Cheese Pie with Middle Eastern Flatbread

I was thinking to share this recipe for sometimes. After another great success on last Friday night at our neighbours' house warming party(every guests loved it literally! ) I think it's the time to share this recipe. It is extremely easy version this cheese pie. In Turkish cuisine this cheese pie its called as 'peynirli borek' and we generally make with yufka(dry pastry leaves), feta cheese, parsley and some seasoning. My version is with Middle Eastern flat bread which is easier to find at any Middle eastern food grocery shop in the UK. 

Ingredients for Peynirli Borek

1 pack of middle eastern flat bread(generally 3-4 flat bread in a pack)
300 gr Feta cheese (could be substitute half quantity feta and half fresh mozzarella cheese)
big bunch of Parsley(could be substitute with coriander or dill), chopped
2 medium eggs
150ml milk
100ml olive oil
Sesame or nigella seed for topping

Heat the oven 175C

First drop little amount of olive oil into baking tray and brush it all around. Then put two flat bread slices as covering to whole tray edge. Preferably leave a little amount of flat bread hanging out from  edge of the tray(like in below picture) 

Sprinkle 300gr feta cheese like in above picture. Then sprinkle on top chopped parsley(or any other herb) then add a little bit seasoning. Keep in mind don't put extra salt as feta cheese will be salty enough. Sprinkle little bit olive oil. Cover with another layer of flat bread. Fold the edges inside the tray. 

In a bowl crack two eggs and whisk lightly add milk and olive oil and mix well. Pour the batter over the pastry and make sure every part covered with batter. Sprinkle some nigella seeds or sesame seeds on top. Then put into heated oven for 20-25 minutes. After baked you can serve immediately as hot or could be served as cold as well. It's ideal for lunch to serve with Greek salad or any seasonal salad. Specially in summer ideal to serve with watermelon. If there is any leftover keep it in airtight container and in the fridge. Whenever time to serve just heat in a saucepan over small fire  5-10 minutes or for a 2-3 minutes at very low temperature in the microwave.

As an alternative instead of cheese filling grated and cooked potato filling or cooked mince meat with some sultanas could be used.

Enjoy your peynirli borek! 

Chef Tulay

Homemade Pesto recipes

I love pesto sauce not only using for pasta but also for spreading on the toasted slice of bread. Instead of butter or mayo spread it's more healthier and delicious. Generally well suits with tomato, grilled aubergine, courgette slices or cheese or salami slices. Normally you can create your very bespoke pesto sauce with any kind of fresh herbs such as basil, coriander, parsley, rocket and nuts/seeds(pumpkin, sunflower) mixes. 

Yesterday I have prepared couple of different pesto recipes which I am going to share here:

1. Coriander and Pine nuts Pesto:

• a bunch of coriander
• 100 gr pine nuts
• 50 ml olive oil
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

Chop off the stalk of the coriander. Wash and drain then put in the blender with olive oil. Mix well. Then add pine nuts and blend for another 3-4 minutes. If you prefer the nuts more chunky still 2-3 minutes mixing will be enough. Add the seasoning and mix for a 1-2 minute. Then your homemade Coriander and Pine nuts Pesto is ready to use. 

2. Parsley and Pumpkin Seeds Pesto

• a bunch of Parsley
• 100 gr pumpkin seeds
• 50ml olive oil
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper 

Similar process like previous recipe. Chop off the stalk of the parsley. After washing and drain it put into blender with olive oil. Mix until it became a paste. Then add the pumpkin seeds and blend together for a 3-4 minutes. Add the seasoning. You might add a bit of extra olive oil if the paste seems a bit dry. Now the sauce is ready to use it.

3. Roasted Red Peppers and Cashew nuts Pesto 

• 200-300gr Roasted Red peppers
• 100gr cashew nuts
• 50ml olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chilly flakes
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

I used ready roasted red peppers but if you are not having ready to use then you have to roast the peppers in the oven for about 25-30 mins at 250C. Then take the skin and the seeds off the pepper. put in the blender add olive oil, chilly flakes then blend for 3 minutes. Then add cashew nuts with seasoning and mix another 3-4 minutes. Depends on your palate you can add more chilly or seasoning for strong flavour. 

