Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I am hosting my cooking club at the end of the month and want to do a Turkish theme. Any good recipes for me? Ideas? Cocktails (very important which gives you some idea about our cooking club).

Thanks

Mary

Mary,

Lots. When I get back home next week I'll send some to you. The Turkish are big on soups.

I don't know that there's much in Turkish cocktail recipes. Most of the country is Islamic, you know.

Are you looking for finger food, or a full meal?

Thanks Fuzz. Yeah, I know about the Islamic thing but then again they have a national drink. Raki Sour anyone?

Mary

Mary,

I have these two already online:

http://www.fuzzychef.org/archives/Tasty ... -2008.html
http://www.fuzzychef.org/archives/Daugh ... -2008.html

I also think I still have all the recipes from this menu, which is Turkish/Bulgarian:

http://www.fuzzychef.org/archives/A-ver ... -2007.html

Beyond that, I have 3 cookbooks which cover Turkey, and I've made quite a few recipes. So let me know what kinds of recipes you want.

This is more what I am looking for! I really like the bulghur recipe and that fish looks fantastic. The only suggestions I got from the other board were for stuffed grape leaves and kebabs but I wanted something less expected. What I need is:

Cocktail... not in theme but someone posted a recipe for a champagne margarita that sounds great.
Snacks... I was thinking of a tray with some mezze kind of things on it and some breads.
First course... something with halloumi cheese. I roasted an eggplant with tomatoes yesterday (well I planned to roast it but ended up microwaving it) and topped it with some fried halloumi for dinner. The tastes went great together so I thought of grilling some eggplant rounds, topping with oven roasted tomatoes, the fried halloumi and throwing a bunch of fresh herbs over it. I haven't found any recipes for it that I am too excited about.
Main... now you have me thinking that fish (Morocco is close enough for me). The recipe wasn't posted but is the topping also something you could put on a whole roast fish? I have been wanting to do that for a while and the time may be ripe.
Side... would that bulghur dish go with the fish or would that be too many competing flavors? I like the idea of a grain as a side. Quinoa would be good too.
Dessert... baklava (do you have a good recipe for that?) I would also like to do a sorbet with that. Mint is coming to my mind. Or maybe mint with a little raki??? and finally, Turkish Delight and coffee (and raki?).

Goodness, I love planning menus!

Thanks for you help Josh!

Mary

Mary,

Well, there are of course 1000 meze to choose from. I recommend against dolmas of any kind; they are a lot of work (as in, cook the day before, take 3-4 hours).

One easy meze is the what we call the "ziki": pretty much any vegetable ( cucumber, carrots, squash and beets are the most popular) shredded and mixed with strained yogurt, garlic, salt and optionally mint and/or parsley. In fact, just yogurt seasoned with garlic and mint is quite Turkish. Excellent with flatbread. Let me look up some others:

Red lentil balls (moderately difficult)
Olive salad
Cheese Boregi (cigars of yufka/philo wrapped around cheese and fried)
Boregi (either rolled or casserole-style) of any of the following: eggplant, seasoned mashed potatoes, ground meat

Various dips:

Red pepper/walnut dip
Almond tarator (bread & garlic) dip
Mashed eggplant dip
Kidney bean dip

It can't really be a Turkish meal without salad and soup though. I have a handwritten cookbook from Eastern Turkey, and half the book is soups, and 1/4 of it is salads. Andl, of course, pilaf is a requirement: bulgur, rice, or pasta.

Middle eastern food often doesn't have main dishes; it's far more common in my experience to present a series of small plates. The only "main dishes" I know is when you have a large roast animal.

One substantial dish which seems popular with everyone I've met is Manti, which are tiny square meat dumplings served with warm spiced yogurt. This have the issue which all dumplings; you have to make them one at a time.

There are three ingredients which will really make the meal taste regional if you can get your hands on them: aleppo pepper, pomegranate syrup, and the spice sumak. You might also see if you can find some Yufka; it's the Turkish equivalent of filo dough, but is about 5 times thicker.

Ok, now the two recipes you asked for ...

