Last night I made a most splendid fresh green salad but not with lettuce as you might think. The ingredients are so seasonal that you have to buy them NOW. Don’t wait, this is the moment! It ...
Meze
A Spicy Red Pepper Spread with Toasted Walnuts and Pomegranate Molasses
acuka - a spicy red pepper spread This really pushes all my buttons. Give me this and leave me to die. In Western Turkey it is known as acuka (pron: a-joo-ka) but the further ...
Broad Beans in Olive Oil: a Meze
Zeytinyağlı bakla in Turkish. This dish reminds me why I am a Seasonal Cook as these beans - fava in the US - are available for such a very short time. Since Uzbekistan I have a tremendous urge ...
The First Artichokes of the Season
Monday = market day in Selami Çeşme! So earlier this week despite a rather fearful sky, off I set. Would there be any signs of spring in terms of produce, I wondered or was it still a bit ...
Two More Celeriac Recipes
I hope you are in the mood for celeriac/kereviz because that's on the menu today! I was going through my old 2010 diary the other day looking for a number when my glance fell upon a recipe for Spiced ...
Celeriac Carpaccio
This is what happens when a young Turkish cook applies her culinary creativity to the traditional zeytinyağlı kereviz /celeriac meze and successfully gives it a modern twist. Traditionalists, ...
Leeks in Olive Oil – Zeytinyağlı Pırasa
I have just staggered back flushed with success from the weekly market here in my immediate area of Selami Çeşme, and behold my booty. Now, I defy anybody not to feel inspired just by looking at that. ...
Cooling Cucumbers……and a bit of market life
Yogurt is great stuff especially the kind we get here in Turkey which is absolutely delicious: thick and creamy.It is one of my must-haves in the fridge. Strange to think I used to yearn for the ...