MALLOW FRITTATA

Another farmers market visit day and again the fridge is full of wild herbs. We missed so much to have them around all the time, since weeks, every farmers market day we come home and cook something with them. Easy, healthy and delicious.

Today we had malllow frittata for the lunch. Leaves of roughly chopped bunch of mallows, sliced spring onions, eggs, corn flour or fine bread crumbs, olive oil, salt, black pepper, dried red chilli flakes. Ta taaa! Enjoy your frittata!

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Bu hafta pazarda otların arasında yine kendimizi kaybettik ve buzdolabını otla doldurduk. İstediğimiz zaman elimizin altında ot bulunması rahatlığını o kadar özlemişiz ki, haftalardır pazara gittikten sonra eve koşup hemen birkaç çeşit ot yemeği yapıp afiyetle götürüyoruz. Hem kolay, hem sağlıklı, hem de lezzetli.

Bugün pazar dönüşü de ebegümecili kaygana pişirdik. Kabaca doğranmış ebegümeci yaprakları, ince doğranmış taze soğan, yumurta, mısır unu ya da galeta unu (bizim evdeki usûl, kavanoz diplerinde hangisinden arta kalmış varsa bitirmek için o), zeytinyağı, tuz, karabiber, kırmızı pulbiber. Şifa niyetine…

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MALLOWS FOR RAKI TIME

This week we made our first visit of the year to farmers market, we lost ourselves between the aromas of fresh vegetables, fruits, goat cheeses, olives, rustic breads and we came back home with our hands full of things we missed when we were away. Two of them are nettles and mallows. Actually in London it’s not difficult to find both but mostly in dog poo areas. And in the markets, they do not bring and sell these herbs picked from the dog poo free areas like in Turkish farmers markets.

In western Turkey, we use to eat lots of vegetables and herbs. Wild herbs form an important part of the diet specially in Aegean region of Turkey. During winter and spring, if we are around our home in the island, we pick them directly from our garden. If we are in Istanbul, we buy from farmers markets. We use them in soups, böreks (Turkish pies made with filo pastry), frittatas.

And sometimes we boil them just few minutes, then drizzle lemon juice or vinegar and olive oil top of it, add one crashed clove of garlic and enjoy with the rakı!

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(Ey Okur! A Cat From London yayın hayatına Londra ellerinde başladığından, Londra’ya yaşamaya ya da gezmeye gelecek her milletten okuyucuya ulaşsın diye dili İngilizce idi. Her ne kadar adında bir değişiklik olmasa da, artık Türkiye’de olduğumuz için yazıları İngilizce ve Türkçe yazmaya karar verdik. Vatana millete hayırlı olsun diyor, açılışı yapıyoruz…)

Yeni yılın ilk pazar ziyaretini bu hafta yaptık. Mis gibi meyve, sebze, keçi peyniri, zeytin, köy ekmeği kokularının arasında kendimizi kaybettik ve sonunda eve elimiz kolumuz özlediğimiz bir sürü şey ile dolu olarak döndük. Uzaktayken en çok özlediğimiz şeylerden biri kışın ve baharda bol bol ot yiyememek olduğundan, ısırgan ve ebegümecileri görür görmez kapıp eve getirdik. Her ne kadar pazarlarında bulunmasa da, Londra elleri ısırgan ve ebegümeci kaynadığından, her yürüyüşte karşımıza çıkıyordu. Üstelik dört mevsim kış olduğundan her daim bulmak mümkündü ama kuçu eesi aromalı olmayanı bulmak neredeyse imkânsızdı.

Adada kendi bahçemizden topladığımız otların körpeliğinin yanından bile geçemeyecek kartlıkta olsalar da, ebegümecilerin bir demedi acilen haşlandı, üzerine zeytinyağı limon gezdirildi, bir diş de dövülmüş sarımsak eklenince akşamki rakı sofrasına mis gibi meze oldu. Şimdi aklımız keçi peyniriyle börek olacak ısırganlarda.

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HOMEMADE BREAD WITH FENNEL SEEDS

In a foggy, dark and cold London day, one the best things you can do, is baking a bread and filling your home with the smell of the fresh baked bread. And prepare the smoked mackarel salad… And pour your Polish oak vodka… And enjoy!

If you want to give a try, here are the ingredients and the recipe of this bread we learned from our friend Ayşegül Ural:

1,5 cup yogurt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 egg

1/2  teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon of fennel seeds

1/2 teaspoon of sea salt

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Beat the other ingredients in another bowl until getting creamy and add them to the dry mix. Mix well all together with a wooden spoon and put in a bread pan. Level the top with a spatula. Bake at 170°C preheated owen for 45 minutes.

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TURKISH FIGS STUFFED WITH GOAT CHEESE

In Turkey we have delicious figs and Turkey is the biggest fig exporter country in the world. August is the season of Aydın figs (yellow and smaller ones) and September is the season of Bursa figs (purple and bigger ones). This morning we found delicious Bursa figs in Chapel Market and we prepared a little treat with them as a side dish for our risotto. Result: yummy!

