The Hungry Turk

Rise and Shine

Huh, what? Did I miss something?

Huh? Oh, yeah... that. The winter...

No entries in six months?

My dog ate my computer...

Not good enough?

What about... I forgot my password as well as the answer to the super tricky security question (what’s your name?)... aaaand my dog ate my computer.

Ok fine! I don’t have a dog! I have an imagination that goes into overdrive, so what?! 

Hmmm...

No! I will not admit that I was plain lazy. I can’t. Reality is harsh.

But maybe I have no other option...

Winter in Montreal has been very long this year.

Way too long...

And that’s what winter does to you in this part of the world... you get lazy.

And please hush now! Don’t remind of thousands of other bloggers who also live in this part of the world and who were not deterred by the ever falling temperatures, never ending snow storms and freezing rain in mid-May... don’t remind me of those who were dedicated and who just typed away their winter blues.

Anyways, I should really teach that dog some manners now.

The Mother of All Scones (with lime and coconut)

The base recipe for these amazing scones belongs to Molly Wizenberg, the creator of Orangette and the author of A Homemade Life (well, the recipe actually belongs to her sister but that you can learn about in more detail by reading the book). Despite our diverging stories, I couldn’t but feel a very strong connection with Molly Wizenberg. Endless were the times I thought she read my mind and, sensing my laziness, decided to write about it herself (I totally second her on plums!). Check out her blog and her book, they are both worth the read!

Back to the recipe... I kept all of Winzeberg’s measurements but changed most of the ingredients. So far, apart from the below recipe, I have tried the original Wizenberg recipe with lemon zest and ginger, as well as my own little invention with bacon, parmesan and corn flour (and yogurt)! This is a great recipe to play around, have fun!

Makes 8 scones

2 cups flours
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted cold butter, cut into small pieces
3 tablespoons sugar
Zest of 1 lime
½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
½ cup coconut milk plus more for glazing (you can use low fat coconut milk)
1 large egg

Preheat your oven to 425°F (220 °C).

Stir the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add the cold butter and mix with your fingers until the mixture looks like coarse meal (you have to work pretty fast as you don’t want the butter to start melting from the heat of your fingers). Stir in the sugar, lime zest and coconut. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut milk and egg and pour it in to the flour mixture. Gently fold the mixture using your fingers as blender mixers (do not knead). The dough will start sticking together pretty fast. As soon as you can lift it as one whole dough ball (with a lot of itsy bitsy pieces falling off), transfer it on to a dry surface and knead it into a 1 inch thick disk. Do not knead it too much (Wizenberg says no more than 12 times, and I have stuck to that recommendation like religion). It’s OK if your dough looks a little flaky and cracked. It’s all a charm! Cut your disk shaped dough into 8 wedges and place those on a baking tray covered with parchment paper. Glaze the scones with the remaining coconut milk and pop them in the over for about 15 minutes, or until they become golden.

Pumpkin Challenge - Part 1

In a few days it’s Canadian Thanksgiving, a holiday that traditionally celebrates the end of a bountiful harvest. This day also brings families together around a table honoured by a stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes and loads of pumpkin pie. Over the next ten days The Hungry Turk will participate in the celebrations with two dessert recipes, which will give the good old pumpkin pie a run for its money.

The first recipe is a traditional Turkish one. As a kid, I didn’t have a sweet tooth and wasn’t a huge fan of pumpkin. But I eventually grew up, and my appreciation of this humble vegetable emerged as the years passed. As long as you have a big sharp knife and some muscle power, you will enjoy this recipe more than anything as it doesn’t involve any labouring over a pie crust.

In Turkey, pumpkin is sold fresh, usually by a vendor who stations his cart at a street corner. He cuts, de-seeds and peels the orange monsters so that you don’t have to do it yourself and risk major injury.

Unfortunately for my poor little self, there are no pumpkin vendors at my street corner here in Montreal. I live in the West, remember, and who in these modern days struggles with a whole pumpkin when you can go to the store and buy it in a can!

So I had to resort to my own resources. But to limit the risk of injury and avoid eating pumpkin everyday for the next month, I bought a small, almost miniature, pumpkin (see picture from previous blog entry). I have never seen such small pumpkins in Turkey and I have to admit that I wasn’t quite sure whether they were ornamental or for cooking.

First, with the help of a sharp chef’s knife, I cut the stem off. I then stabbed the pumpkin   from the top with my big knife and worked my way down on one side. I repeated the same procedure for the other side (starting at the same point on the top) and split open my pumpkin. I used a spoon to de-seed the pumpkin and kept the seeds (see note below). I then quartered each half, and cut each quarter in half (ending up with 16 small pumpkin pieces).

The part that I thought was going to be the most difficult to execute turned out to be the easiest: peeling. I’m useless when it comes to peeling vegetables with a knife and almost always resort to the use of a peeler. This time, however, I thought that my peeler couldn’t handle the tough pumpkin skin, so I started off with a knife. After 5 minutes of desperate battle, I decided to try the peeler. And it worked like a wonder!! So my advice: Don’t try to be a hero, use a peeler!