All the sauces should keep in airtight jar and in the fridge. As long as the jar is tightly closed the sauces can be used up to a month or two. Here are mine sauces ready to use :-)

 Bon appetit!

Chef Tulay :-)

French Onion soup... yummmm... :)

I was thinking for sometime to make a onion soup. Last couple of days have been very miserable and chilly in Glasgow. Then I decided to make warming and tasty onion soup. It is very easy if you never tried before. Only down point you have to chop a lot of onions which is about a kilo or two! But except that part everything is so easy, peasy. 

 First the ingredients you need for this soup:

This recipe serves 8-9 bowls

50gr butter
100ml Olive oil
1kg onions, thinly sliced (I used mix of red and white onions)
2 tbsp sugar
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 tbsp plain flour
250ml dry white wine
1.3l hot beef stock(could be substitute with chicken or veggie stock)
French baguette or any hard-crust bread 
140gr Gruyere cheese(or parmesan, cheddar cheese) finely grated

Melt the butter with olive oil in a deep saucepan. Then add onions and fry them for 10 minutes while the lid is on. Sprinkle sugar then keep cooking for another 20 minutes until they get caramelised. Give some stirring frequently and make sure the onions are not burned. 

Then add garlic and cook for a couple of minutes. Followed by flour stir well. Add hot stock and wine also salt and pepper for the seasoning and mix well again. Then let it simmer for 30 minutes. Your homemade onion soup is ready! 

For serving make slices from baguette or any hard-crust bread. Toast the bread slices either under grill or in toaster. Sprinkle some grated cheese on the top of toasted bread then grill until the cheese melted. Pour some soup into the individual bowls. Put the toasted and melted cheese bread slice on the top layer of the soup. Now it's time to taste. :) 

If you like you can sprinkle some fresh herbs or dried ones such as thyme, oregano or coriander while serving. Also when boiling the soup you can add couple of leaves of bay leaf. It will give beautiful flavour to your soup.

Enjoy it! :)

Turkish Coffee Cake

Generally when I have last minute visitors and have nothing available to serve at home with coffee and tea, my quickest solution is a homemade cake. The flavour of the cake can be different based on what I find in my cupboard. If I have some cacao generally marble cake it's my favourite and it's very easy to do. Just takes 10 minutes to prepare then 40-45 minutes to bake off.

If I have some dried fruits such as raisins, cranberry, apricot, candied orange skin generally mix up with a small amount of crushed nuts such as hazelnut, almond or pistachio and the result will be tasty nut and fruit cake. Or sometimes if I have some homemade marmalade such as plum, peach or orange just mix up into the batter. But other day just wanted to try something different and decided to make a coffee flavoured cake. First thought was which kind of coffee flavour I would use ? Would it be instant, espresso or Turkish coffee flavour ? Then I have decided on Turkish coffee flavour. The result was absolutely amazing. The cake was soft and the flavour was well combined. Although we tried just after freshly baked with our Italian guest and got an approval :) but following days the flavour became much better. I would suggest if you ever bake this cake just keep in the airtight container or cake/biscuit tin for a couple of days (if there is no cake monster in the house of course! :)) then try it. And anyone who wants to make this cake find the recipe below:

Turkish Coffee Cake

Heat your oven to 170C

3 medium eggs
200 gr sugar

Mix them well in a bowl. If you are using hand mixer mix the batter in low speed for 5 minutes. When the batter doubled in size add below quantity:

150ml olive oil
150ml milk
vanilla essence
450gr self-raising flour
50 gr Ground Turkish coffee

Mix them all in slow speed for another 4-5 minutes.

Pour couple of drop olive oil inside the cake mould and brush it every every corner. Pour the cake batter into the mould then put in the middle of the oven. Set the timer for 40 minutes first. Then check out when alarm went off with wooden stick or tip of knife if the batter is still sticky then put another 10-15 minutes more to bake. When it's baked well take out from oven and leave outside to cool down 10-15 minutes. During these period you can cover the cake with clean tea towel which will keep the top crust more moist. Then results will be like... 

If you can't find ground Turkish coffee the place where you live then substitute with ground espresso. 

