Bloggers Around the World April Round-Up: Turkey

Are you ready for another round-up of Bloggers Around the World? What? You are not? But you have to, because it's already May and I should be announcing the theme for May already. No worries, I will do that on one of the following days and ... I'll make it a special one again. So, keep on the lookout.
However, now to the round-up of April ...

... and to Turkey ...

In fact, things are quite simple. First we have a look to what Deon from FoodJam has done. It's exactly my type of food, when I am not too lazy. We get Gozleme, some filled pastries finished off in the griddle pan. Just imagine, there is feta, spinach and minced lamb inside.

If you think, that isn't filling enough for you ... hm ... whatever that was supposed to mean ... eh ... you can have an Adana Soup, which I created here on my blog  ...

Well, there are chickpeas, tomatoes and meatballs, but the twist is to serve the soup with a splash of white wine vinegar.

As I promised, things are quite simple here, so I will stop at this very point only to talk to you another day for more Bloggers Around the World ...

Bloggers Around the World: Turkey

There is a lot going on at the moment. It seems I am rushing from blog post to blog post. Now, here is one I need to get up and running and then I can start to relax a bit ... if I want to, not sure, though, whether I really want to. Some days yes and some days no. It comes without warning. However, the announcement for the next destination for our Bloggers Around the World challenge is not suddenly. You knew it has to come at some point at the beginning of the month.

Fine, you couldn't know, whether I am going to take a month off from the challenge. I might consider doing so, if someone offers to take over for that month. You see!?
On with the show then and don't take me wrong on this one, it isn't my fault, it's just a coincidence, just a matter of ... eh ... eh ... whatever, we are going to ...

TURKEY

Well, officially we can say Republic o Turkey. So we are having less troubles with mix-ups. Nevertheless, just to make sure, you are not suppose to do turkey dishes, but Turkish dishes. Just that you don't get any ideas!

Argh, yes, you might need some ideas for what you might been cooking. For that a few keywords: bulgur, peynir, socuk, tahin, yufka and pekmez. I am not 100% sure, but we might see he one or the other again throughout the month.

So far, I have tried a few tiny things Turkish on my blog already. Sheep cheese, beyaz peynir, was involved there. I attempted Turkish pizza, called lahmacun.

The other thing was peynirli börek, pastry with sheep cheese filling that was. It looked a bit like this ... eh ... it looked exactly like this ...

Along that line I might have beyaz peynir ezmesi this month. Have you figured out by now what about this could be? Have a guess.

Anyway, I have a Turkish cookbook. In fact that was the second cookbook I ever bought. It came a little later then my Mexican cookbook and it still looks a lot better. So it's about time I use it a bit more. If I get the chance I might even try hünkar begendi, the sultan was delighted. I only hope that dish, involving lamb and aubergines, will delight me as well then.

However, in case you are more on the sweet side (now I definitely hope you don't get me wrong) you might try dilber dudagi ... ahem ... the lips of a beautiful woman. Now I could tell you a story along that line, but I rather not. I don't know how to put it the easy way. 
Still, the sweet dishes are more on the ... something ... side. Some more examples: women's navel or vezier finger.

However, you could stay on the save side and present us some Turkish delight or some baklava.

As always, the options  are endless. Do some research, thinking and the like and ...

... write up a lovely post keeping in mind the following ...

1. Link to my blog and this very challenge in your post.
2. Use the "Bloggers Around the World" badge (hm, nobody told me there was a spelling error the last few times ... naughty).
3. Use either an old post ... having tried something magnificently yumlicious ... and Turkish.
4. You can enter up to  ... think ... three posts along that theme.
5. Have as much fun as you can have legally and reasonably ...

Did I forget anything. For sure I will remember when it is too late, but maybe then I will never know. So, get ready and cook ...

Quick Pasta, if you dare ... Tortelloni with Garlic Yogurt

I'm not exactly sure how we got into this conversation, but at one point I found myself in it with a workmate. Well, I guess it's no big deal. However, he made me try something: Tortelloni with Garlic Yogurt.
Do you dare try it as well? 
Why 'dare'? I simply bought this ready tortelloni and had a go. Or maybe it's because the garlic in the yogurt? Whatever! Originally the idea is based on a Turkish filled pasta dish called manti. While I haven't tried to do them myself, this is basically a cheat version, although I might simply check it out at some other point and do a non-cheat version.