Mary,

Unfortunately, the fish recipe I used for Thanksgiving 2007 was from a cookbook which my MIL has and I don't. So I'll give you a different recipe for whole roasted fish, which is more Turkish anyway:

Pepper Fish (from Paula Wolfert)

One large white-fleshed fish, such as snapper or dorade, about 4lbs. (or two smaller ones), deboned for stuffing if available, otherwise just with a large belly cavity
Salt
Pepper
Aleppo pepper
Twine

Stuffing

Olive oil
2 onions, chopped (2cups)
1 bell pepper, chopped (1 cup)
1 medium-hot minced green pepper, minced
3/4 cup crushed or finely chopped walnuts
salt
black pepper
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/3 cup chopped coriander

Tahini Sauce

1 cup tahini (ground sesame seeds)
3 cloves garlic, mashed
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup cold water

Olive oil for basting
lemon wedges
2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds (if available)
2 tbs chopped walnuts

A few hours before dinner, salt and pepper the fish and set aside to season.

In a skillet: fry the onions until soft. Add the peppers and walnuts and fry 2-3 minutes. Season lightly with more salt & black pepper. Remove from heat and stir half the parsley and cilantro.

Heat the oven to 350. Oil a baking pan large enough to hold the fish. Stuff the fish with the stuffing and tie it shut with twine. Oil the outside of the fish. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, basting every 5-10 minutes with juices or additional olive oil. Take out when the fish flakes when poked with a fork.

While the fish bakes, make the tahini: puree the sesame, garlic and lemon juice together. Add the water in a stream, stopping when the sauce reaches the consistency of mayonnaise.

Pour the tanini sauce over the cooked fish. Garnish with the remaining chopped herbs, walnuts and pomagranate seeds.

Spiced Haloumi Salad

(modified from a recipe by Paula Wolfert)

3/4 to 1 lbs haloumi
1 tsp dried oregano or 1 tbs minced fresh
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried sumac (subs. minced dried lemon peel)
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup chopped red onion
3 medium tomatoes, diced
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 small cucumber, diced (1/2 cup)
3 tbs good olive oil
1 tbs pomegranate molasses (subs 1 tsp lemon juice and 1/2 tsp sugar)
10 - 15 ripe olives, optional
Salt to taste

Cube the haloumi and toss with the oregano, thyme, sumac, and black pepper. Let marinate for at least 2 hours, or overnight in the fridge.

Just before serving, toss the cheese with the onions, tomato, cucumber, and parsley. Drizzle with the olive oil and pomagranate molasses. Garnish with the olives, if using.

That fish looks WONDERFUL. Luckily we have a lot of ex-pat Turks in these parts so I can get all the ingredients. My goal is not to make a Turkish meal... more a Turk "ish" meal. We went to a couple higher end restaurants while in Turkey that did kind of nouvelle interpretations of traditional foods. I want to try to recreate that experience if I can (minus the mind blowing view of the Bosporus).

The olive salad and cheese boregi (will they hold in warm oven or could they be baked instead of frying?) sound interesting and the yogurt was on my list. There was also a rather spicy dip we had that I think had an eggplant base. Sound familiar?

Thanks for your help. I am sure I will get back to you.

Mary

Mary,

If you do cheese boregi casserole style (one big dish cut into squares) then they'd be easy enough to bake several hours before, and reheat in a hot oven. I don't recommend holding over the fried ones; I've found that they get soggy and lose their doughy crunch.

The eggplant dip is pretty common; did it have chunks of eggplant rather than puree? If so, it's saksuka:

4 eggplants
1 tbs sugar
lots of mild-flavored olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 small hot peppers, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cup yogurt
1 tbs minced parsley
salt to taste

Peel and cube eggplant. Heat one pan with oil 1/2" deep; fry the eggplant cubes, turning to brown on all sides. Set aside on paper towels to drain. Pour out most of the oil. Saute the garlic, peppers and onion until soft. Pour into a dish, and mix in the yogurt, sugar, salt, parsley, and eggplant. Serve either warm or cold.

FYI: I'm going to the Armenian Food Festival tonight and having cheese boregi!