Turkish Style Poached Pumpkin Dessert (Kabak Tatlısı)

Serves 5


1 small pumpkin (about 3 lb), cut, de-seeded and peeled
1 cup sugar
2 cloves   
Squeeze of lemon juice
½ cup crushed walnuts

Transfer the pumpkin pieces in a large pot and cover with sugar. Cover the top and set it  aside for at least 3 hours, until the juices from the pumpkin come out. Add the cloves and a quick squeeze of lemon juice. Turn the heat to medium and simmer, covered, until the pumpkins turn a darker shade of orange and the juice thickens into a syrup, about 30 minutes. Do check the pot frequently to avoid the pumpkins from sticking to the bottom.

Transfer the pumpkins into a serving plate and pour the syrup on top. To finish off, sprinkle with the crushed walnuts.

Note: Don’t waste the pumpkin seeds, they are great in nut mixes or on their own. Separate the seeds them from the pulp, rinse them well and spread on a kitchen towel to dry completely (takes about a 2 hours). Transfer the seeds into a small container, mix in half a teaspoon of vegetable oil and half a teaspoon of salt. Close the container and shake it untill all the seeds are covered with the salt and oil mixture. Pre-heat your over at 250°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and bake/toast your pumpkin seeds for about 1 hour.

Red-delicious

For a change the picture comes before the story in this post, simply because the picture is the story. I really don’t need to say much, except that you’d better hurry if you want to try out this delicious berry-blasting pie before the summer is over!

The Berry-Blaster

6 cups strawberries, halved (or quartered if too big)
2 cups raspberries
3 tablespoons corn starch, sifted
6 tablespoons butter, divided
1 tablespoon sugar (if desired)
2 cups Graham cracker crumbs
Pinch of cinnamon powder
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of ginger powder


Heat your oven at 350°F (180°C). Melt 5 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan (or in the microwave oven). To make graham cracker crumbs, place about 36 Graham crackers in a large freezer bag, seal and roll with a rolling pin until finely crushed. Mix the crumbs, melted butter and the spices in a medium bowl. Using your hands press the Graham cracker mixture into a 9in. (23cm) pie plate (don’t forget the sides). Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 350°F (180°C). Let cool down.

In the meantime place the strawberries in a food processor and whiz until they turn into a smooth puree. Transfer the strawberry puree into a medium size saucepan. Add corn starch, sugar (if desired but not necessary) and 1 tablespoon butter and cook over medium heat until the mixture starts thickening, about 10 to 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside to cool down a little.

Place the raspberries on top of the crust and pour over the strawberry mixture. Let it cool down completely at room temperature and then refrigerate. You can serve this pie with cream, thick yogurt, or quark (as pictured here), which is a type of fresh cheese.

Note: For those who prefer a plain tasting crust, you can use bread crumbs instead of Graham cracker crumbs and take out all the spices. However, you will have to add about 1/4 cup of brown sugar.

Happy Birthday!

I have been living abroad since 1996. First in Belgium, then in the UK, back again in Belgium, and now in Canada, after a little detour via South Africa. Throughout this journey I have met many wonderful people, seen places as exotic as Honolulu and Coventry (I dare you to challenge Coventry’s exoticism) and eaten a lot. If I were given another chance to start it all over again, I don’t think I would change much, except for adding a few more destinations.

But living abroad comes with a price tag: being away from my family. Over the past 14 years I have missed numerous family celebrations and some not so pleasant moments where my family needed my support.

This weekend is yet another example: birthdays, two of them! And even if I were in Turkey, I would still be missing one! Global trotting is not making my life easy.

So I decided to throw a double birthday party here on The Hungry Turk for my dad and my uncle who lives in Chicago!

Happy Birthday to you both! Here is to many more happy and healthy years...

  


Amazing Chocolate Mosaic Cake for My Dad

I got this recipe a few years ago from a friend of my mom’s in exchange for a lemon cheesecake recipe. It combines two of my childhood (and present day) favourites: dark chocolate and petit beurre biscuits (also called social tea biscuits). My grandma always had a stack of these biscuits stored in her cabinet and I would tear through them like a little monster, dunking them in tea.

The cake is easy to prepare and stores well in the freezer, making it a great solution for unexpected guest raids. My skill level only allows for a round shape. If you feel craftier, you can make a triangle, or even go for a star (I would love to see that!). Also you can add some colours by adding pistachios and dried fruits (cranberries would be great) to the mixture. However, you should take out some of the biscuit out (about a quarter) to make space for the additional ingredients.

Makes for 3 x 4 people

2 sticks (225 gr.) unsalted butter

½ cup (125 gr.) icing sugar

3 tablespoons cacao powder (more if you like a denser chocolate taste)

3 eggs at room temperature

2 cups (500 gr.) roughly cut petit beurre biscuits (don’t over crumble them)

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan on low heat. Add the icing sugar and cacao, and cook until thoroughly dissolved. Beat the eggs in a small bowl. While stirring continuously, add the eggs slowly into the cacao mixture. The resulting batter will thicken very quickly. Cook for another minute and remove from heat. Make sure to stir continuously otherwise you will get chocolate scrambled eggs, which is not desirable!

