dinner, istanbul turkey, 8 through 17

whew, catching up – time got away from me. fell down on the job a bit also as i missed a few photo ops.

dinner on 22nd, an unmemorable roasted salmon and salad. we don’t have the luxury of wild-caught, and sometimes the farmed norwegian is good, and sometimes it’s just… not.

dinner on 23rd, salmon redeemed, in croquette form, with nando-inspired coriander potatoes, and “maskolin” (mesclun lettuce, a la turca) salad. and gluten free chocolate cake. these potatoes are so good (and so easy) that i am posting the recipe separately in short order.

dinner on 24th – we had 20 people for a memorial gathering. i made a turkish soup – ezogelin (see this link, from binnur’s turkish cookbook) to which i also added cumin, and a spanakopita, a big version of the one pictured below, but i forgot to get a picture in all the hubbub so am substituting the mini triangles so you get the idea, and a special dessert, ashure, made (and photographed) by a turkish friend. it’s a wheat-based pudding with lots of dried fruits, nuts, sometimes chickpeas, and sugar, cooked together for hours.

dinner on 25th – more chicken (surprise!) and roasted vegetables, including the lone butternut squash from the garden, which didn’t get growing fast enough to really ripen appropriately and was also apparently an object of curiosity to the cat who’s adopted the garden, witness the claw marks, but we cooked it anyway (after peeling carefully). and raw beet and radish salad, and fruit salad (no picture).

dinner on 26th – leftovers – no picture

dinner on 27th – rajma makhni (like dal makhni but with red beans, in creamy, spicy, tomato-ginger-onion based sauce), rice, small crispy fried shrimps and bitter melon.

dinner on 28th – no dinner (fasting)

dinner on 29th – pasta with pesto and/or fresh tomato sauce and chicken meatballs – we finished everything before i realized i hadn’t taken a picture, sigh…

dinner on 30th – sushi express – this has opened not too far from our house. in my excitement i forgot to bring the camera.

dinner on 1st december – this was actually lunch, but it was so delicious and so copious that it served as dinner as well – we were invited to the home of turkish friends who are great cooks – a cream of chicken soup with red pepper butter, followed by the sultan’s pleasure – a smoky eggplant puree with a lamb stew on top, circassian chicken with walnuts, yogurt, flaky spinach pastries (borek), fava bean puree, baked squash custard, and dessert – candied quince, with double cream and fried pastry in syrup. turkish coffee, tea, and only an hour or so later, more savory pastries and cookies! not all is pictured – i was in a bit of a stupor by the 2nd course!