Bon appetit! 

Chef Tulay :)

The very first supper event :)

Last evening I held a very first private supper club for a couple guests and was a great success! :) I have been told that the food was amazing and delicious. The theme was Greek food with Greek songs in the background. It's just created an atmosphere to be away from rainy, miserable Glasgow for a short while.  Everything was homemade except bread and drinks.

So my menu included:

Starters

Mezze plate - Tzatziki, Hummus and Melitzanosalata(Aubergine salad)

Olives

Greek Salad

Main course

Chicken cooked in the oven with a mix of spices and served with Bulghur pilaf

Dessert 

Sutlac (Turkish style rice pudding) served with ice-cream

The wine that accompanied the meal was 'Retsina Kourtaki' Greek wine. It is clear, pale to golden-yellow in colour. A delicate aroma of pine is left on the nose with similar after taste in the mouth. One of the most well-known Greek wines in the UK and easy to find at the big supermarkets chains and at wine shops.

Normally finalising part of a Greek meal would be a coffee but as our guests didn't want to be awake for the rest of the night, they preferred to have a cup of green tea instead. But also they gave a try to a small shot of 'Tentura' which is a liqueur traditionally produced in Patras,Greece since the 15th century. It contains alcohol, water, sugar, and fermented essences of cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and citrus fruits. It can also be added in espresso coffee, which is then called Caffe Corretto. 

So I am well satisfied for the success of the first event and excited for the future ones.

Chef Tulay

Holiday Biscotti with Cranberries and Pistachios

Here we go another Bonappetit recipe. Homemade Biscotti who won't be enjoying to dunk in to their coffee.   Hmmm yummy...

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon whole aniseed
• 1 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 3/4 cup shelled natural unsalted pistachios
•  6 ounces imported white chocolate, chopped

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl to blend well. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in lemon peel, vanilla, and aniseed. Beat in flour mixture just until blended. Stir in cranberries and pistachios (dough will be sticky). Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Gather dough together; divide in half. Roll each half into 15-inch-long log (about 1 1/4 inches wide). Carefully transfer logs to 1 prepared baking sheet, spacing 3 inches apart.
• Bake logs until almost firm to touch but still pale, about 28 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet 10 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.
• Carefully transfer logs still on parchment to cutting board. Using serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, cut logs crosswise into generous 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place slices, 1 cut side down, on remaining 2 prepared sheets. Bake until firm and pale golden, about 9 minutes per side. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.
• Line another baking sheet with waxed paper. Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler over barely simmering water just until smooth. Remove from over water. Dip 1 end of each cookie into melted chocolate, tilting pan if necessary; shake off excess chocolate. Place cookies on prepared sheet. Chill until chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. DO AHEAD Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.

Hi again...

Hello everyone :o)

Hope all you are doing fine.

It's been for ages but as you all know I was travelling madly for business purposes. So it's time of the year my travellings are a bit slowed down. Then I took this opportunity to write more on my 'Food Adventure' blog. I am going to share all different ideas, recipes and some culinary visit notes from the countries that I have visited lately.

Let's start with some homemade Christmas gift ideas. This is the recipe I found at bonappetit website. It's  fantastic one of the give away gift idea:

Chocolate-Almond Bark with Sea Salt

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups roasted Marcona almonds (not in oil)
• 1 pound good-quality dark chocolate (62%–70% cacao), finely chopped
• Coarse sea salt (for sprinkling)

Preparation

• Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or foil. Combine sugar with 2 Tbsp. water in a small saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until caramel is dark amber, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately add butter; whisk until melted. Add almonds; stir until well coated. Transfer to baking sheet, spreading out to separate nuts. Let cool. Break up any large clumps of nuts. Set aside 1/4 of nuts.
• Stir chocolate in a medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted. Remove from heat, add nuts from baking sheet, and stir quickly to combine. Spread chocolate-nut mixture on same baking sheet, keeping nuts in a single layer. Top with the reserved nuts; sprinkle with salt. Chill until chocolate is set, about 3 hours.
• Break bark into pieces and store between layers of parchment or waxed paper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 week ahead. Keep chilled.

Enjoy it!