Basically this cheat manti version is so dead simple and quick, you can go for it on any weeknight even though you don't have time for cooking.
Simply cook the pasta according to the instructions on the package.
In the meantime mix some plain yogurt with finely chopped, squashed, or grated garlic, a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper.
Pasta ready? Reserve a tiny bit of the cooking water and then mix the drained pasta with the yogurt and the reserved cooking water and then simply eat it.
It's just that simple.
How do things look? From that you might guess I have started to get lazy again and stopped cooking properly or getting proper ideas ...
Well, you might be right, but then again, we will see about that ...

A Life without Cheese

Can you imagine that? A life without cheese.

Actor Kirk Douglas once said: “I could never live without dogs.” Or even better what the German actor Heinz Rühmann had to say: “Of course you could live without a dog, but it’s not worth it.” It went somehow like that (of course only in German). Well, that is a good one (I like dogs, too). I would apply it to cheese as well. 

A life without cheese would be like Pride and Prejudice without Mr Darcy. 

Right, there is the case of lactose intolerance, which limits the subject of cheese, but still there are lactose free cheeses.

Now, let things work a bit in your mind …

…

…

… did you let the thoughts flow properly on that subject?

So, just to start it off with an easy one. What would a pizza be without cheese?

OK, I have a good friend, he doesn’t like cheese. He does without, but for me it doesn’t make sense.

Of course, I love cheese!

Going on! Having a nice dish of pasta, what do you do to top it up before eating: grate some Parmesan cheese over it.

You can forget about cheese cakes, if you don’t have cheese.

How often do you find Cheddar or Stilton in Cornish Pasty? I love it.

What about Roquefort cheese in a salad?

Can you do tzatziki without any kind of cheese? I couldn’t manage.

Being in France and having no cheese – that would be ridiculous. A cheese course is absolutely necessary. I personally appreciate also an evening with a bottle of red wine, nice cheese and a baguette – lovely.

You for sure would be able to add many more dishes to the list, where you wouldn’t want to go without cheese.

Something “Say cheese” is used by photographers who want their subject to smile – you see, cheese makes you smile.

Would Wallace and Gromit work without cheese?

If there was no cheese, something would be missing also from the French movie Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis – Maroilles seems to be a nice cheese.

Back to food and the preparation of it. Just the other day I made cheese and fennel muffins with Jarlsberg cheese. 

The recipe I got from the book Secrets of Scandinavian Cooking … Scandilicious from Signe Johansen (maybe I will write a bit more about it at another time).

They were so delicious and … obviously wouldn’t work without cheese either … Fennel and Something Muffins (hm, whatever that something would be).

Indeed, it would be a very grim outlook, not to have cheese.

Cheddar, Wensleydale, Red Leicester, Gouda, Edam, Leerdam, Gorgonzola, Provolone, Havarti, Greyezer, Scamorza, Haloumi, Fourme d’Ambert, St. Nectaire, Manchego, Roquefort, Parmesan, St. Aigur, Feta, Mozzarella, sheep cheese, goat cheese, curd cheese, cream cheese, Jarlsberg, Brunost, camembert, Brie, Emmenthal, Comte, Ricotta, Cantal, Allgäuer, Bergkäse … and we could go on and on and on (there could be around 5000 different cheeses – for sure I can’t list them all here).

Somewhere around in that city (Paris, if you don’t notice from the picture), there is a shop that sells 300 different kinds of cheese.

When I was visiting Cheddar with some friends, we had the chance to go for some cheese testing. Oh … that was great … if you have the chance, don’t miss that opportunity.

It happens to be the case, that I still have some sheep cheese left in the fridge …

Already a few days ago I used some of it to stuff some red peppers, which I roasted in a griddle pan.