Let the mixture cool down completely and add the crumbled biscuits. Mix well. The mixture is not supposed to be holding together like a dough. Divide it into three separate bowls. Cut out a 15-inch piece of saran wrap (plastic wrap) and pour the content of one bowl on it. Roll the chocolaty biscuit mixture like a log in saran wrap and put it in the freezer. Repeat it for the content of the two other bowls.

The logs will keep for a month or so in the freezer. You don’t need to defrost them before serving (they don’t get rock hard).

 

Tangy Apricot Yogurt Cake for My Uncle

Yogurt and apricots, it couldn’t get more Turkish than this. The Hungry Turk will feature a yogurt-dedicated post in the near future but let me tell you now that yogurt is big in Turkey. Very big. It’s not just an accompaniment or a health choice (have you eaten your friendly bacteria today?) but it’s part of everyday life. You want to cool down? Have a yogurt drink (ayran). Your baby is starting to eat solid foods? Feed him/her yogurt and rice. You’ve got a sunburn? Yogurt!

And apricots... According to statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), Turkey is the number one producer of apricots in the world by far. So no surprise that a large majority of the dried apricots displayed at your local grocery store are from Turkey.

For this recipe, I got some inspiration from Greg and Lucy Malouf’s cookbook Turquoise. In collaboration with his former wife, Chef Greg Malouf takes on the Turkish cuisine with a pinch of Middle Eastern influence and brings to it a contemporary edge. The great thing about Turquoise is that it is not just a cookbook. It is a collection of well-juxtaposed travel writing, photography and culinary exploration.

The original recipe calls for the use of sultanas and sherry but I had neither in my pantry, and opted for apricots and golden rum instead.

Serves 6-8 people

¼ cup dried apricots, cut into small pieces

Golden rum

5 eggs, separated

⅓ cup super fine sugar

⅓ cup plain flour

2 tablespoons honey

2 cups thick yogurt (sold as Greek-style yogurt in grocery stores)

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon olive oil

Preheat the oven at 350°F (175°C). Grease lightly an 8-inch (20cm) springform cake pan with olive oil.

In a small bowl soak the apricots in rum for about 20 minutes. Drain half the rum and cook the apricots with the remaining rum in a small pan over medium-high heat. This brings out the sweetness in apricots and gets rid of the alcohol taste. Once all the alcohol has evaporated, turn off the heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the egg yolks, honey and sugar with a handheld mixer. Once well mixed, add the apricots, olive oil, lemon juice and zest, flour and yogurt, beating until well combined.

Whisk egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff and fold them gently into the batter. Pour the batter in the cake pan and bake for 50-60 minutes.

Once the cake is cooked, remove the pan from the oven and let it cool for a few minutes. Then with the help of a knife loosen the sides of the cake from the pan and open the pan. Let the cake cool down completely before serving.

Long Live Jamie!

I’m sure that I am not the only foodie with an absolute crush on Jamie Oliver. He is an inspiration to many not only because his cooking tastes and looks beautiful, but also because it is so simple to recreate at home. His passion for food is so genuine and contagious that, after reading one of his recipes or watching one of his TV shows, you want to jump into the kitchen even if it is just to crack an egg. And, oh, he also has a wicked British accent (and yes, after a few years living in North America, it sounds like the most exotic thing in the world).

Last week, during a rare occasion when my usually suppressed sweet tooth gene decided to act like an alpha male, I started to crave dessert. My dinner HAD to have a dessert component in it. After flicking through a few cookbooks, I ended up going back to my much-trusted Jamie collection and settled for the “Lovely Lemon Curdy Pud” (from Happy Days with the Naked Chef). Unfortunately the first trial didn’t go too well. The light lemony taste was there but the texture was a miss (too liquid). Determined to get it right, I tried it again during the week with a few measurement adjustments. And bingo! Total satisfaction!

I think this recipe is great for both a casual weekday dinner and guests. It takes about 5 minutes to put together. You can start preparing the batter as your guests arrive, put it in the oven just before you sit at the table and forget about it. You will only have to get up towards the end of your dinner to get the the dish out of the oven and let it cool down just a little bit. Delicious served on its own. 

Lemon pudding à la Jamie Oliver

Serves 6

¼ cup (¼ stick) unsalted butter, softened

⅓ cup sugar (I used organic golden sugar)

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 large eggs, separated

6½ generous tablespoons plain white flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup and a tiny less milk (about 250ml)

½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

Note: You can use 6½ tablespoons self-rising flour and scrap the baking powder

 

Preheat your over at 400°F (200°C). Butter a ceramic pie dish (or a Pyrex one).

In a small bowl whisk together flour and baking powder. In a separate medium bowl, beat together softened butter, lemon zest and sugar with a handheld mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks on at a time until blended. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the milk, and beating until well combined after each (this avoids unnecessary splatters).

Whisk egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff and fold them gently in batter. Pour batter in your buttered pie dish. Place the dish in a roasting pan about one third full of water and bake for about 45 minutes (this induces even cooking and avoids the pudding from cracking from top).

You can keep the leftovers covered in the fridge for a few days. Re-heat before serving.

Bon appétit!