Cut to four vertically 4 figs until the middle. Fill the figs with 25 g goat cheese each. Wrap each one with one slice of jamon serrano (you can use also prosciutto, bacon etc). Put 3-4 pinenuts and drizzle little bit olive oil to the top of each. Cook them in the oven on 225°C until the jamons get crispy. After taking from the oven, drizzle little bit Turkish sour pomegranate molasse to top of them and enjoy!

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A TURKISH DESSERT: SÜTLÜ İRMİK TATLISI

When the weather of London is not nice to us, there is always an extra activity in our kitchen. Today we didn’t want to eat the stew we have in the fridge and cooked mezzanelli pasta in owen (fırında makarna), aubergine salad (patlıcan salatası) and semolina dessert (sütlü irmik tatlısı). Semolina dessert, is one of the most practical desserts we cook in Turkey. Mostly, mothers’ saver for a milky dessert to serve to their children and all children (and big children) love it.

The ingredients and the recipe are super easy:

Mix 150 g of semolina with 180 g of sugar in a pan.  Add 1 litre of milk while whisking.  Add 1 teaspoon butter.  Cook ower low heat until getting thick (like a very thick cream soup), meanwhile keep whisking. Take the pan from the cooker. Divide the pudding in 6 small ramekins. After cooling down little bit, cover with aluminium foil and put to the fridge to set. Serve with ground cinnamon.

Note: Normally we serve this dessert after taking out the dish and upside down. For taking out easyly the dessert, make sure that you wet inside of  the ramekins with water before dividing the dessert to them after cooking. You can use different molds to serve your dessert in different shapes.

Enjoy!

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HOMEMADE POTTED SHRIMPS

After being away two weeks and not eaten home cooked food, today was a kitchen day at home. First we cooked purslane stew with bulgur which we eat a lot during summer with yogurt. Then made two small jars of peach marmelade to eat with cottage cheese for summer breakfasts.

After the potted shrimp tasting we had in Morecambe two weeks ago, we decided to try it at home and we bought brown shrimps from our local fish shop and prepared our first homemade potted shrimps.

Following a short research in internet, we made The Guardian’s recipe. With this recipe, we had one ramekin potted shrimps to consume today and one little jar to eat later. Recipe is easy because the brown shrimps are sold cleaned and precooked. And the taste of homemade one is much much better then the shop bought one.

The Guardian’s recipe, was suggesting to serve potted shrimps with hot brown bread, so we baked also a brown bread with fennel which we learned from our friend Ayşegül.  When the bread came out from the owen, our evening treat at the terrace was ready. Homemade brown bread with fennel, homemade potted shrimps, English goat cheese and Stilton cheese, Turkish black olives, Iranian mini dry figs and ice cold Polish oak vodka. Heaven!

Here is The Guardian’s recipe if you want to try:

200g unsalted butter
Juice of ¼ lemon
¼ tsp ground mace
¼ tsp white pepper
½ tsp anchovy paste or Gentleman’s Relish
200g cooked and peeled brown shrimps
Cayenne pepper, to serve

1. Melt the butter in a pan over a gentle heat, and then allow to simmer until you spot the first dark flecks – watch it carefully, or it will burn. Strain through some butter muslin, or two sheets of kitchen roll, into a jug.

2. Wipe out the pan, and pour in two-thirds of the butter. Add the lemon juice, mace, pepper, anchovy essence and a pinch of salt and simmer very gently for five minutes, then take off the heat and allow to cool but not set. Divide the shrimps between 4 ramekins, pressing them in tightly.

3. When just warm, but still liquid, divide the spiced butter between the ramekins and put in the fridge to set. Once solid, pour over the remainder of the clarified butter and return to the fridge to set.

4. Serve with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper and a lot of hot toast.

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BUTTERMILK AND BAY LEAF TART

Yesterday’s kitchen activity was Ottolenghi’s buttermilk and bay leaf tart using the exact recipe at The Guardian except the bay leaf quantity (used 3 instead of 15).

Because of using 28 cm tart  dish for the recipe of 24 cm, our tart was slightly thiner but the taste is amazing and recipe is quite practical:

For the filling:

285ml buttermilk (one standard supermarket tub)
100ml double cream
15 bay leaves
50g melted unsalted butter
4 eggs
180g caster sugar
2 tbsp plain flour
½ tsp grated lemon zest

For the pastry:
150g plain flour
¼ tsp salt
80g cold unsalted butter, cubed
35ml ice-cold water

First make the pastry. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl, then add the butter and, with your hands, rub in until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the water and bring the mixture together to form a dough. Stop mixing as soon as it comes together, wrap in clingfilm and store in the fridge for at least two hours.