But here now comes the deal:

Pastry bags with sheep cheese filling or as you may say in Turkey: Peynirli Börek

Ingredients:

For the filling:

250 g sheep cheese

1 egg

Chopped parsley

Some chopped chili (if you like – I added it just for safety reason)

For the dough (yes, you’re right I’m a person, who likes recipes with dough):

500 g flour

2 tablespoons of baking powder

1 egg

200 ml milk with a splash of lemon

200 g butter

100 ml lukewarm water

Salt

Preparation:

Mix the ingredients for the filling and put to the side.

Let’s do the dough!

Sift the flour together with the baking powder to a bowl. Make a hole in the middle of the flour and add the egg, milk, butter, and water. Give it a pinch of salt and then … go for it! Yes, don’t be shy (only make sure you have some extra flour ready in case it gets too sticky). Work the ingredients until you get a homogeneous (simply wanted to use the word – you could say “doughy” as well) dough.

Now you can start pre-heating your oven to … let’s say 170°C (of course you have cleaned your hands for this) and have a floured baking tray ready.

Separate the dough into egg size pieces (have an extra egg ready for reference). I ended up with about, no, exactly 16.

Flatten these egg sized pieces (No, I didn’t say you should form them, so that they look like eggs, did I.). Have a tablespoon of the cheese filling in the middle of each and fold them together and seal them tightly. If you have any leftover filling or dough, you did something wrong (or your spoon had the wrong size – be ready to blame someone else, but not me).

Once ready, having placed all “böreks” on the baking tray, you could brush them with egg wash (using the reference egg) and sprinkle with sesame seeds. I didn’t bother with the egg wash, though, this time, but it should give a nice colour to it (brown in this case, although you might use white eggs).

Have them in your oven for 30 minutes or until they look right (that is before they smell wrong).

If you have done everything right, you can enjoy them afterwards with a nice salad (that is where I went wrong – I didn’t have a salad – forgot it).

That’s it then (Did you check the picture, whether I really had 16?) ! I don’t want a life without cheese.

What about you? What is your favourite cheese? Let us know!

Turkish Breakfast Bruschetta

Günaydın! Nasılsın?

We have the year 2004 and we are in Turkey. It is time for summer holiday, hanging around lazily at the beach, a tiny bit of sight seeing there, and enjoying life.

A small hotel (not a *****-star palace) at the south coast of Turkey, just between Kemer and Antalya. In the background the Taurus mountains (Toros Dağları) rise up.

Lazy? No! One man refuses. Along this line I talked my friends into a "small" walking-tour towards the canyon at Göynük. While travelling on the dolmuş (public transportation) to Kemer the other day, a sign at the side on the road had caught my eye: "Explore the canyon of Göynük" (or something like that).

Stupid enough, the others agreed to go on this tour. It should not be a too long walk. However walking around for one hour at about 40°C without any hope for shade can be quite challenging. So, at large portions of the tour, the girls complain -they can't walk anymore. But we have to make it to the canyon.

We came as far as the picture shows. OK, this pictures says nothing about it. No worries!

This, however, would have been the point where things would have started to get interesting. From here on the canyon narrowed and there were some amazing sights. The downside: You had to continue in the water. Nice! Opportunity to cool down! But, and this is now a BIG BUT, who likes to go from 40°C to -5°C? No, the water wasn't that cold, maybe +5°C. Really? OK, let's say +10°C. We might have been a bit wimpy. Let's say it was cold, too cold to bear it for too long.

That would be the end then ... of this trip. Still, we had to get back. Again one hour of walking through the heat, when already the girls can't walk anymore. The result then was that after a little bit later on the way back they refused to go on - not possible anymore.

The solution: we had to hitch-hike. On the back of a truck together with a load of carob pods we got back to the village.

Here then, what miracle, the girls were ready to go shopping (yes, walking around) for four hours (about that time) at the local bazaar.

Whatsoever! Why do I tell you all this? During this holiday we most of the time used to have Turkish white bread or flatbread with tomatoes (they had enough real sun) and sheep's milk cheese.

Back in the year 2012!

I just raided my local Turkish shop and got some nice Turkish white bread, sheep's milk cheese and ...

Let's make Turkish Breakfast Bruschetta then. Right! What? Yes, that is true bruscetta is an Italian antipasti. Nevertheless, I like to call it that way, because I adjusted things so it is a little bit like bruscetta. And, of course, you don't have to eat it for breakfast, only. Things need to have names, though. How do you like "White bread with tomato and sheep's milk cheese"? Yes, that's the point.

