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.





Barbunya Beans in Olive Oil

barbunya at Ayvacık Market

If you like beans, you’re in the right place but you have to learn how to cook them and that’s not difficult!  But they are so typically Turkish and so delicious, you’ll feel very pleased with yourself once you have mastered the art of a typical zeytinyağli.

 Barbunya, the attractive red ones in the picture, are at their height in the summer. They are still available in the markets and greengrocers right now but I notice that the price has started to rise signalling the end of the season is in sight.  Fresh is always preferred to dry and they freeze beautifully once shelled, but the dry ones are perfectly all right out of season. Outside Turkey, roman/red/borlotti  beans can easily be substituted. In the US, dry pinto beans, for example, can be used, after soaking overnight. Zeytinyağlı/olive oil dishes  - meze - are a staple of local cuisine both in restaurants and at home: Turkish housewives will usually have at least one or two in the fridge at all times, the season dictating which vegetables will be used, while restaurants will have a whole trayful to tempt you.  Just about any veg can be used in a zeytinyağli dish: the choice is yours. I have even been served brussel sprouts, which only appeared on the Turkish scene a few years ago, done in this way! One of the best-loved and most common is this one made with barbunya, my son’s all-time favourite: I have just made them twice in 3 days from daughter Ayse’s tried and tested recipe below when he was here for a whistlestop visit.  There are many different versions of this recipe, the  main differences being in the amounts of olive oil and also sugar. But you know, it is completely up to the cook: if you don’t like using too much oil, nothing drastic is going to happen if you use less. If your recipe calls for, say, a tablespoon of granulated sugar and you don’t like the idea, just leave it out. In time, you will discover how exactly you like your very own barbunya!

Ingredients

Serves 6 as a meze

1 kg barbunya, shelled

½ cup virgin/sızma olive oil

2 small onions, finely chopped

1 tin of chopped tomatoes or 2 of those big fresh tomatoes, peeled and roughly chopped

1-2 of those light green peppers (çarliston biber) – not a must

1-2 carrots, chopped

1 heaped tsp tomato paste

1-2 sugar cubes

1 tsp salt

750 ml/2 ½ cups hot water

gently sauteing

adding the beans to the other vegetables

Method

1.       Heat the oil and add onions to fry gently till translucent – about 5 mins.

2.       Add green peppers (whole) if using, and carrots. Stir and cook for about 5 more mins.

3.       Add the chopped tomatoes, stir so it is all mixed and cook till the tomatoes ‘melt’.

4.       Add the beans and stir the whole lot till mixed. Again, leave to cook for 5 mins.

5.       Add salt and sugar cubes and stir.

6.       Add the warm water and tomato paste and stir.

7.       Then cover with lid and turn the heat down to very low. Set timer for 45 mins. Then check for water at the 45 min mark and have a taste. You are almost certain to find that the beans need to be softer and that you need to add more water (which should be hot). Be careful that the beans don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

8.       Pour onto a platter and when cold, garnish with parsley.

your meze is ready to serve

Tips

Here is a really great tip for keeping carrots fresh: when you get them home, cut the ends off, peel them and then wash. Put in a plastic container, covering with water, and store in the fridge. They will stay crisp and crunchy for days, all ready for use in cooking or salads.

Jenny's tip!