Meanwhile, put the buttermilk, cream and bay leaves in a medium saucepan. Place on a very low heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring all the time, making sure the buttermilk does not boil and split. If you have a thermometer, use it to check that the milk is not going above 70C. Leave to cool for at least an hour (or overnight, if you have time), then remove the bay leaves and stir in the melted butter.

Heat the oven to 170C/335F/gas mark 3. Roll out the pastry into a 32cm-diameter circle. Very lightly grease a fluted tart tin that’s 24cm in diameter with a 4cm edge, and line with the pastry. Chill for 30 minutes, then line with parchment paper, fill with baking beans and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the beans and paper, bake for another 10 minutes until golden, then set aside to cool.

Raise the oven temperature to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Whisk together the eggs and sugar until light and airy. Fold in the infused buttermilk, followed by the flour and lemon zest, and mix gently until smooth. Pour into the pastry shell and cook for 30 to 35 minutes, until just set. Remove from the oven and leave to cool down. Take out of the tin and serve at room temperature.

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STRAWBERRY JAM

When we were in our summer house, we picked more strawberries than we can eat each day from our garden and we made jam with some of them.

In Turkey, the best strawberry type for making the jam is this ones which we call Osmanlı (Ottoman), small, sweet and with a powerful strawberry smell.

The recipe is easy. Wash and clean 1 kg of strawberries…

Cover them with 1 kg of sugar and leave overnight (or at least 8 hours) in a flat pot to become juicy…

Next day, cook it in a pan in slow heat. During the cooking process, clean out the foams forming in the surface of the jam with the help of a spoon.

After the first 20 minutes, take the strawberries out with the help of a skimmer for not overcooking them and keep cooking the juice until it gets thick.

Add the strawberries again, add the juice of 1,5 lemon, cook 5 minutes more and that’s it. Enjoy your strawberry jam!

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HOT CROSS BUNS

We tasted first time the hot cross buns after moving to UK. We like their fluffy, sticky texture, cinnamonny smell and chewing the sultanas inside. Normally we buy them from Tesco but lately we found less guilt feeling version with less calories in Waitrose and they were as good as the others. We are not addict of hot cross buns but we like chewing them sometimes while  drinking our tea.

We were talking about learning to bake our homemade hot cross buns and today was the most appropriate time to learn this Easter classic normally eaten on Good Friday. After a quick search, we decided to try BBC Good Food’s recipe between four recipes we choosed before and spot on! Best hot cross buns recipe ever:

For the buns:

300ml full-fat milk , plus 2 tbsp more

50g butter

500g strong bread flour

1 tsp salt

75g caster sugar

1 tbsp sunflower oil

7g sachet fast-action or easy-blend yeast

1 egg, beaten

75g sultanas

50g mixed peel

zest 1 orange

1 apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

1 tsp ground cinnamon

For the cross:

75g plain flour , plus extra for dusting

For the glaze:

3 tbsp apricot jam

Bring the milk to the boil, then remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave to cool until it reaches hand temperature. Put the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Pour in the warm milk and butter mixture, then add the egg. Using a wooden spoon, mix well, then bring everything together with your hands until you have a sticky dough.

Tip on to a lightly floured surface and knead by holding the dough with one hand and stretching it with the heal of the other hand, then folding it back on itself. Repeat for 5 mins until smooth and elastic. Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr or until doubled in size and a finger pressed into it leaves a dent.

With the dough still in the bowl, tip in the sultanas, mixed peel, orange zest, apple and cinnamon. Knead into the dough, making sure everything is well distributed. Leave to rise for 1 hr more, or until doubled in size, again covered by some well-oiled cling film to stop the dough getting a crust.

Divide the dough into 15 even pieces (about 75g per piece). Roll each piece into a smooth ball on a lightly floured work surface. Arrange the buns on one or two baking trays lined with parchment, leaving enough space for the dough to expand. Cover (but don’t wrap) with more oiled cling film, or a clean tea towel, then set aside to prove for 1 hr more.

Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Mix the flour with about 5 tbsp water to make the paste for the cross – add the water 1 tbsp at a time, so you add just enough for a thick paste. Spoon into a piping bag with a small nozzle. Pipe a line along each row of buns, then repeat in the other direction to create crosses. Bake for 20 mins on the middle shelf of the oven, until golden brown.

Gently heat the apricot jam to melt, then sieve to get rid of any chunks. While the jam is still warm, brush over the top of the warm buns and leave to cool.

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BOOKS FOR COOKS

Small but beautiful bookshop near Portobello Road. They sell only cookbooks. Meat, soup, vegetarian, smoked, pickled, bakery, world kitchen, magazines… You have all the choices from all around the world to explore in labelled shelves and also “tze” french owner helps to find what you are looking for.

Bookshop has a small cafe where they are trying and serving each day different recipes from the books. They sell also their own small books with all this recipes which they tried with notes about their experiences and what they changed later on.

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