Spice Up Your Dinners – Easy, Delicious, Healthy Dishes for Entertaining

Posted by Ozlem on Apr 23, 2012 in Cakes and Desserts, Roasts and Kebaps, Salads, Turkish Cooking Classes | 11 comments

Our Turkish cooking class; learning about the red pepper paste and spices

What makes the food we eat memorable? Sure, there is the taste element, smell, presentation of the food; they all contribute greatly for making the food special. In Turkish culture, there is also the so important “sharing” element; we think even simple food tastes better when shared with family and friends. My grandmother used to put extra two plates at our dinner table, as someone would always just turn up and join our dinner table, happy days. Hospitality, generosity is a big part of Turkish culture.

Dried aubergines (eggplants); they are wonderful when stuffed with aromatic rice filling

It was a great pleasure to share Turkish food and culture yesterday, at my Turkish cooking class, with wonderful, enthusiastic foodies. We cooked and enjoyed some easy, delicious Turkish food together, and here I wanted share a few good ideas with you to recreate these delicious, easy dinners at home.

Sizzling chicken kebabs and roasted vegetables, with lambs lettuce & yoghurt salad by the side

For example, take this Sizzling chicken kebabs over pitta bread with roasted vegetables. You can prepare many stages of this dish like marinating the chicken and preparing the tomato based sauce ahead of time, which makes the dish a great choice for entertaining. The kebab looks impressive, tastes wonderful and you can ensemble the final dish at the day of your party – so the host gets to enjoy the company too! You can replace the chicken with any other meat of your choice, or for a vegetarian option, mushrooms, eggplants, courgettes all work very well.

How about serving this refreshing lambs lettuce, yoghurt and dried mint salad by the side of the kebabs? That’s what we did at the class, and this yoghurt based salad complemented the spicy kebabs really well. The salad is so easy to make, and also makes a wonderful and healthy lunch alternative too.

Baked dried apricots with walnuts stuffing; delicious with a dollop of vanilla ice cream by the side.

Last but not least, we finished the class with this delicious baked dried apricots dessert with nuts, served with vanilla ice cream, you can view the recipe below.

I hope all these dishes could inspire you to create something delicious to share. To view more photos from the cooking class (many thanks to dear Tina for the wonderful photos!) and check out my next Turkish cooking class on Saturday, June 16th please visit this cooking class page.

Dried Apricots stuffed with walnuts -Cevizli Kayisi Tatlisi

One of Turkey’s most prolific fruits is the apricot. Because of their abundance, some of the yearly harvest is allowed to dry in the hot summer sun in order to be enjoyed all year round. Malatya, a city in southeast Turkey, is particularly famous for excellent dried apricots which are exported throughout the world. Apricots are great snacks; they are packed with fiber, antioxidants as well as their naturally rich flavor. This easy dessert is great for parties, sharing with friends or family or just indulging yourself.

Dried apricots are packed with flavour; a very healthy snack alternative

Serves 4-6

Preparation time – 10 minutes                       Cooking time – 25 minutes

225 gr / 8 oz dried Turkish apricots

3 fl oz / 1/3 cup water

30ml/2 tablespoons butter

30ml/2 tablespoons sugar

For the filling:

75 gr /1/2 cup crushed walnuts

50 gr / 1/4 cup sugar

Crushed pistachio nuts for garnish

Vanilla ice cream to serve

Preheat oven to 180 C/ 350 F

Soak the dried apricots in warm water for 10-15 minutes (Prepacked dried apricots tend to be softer, if that’s the case, please skip this stage). Then drain the water.

Crushed walnuts and sugar

Split open the apricots and stuff each apricot with a spoonful of crushed walnut and sugar mixture and close it up. Slightly grease a baking tray with oil and place the apricots on it. Pour the water over the tray. Place a little butter on the top of each stuffed apricot. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar over the apricots and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Split open the dried apricots and stuff with walnuts & sugar mixture

Arrange them in a serving dish and sprinkle over some crushed pistachio nuts. This light dessert goes well with some vanilla ice cream or clotted cream.

Afiyet Olsun!

And here comes the Awards

Ozlem’s Turkish Table received the Sunshine award; many thanks for this lovely, uplifting award Peri’s Spice Ladle; I very much enjoy your delicious and educational posts on Indian cuisine.

The rules of the award:

• Place award picture, link to and thank the person who nominated you.
• Answer the ten questions posed to you.
• Pass on the award to 10 or more bloggers.

The 10 questions and their answers:

Favorite color: Pastel colors, especially green.

            Favorite animal: Giraffes; absolutely adore them; hope to see them up close!

           Favorite number: 5

          Favorite non-alcoholic drink:Turkish coffee, especially enjoyed with friends and family.

          Facebook or Twitter: Enjoy them both, perhaps slightly more to Facebook

         My passion: Food and travel; shared with family and friends.

         Getting or giving presents:  Love giving; (and look forward to receiving, when I can! :

         Favorite pattern: Turkish tiles; they tell stories of thousands of years

         Favorite day of the week: Saturday – the weekend!

        Favorite flower: Alliums, I absolutely love them.

Here is the chance to acknowledge some of my favorite blogs. I would like to nominate the below bloggers to the Sunshine Award; they bring sunshine and smile on my face with their wonderful posts, articles and photos. I’d appreciate if you can take a moment to visit them:

Turkey’s For Life

My Turkish Joys

My Italian Kitchen

Foods of  Turkey

Back to Bodrum

October Farm

Nadia Swindell Photography -non-food blog, check out Nadia’s wonderful photography

Kalofagas - Wonderful Greek food & Beyond

And before I sign off; many thanks to Cuisine de Provence  for the lovely Liebster Blog Award.