We rather should go on with assembling it then.

Heat some olive oil in a pan and add some finely sliced garlic to flavour the oil a bit (if you don't want to smell garlicky afterwards, think twice). You can remove it after a while or not. Just make sure, you don't have black garlic on your bread later on. Speaking of it, you brown the bread a bit in the oil (hm, strange, why use WHITE bread if you BROWN it? no worries).

The remaining part is just putting things together. Get the bread on a plate (or on whatever) and load it with some sliced tomatoes, season with pepper (and salt if you have to, remembering, though, that the cheese got some salt from the brine already), put enough slices of the sheep's milk cheese on (don't be shy). It would be good to have 60% fat cheese (don't be afraid). You know, more fat usually tastes better. Anyway, it's more creamy. 

Finish your bruschetta with some chopped mint leaves on top.

You might enjoy it together with some çay (Turkish tea). That is if you happen to have a çaydanlık handy and some loose tea.

Iyi günler!

Turkish Pizza: Lahmacun

The problem is, when I have a certain image in my mind of wanting something special to eat, I'm not satisfied, if I get it only in a different way. Did this sound logic or understandable. Or should I say: When I want something, then I want it in certain way, or I am not happy with it. Whatever, forget it.

 

In the town where I grew up, there was this Turkish food place called „Sivas“ something. They used feta cheese and chillies on their doners and lahmacums. But not often I have found something like this again, if at all. Then you have to do it yourself again.
So, let's try to do our own lahmacun. The word lahmacun come from an old Aramaic expression which means "meat with dough". So that's what we are going to have, more or less.

Ingredients:

500 g flour

7 g dried yeast

300 ml lukewarm water

250 g minced meat (lamb or beef)

400 g of tinned tomatoes

one onion finely chopped

1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

oil for frying

parsley

salt, paprika, pepper, chili flakes

2-3 handful finely cut iceberg lettuce mixed with lemon and olive oil

200 g sheep (not cheap) feta cheese (nice creamy Turkish one)

some pickled Turkish chillies

Method:

Sift the flour into a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and the yeast. Bit by bit add the water and turn all into a nice smooth dough. Maybe you don't have to use all the water. Or you might end up with the dough being too wet. Then you go and add more flour and it is too dry, then you add more water and it gets too wet, then more flour ...
So better be careful in the first place to avoid this back and forth thing. When you finally managed to get the dough right and you didn't use the double amount of flour you can put the dough for rising in a warm place and cover it with a wet kitchen towel and leave it for one hour. 
Meanwhile you can give your attention to the sauce for the pizza. Heat up some oil in a pan and put the garlic into it. You get a nice garlicky smell. If that happens and before the garlic gets black (you definitely don't want that), add the onion to the pan and continue until they get nice and soft.
Then it's time for the minced meat to go into the pan so that you can fry it through. Once that is done, you can pour the tinned tomatoes in. Fill the tin halfway with water and pour it into the sauce as well. Season it properly with all the lovely seasonings you put ready for this dish. Make sure that you get it right. If you know that others don't like to have it spicy and you don't plan to share, make it really spicy. If you are rather nice and sensible, watch your seasoning.
The dough should be ready, at least after 60 minutes! Divide the dough into 6 balls. Using a rolling pin roll them out in a fairly round way to approx. 3 mm thickness. If it's not too round, no worries. 
Spread some of the sauce on each "round" pizza base, leaving a small edge uncovered and make sure you don't put too much sauce on. Spread it just thinly.

Bake it in the oven then at 200°C for approx. 20 minutes or until the edge turns golden or light brown. When the pizza bases come from the oven, it is best to continue to work with them and eat them or if that is not going to happen, keep them warm. You could stack them and then cover them with aluminium foil. Only if you have to. I would eat them right away.

Well then: Give some of the salad onto the pizza, some cubes of sheep feta and three chillies. Finally you can roll it like a wrap (if you got the base right) or if that doesn't work just fold it in the middle (I had to do it last time). Enjoy!!!