find pepper mills: these are part and parcel of the upmarket places offering meals with a western twist, which is also why for a very long time it was nigh on impossible to find a decent pepper mill here!



irresistible market bouquets!



Leeks in Olive Oil

market booty

I have just staggered back flushed with success from the weekly market here in my immediate area of Selami Çeşme, and behold my booty. Now, I defy anybody not to feel inspired just by looking at that. There is a kilo of spinach, roots and all, in the plastic bag which I will prepare for tonight; next to it, a marul lettuce and some beautiful rocket. I see the tomatoes are becoming those standard greenhouse ones but I had one for lunch and it tasted fine. The little cucumbers are just how they should be: crisp and crunchy. I broke my own rule with the figs:  I know the season is finished but I just couldn’t resist them, and then I bought them from a stall I never usually use.  Fatal. Usually one can choose one’s own produce but these figs were too far away for me to do so.  As a result, the  stallholder slipped in a couple of duds. Live and learn. The plums are fabulous and the grapes – well, just look at them! I couldn’t resist the beetroots either. The little bags are dried mint, peppercorns, and kuş üzüm, the dried little currants for use in pilafs. You can buy as little as you like which is very handy with herbs and spices.  It is a good idea to have a look at those on your own shelves from time to time and chuck out the ones that have been there rather too long: they lose their oomph over time.

I didn’t buy leeks as I bought some just the other day: the first ones of the season, actually. Here is what I did with them: zeytinyağlı pırasa, a very typical olive oil dish for this time of year and one of my favourites.   Very healthy and tasty. You will notice that for a change there are no onions included in the ingredients. This is because leeks themselves belong to the onion family so no need for more.

                                                                           Ingredients

Serves 6

1 kg leeks/pırasa

2 carrots

1 tbsp rice, washed

4 lumps of sugar

½ cup olive oil

Juice of  ½ lemon

2 cups hot water

1 tbsp salt

cutting on the diagonal

Method

§  First cut off all the dark green, leafy bits of the leeks and discard. Wash the remaining part well and slice on the diagonal. Put the slices in a bowl and cover with cold water along with the lemon juice.  If you followed Jenny’s tip, simply take your carrots out of the fridge and slice in a similar way.Otherwise, trim , peel, and wash as usual before slicing in diagonals.

§  In a pan, gently heat the oil and stir in the carrots. Cook for 3 – 4 mins.



cooking everything together



§  Add leeks, rice, lump sugar, and salt and mix together. Add the 2 cups hot water. Cover the pan  with a lid and cook on a low heat for 50 mins.

§  Let cool before transferring to a serving dish. Remember that a shallow one is more typical.

                             Extra lemon juice may be passed round as it goes well with leeks.

Tip

1.       All these olive oil dishes or meze are always served cold. It is only when there is meat in them that they are served  hot. Go easy on the rice: if you add too much, it turns into a glutinous mess.



2.       Note the size of these Turkish leeks. I seem to remember that the ones available in the UK are a different breed and are much bigger. That’s fine but wash very carefully as grit can be entrenched in the leaves, and make sure your slices aren’t too thick. I slice the leeks first and then wash, just to be safe.

3.       I learnt most of these dishes by osmosis really.  Well, a combination of my lovely mother-in-law and An American Cook in Turkey. For a long, long time, there were no good Turkish cookbooks available and obviously no internet.  But in the interests of this blog I have been checking with actual Turkish recipes. This one comes from Modern Türk Mutfağı by Alev Kaman, an excellent Turkish cook book.





A Delicious Aubergine Meze





How do you feel about aubergines?  Look at this, bubbling away, looking great, smelling great.

I don’t think my dad ever really enjoyed them, he didn’t like garlic either, but then it wasn’t his fault as they were certainly not a feature of pre-war Britain’s cuisine, let alone Grandma Beatrice’s kitchen! Probably his first encounter with aubergine was in ratatouille which my French mother occasionally made. And then there was moussaka – remember that? Rather greasy, I always thought.  But onions, garlic, tomatoes, all the vegetables that I have come to embrace, were not where my dad’s gastro inclinations lay by nature, strict meat and two veg man that he was. Cooking has come such a long way since those days and for me, living in Turkey has opened up a huge range of possibilities with vegetables and aubergines definitely provide a focus. There are literally hundreds of recipes for them in various forms, hot and cold, and I love them all, providing not too much oil is involved.

This recipe, ekşili patlıcan, taken from Secrets of the Turkish Kitchen is for a meze, the concept we are all now familiar with: small appetizers set on the table at the same time before the main course, and an excuse to drink rakı, the delicious aniseed-flavoured local drink.  I suggest you include it as a side dish along with whatever you’re having as a main. If you glance through the ingredients, you will see all the familiar veggies that characterise so many Mediterranean dishes, not only Turkish. Aubergines are in reality a summer vegetable but they are still available, just a little bit more expensive. Ekşili literally means sour, which does not sound very appealing, but what it actually means is cooked with lemon juice.

                                                          Ingredients

Serves 4 – 6

4 long aubergines

2 onions, thinly sliced

3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed in salt

½ cup olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Chopped parsley for garnish

getting things ready: the tomatoes will be covered with boiling water

keeping only the red parts of the tomatoes and removing the white

Method

1.       Remove the stems and peel the aubergines in alternate vertical stripes. Cut into bite-size chunks and place in a bowl of salted water for 30 minutes.

2.       Drain the aubergines and squeeze dry in a towel. Place in a pan with the other ingredients. Cover and cook over a low heat until the aubergines are tender, most of the liquid has been absorbed and the sauce is rich.

3.       Set aside to cool and serve garnished with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

ekşili patlıcan: serve at room temperature

                                                                  Tip

• Usually aubergines are a beautiful, dark, vibrant purple but there are other varieties, particularly in the countryside, which are pale and marbled. So the clue to choosing good ones is making sure they are smooth and shiny on the outside, as well as being firm to the touch.

They belong to the nightshade family and have a naturally occurring enzyme that can leave a bitter aftertaste in some dishes. Luckily, it is easy to ‘sweat’ them by salting which accomplishes two goals:

a) It pulls out the juices that carry bitter flavours and
b) Collapses the air pockets in the aubergines’ sponge-like flesh, thus preventing them from absorbing too much oil.

• Sprinkle slices or chunks of the aubergine with salt and let sit for  30 mins  - 1 hour. Incidentally, I notice that all the River House Cafe recipes recommend 1 hour as well as putting a plate on top with a heavy weight to push down on the slices.  Rinse the salt off with cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper. The drier they are, the less greasy the final result will be.

Personally I have found that the bitterness has become much less pronounced over the years but I would certainly advocate salting for any dish which requires frying in oil first as the amount of oil you use will definitely be less.

I also like peeling in stripes as in this recipe. The skin doesn’t become hard as it does when left whole.

************************************************************************

Here is an easy but delicious recipe for 6 from one of my favourite cookbooks, River Cafe Cook Book Green:  Take 4 large aubergines and slice into 1.5cm discs. Salt them as described above. Place close together on a foil-lined oven tray that you have lightly brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and some oregano/kekik, coriander seeds/kişniş tohumu roughly ground, and chopped garlic/sarmısak, and put in a pre-heated oven (200C/400F/Gas 6). Brush the tops of the slices with olive oil and scatter with more oregano, coriander, and garlic. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Turn the slices over when lightly browned, return to the oven and continue cooking for a few more minutes.

Serve on a bed of rocket /roka leaves. Drizzle with lemon juice and a little of your finest olive oil.

I like the sound of that!