All posts tagged: cooking tips

Cauliflower-Crusted Baked Fish Nuggets / Kayra Allure

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Everyone went to bed with the forewarning of a Siberian snowstorm and of closing of schools last night. It’s a privilege not having to walk to the bakery for the morning bread. If you’re crazy about fresh morning bread like me, you’d plan the hours of buying bread and never mind going out early in the morning to pick up bread. Whenever I think of fresh morning bread, I think of my Bordeaux time with my mentor, who buys bread 3 times a day and is very strict about the morning bread. Life is too short to eat bad bread, he says. Well, one can’t eat a whole loaf of baguette, though one easily can if one doesn’t hear the inner voice that nags you “Eat Healthy!”, but if you can’t finish it all, well, it’s a big food waste, which will be banned in Seattle from this year and which has been restricted in Korea for a long time. Most households have a dehydrator like this at home but in Turkey, they have street …

persimmon chocolate

First Snow – Chocolate Persimmon Muffins

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Today Yesterday, one day before New Year’s Eve, I woke up to the first snow of winter. It wasn’t much to speak of, let alone to cover the streets and trees with a blanket of white snow, however, it surely made me accept that the cold winter had finally set in. For some reason, I have a history of baking something with chocolate on the first snow day, not that I intend to do. Watching it snow, I felt lucky not having to go out in the wind and cold. I opened the fridge and found only one egg…grrr…I used up all the eggs to make Caramelised Leek Goat Cheese Tart for the Christmas dinner. Oh, yeah, the party was good, crowded with expats married to Turks and their kids, and we had a feast with all the typical Christmas foods, even mulled wine and panettone, which was probably the most popular.We played a present exchange game and I was the last to pick or steal a present. The Canadian lady who got panettone and …

Smoky Eggplant Mushroom Risotto

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On a rainy evening, what can be better than a bowl of warm risotto? A warm lentil or pumpkin soup for lunch, and a risotto for dinner will set you right even if you’re not big on carbs like myself. The weather and the month December are two good excuses to indulge in dishes you don’t normally eat. And this risotto will be THE ONLY risotto I’ll be making repeatedly from now on, and I actually have made this three times already! Char-grilled eggplant puree, Patlıcan Salatası in Turkish, is my favourite meze and I can eat it every day ONLY IF grilling eggplants over the open fire was a less messy job, though it’s usually one of Mr.O’s jobs in the kitchen. Which version do you like the best? With yogurt, with tahini, or with olive oil, or with a bit of all? Do you have your own secret method of char-grilling eggplants? While I was looking for an idea, I came across two articles on the best way to char-grill eggplants. The first was …

Quince Paste and Quince Braided Bread

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It’s been gloomy and wet for over two weeks. It’s good news for the water reservoirs here that had been dried out. When my head gets clogged up with thoughts, I get into the kitchen and bake. Baking requires more concentration, which is a good therapy for a wandering mind. The lesson I got from my chef mentor still resonates in my head; don’t ever use baking powder or baking soda. I don’t know how many of you would agree with this but now I also much prefer to bake with yeast. The easiest way to create a darn good fruit-stuffed dessert is a strudel using filo pastry, which is sold fresh made in every block and is so handy dandy. But for some whimsical reason, as it often happens to me – perhaps, I don’t like the sameness, – I decided to bake a yeast bread. Then, I saw quinces screaming at me, which were too many for the filling, so I decided to make quince paste, thinking of the possible delivery of Hungarian …

spinach meatball

Spinach Kale Cheese Balls with Quick Harissa

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What I love about my new neighborhood, which is one of the best areas as far as the livability goes, there is a huge park where you can jog or play tennis or all sorts of activities happen all the time. I watched a classical concert and Eurasia dance show all by chance. On top of that, you can eat a big open-buffet breakfast on a lazy Sunday morning. Every Monday a big, I mean a HUGE farmer’s market (you can check go on to Son Mastori and click on the link) and there is also an organic market every Wednesday. If not at those farmers’ markets, there is still a small indoor traditional market where I usually shop for my everyday needs. “Let’s support small grocers!” I never buy groceries at supermarkets. No matter how cheaper things are in supermarkets and no matter how many ‘Buy 1 Get 1 Free‘ deals there are to tempt me. I love the interactions with people. I don’t get ripped off in this neighborhood as I used to. …

Turkish Melon Yogurt Ice cream

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As you might have read, I went on a guerrilla trip from Istanbul to Bodrum, joining Mr.O’s relatives and friends along the way. When we were coming back to Istanbul, we brought some Aegean foods with us. The things I always pick up at the roadside stalls are tomatoes, melons and watermelons, for which  Canakkale is renowned, while we snack on fresh figs and other fruit close to Izmir while driving. I love a road trip in late August because of the lush landscapes and the sight of fresh food stalls at village markets. I will share photos from a market in Bodrum in another post later. Also, I always look forward to tasting ice cream in Canakkale and Assos, where you can taste the best ice cream in Turkey, which is a slightly different or improved version in my opinion, so fresh and not so sweet. In case you are new to my blog, I can link you to the eternal place in my heart, Assos and how it is the reason I fell …