I am delighted to pass this award to Peri’s Spice Ladle; your recipes inspire and posts teach me so much about Indian cuisine, thank you!

Chocolate and Almond Easter Cakes

Posted by Ozlem on Apr 4, 2012 in Cakes and Desserts | 11 comments

I am a bit of an almond fan. Some of the best almonds come from Turkey and we eat them in abundance at home. They are not only packed with flavor but they also have great health benefits. To name a few; almonds are full of fiber and antioxidants, they reduce your risk of heart disease and lower risk of weight gain.

Almond and Chocolate Easter Cake

I spotted this wonderful Chocolate and Almond Easter Cake at Rose Prince’s Easter Bake. The ground almonds make this cake really moist and the cake stays fresh for 4-5 days. It is a rich cake and I like to cut it in small squares to enjoy the cake as a “treat”. The children absolutely love decorating and licking out the bowl of remaining melted chocolate in the end!

Preparation time : 35 minutes              Baking time : 40 minutes

350g/ 12 1/4 oz caster sugar

350g/ 12 1/4 oz  softened unsalted butter

8 eggs, separated

75g/ 2 1/2 oz cocoa powder mixed to a thick paste with a little hot water

1 tsp vanilla essence

300g ground almonds

¾ tsp cream of tartar

For the chocolate glaze

200g/7 oz 60 % dark chocolate;

50g/ 1 3/4oz unsalted butter

Little Easter chocolate eggs to decorate

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

Butter the base of a 25cm square cake tin and dust it lightly with flour. Line the sides with baking paper.

Beat the sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy; then beat in the egg yolks one by one. Fold in the cocoa, vanilla essence and ground almonds. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, adding the cream of tartar at the end. Fold them into the mixture, pour it into the tin and bake for about 40 minutes, until the sponge feels firm to the touch.

Almond and chocolate cake, baked

While the cake is baking, melt the butter and the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water.

Chocolate and butter, melting

Once the cake is baked, cool it in the tin for 10 minutes then gently turn out onto a rack. The sponge will sink as it cools. When cold, cut the cake into squares and dribble warm chocolate glaze over each.

Children love decorating the cake

Place the little Easter chocolate eggs on the cakes when the icing has set.

You may like to serve this lovely rich cake with a light, refreshing main course like this Baked Salmon with onions, red peppers and lemon.

I wanted to sign off with this lovely spring blossoms from our back garden, really nice to see the earth waking up in full bloom.

Wishing you all a happy Easter break,

Flourless Chocolate, Nut and Prune Torte

Posted by Ozlem on Dec 5, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 0 comments

We have been well due for a nice, sweet treat:) I saw this lovely torte at the Good Housekeeping magazine; the original recipe used ground hazelnuts in the torte, my version has ground almonds – just because we love it- . It turned out to be a wonderful, moist torte that we enjoyed at the end of a meal with friends. The ground almonds make the torte really moist and torte stays moist for good 3-4 days, if there is any left!

Vanilla ice cream or double cream goes very well by the side.

Serves 8
Preparation time: 25 min Cooking time: 35 min

75gr (3oz) unsalted butter, cut in cubes, plus extra to grease
100gr (3 1/2oz) ground almonds
Handful of whole hazelnuts, blanched to decorate
75gr (3oz) caster sugar
125gr (4oz) good quality plain chocolate, broken into pieces
10ml/ 2 teaspoons rum, optional
3 medium eggs, separated
75gr (3oz) prunes, chopped

Icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Mark 4

Grease and line a 20.5cm (8in) round tin with baking parchment. Mix the ground almonds with 1 tablespoon of the caster sugar. Set aside.

Next, put the chocolate, butter and rum (if using) into a small pan and melt gently over low heat. Set aside to cool slightly.

Put the egg yolks and the remaining caster sugar into a large bowl and the egg whites into a separate large bowl. Using a handheld electric whisk beat the whites until they hold soft peaks. Next, beat together the yolks and sugar mixture until thick and moussey, about 3 minutes.

Using a large metal spoon, fold the chocolate mixture into the yolk bowl, followed by the ground almonds mixture. Stir a spoonful of whites into the chocolate mixture, and then carefully fold in the rest. Empty mixture into the prepared tin, level the surface, then sprinkle over prunes and the whole hazelnuts.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cake is risen and feels springy to the touch. Take out of the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin. Take out of the tin, peel off the paper and transfer to a serving plate. Dust with icing sugar and serve in slices with cream or ice cream, if you like.

Hope you have a sweet start of the week, Afiyet Olsun!

Madeira Cake with Chocolate Sauce

Posted by Ozlem on Oct 26, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 2 comments

It was our cake bake to raise funds for my son’s class a couple of weeks ago, and I baked the Madeira cake with a little twist. Madeira cake is a lovely simple sponge cake, and it was used to be served with a glass of Madeira wine – today it makes an excellent accompaniment served with tea or coffee. It is best to eat the cake fresh, when it is soft and light.

My little twist to this cake was the addition of a little chocolate sauce over the top – to tempt children (and adults!) for the cake bake. The result was delicious, and the cake disappeared pretty quickly! I hope you could have a go sometime, children enjoy decorating with the cake with the chocolate sauce too.

Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour

225 gr/8oz plain flour, sifted (and extra 2 tablespoons of flour with the eggs)
5ml/1teaspoon baking powder
175gr/6oz butter, softened
175gr/6oz caster sugar
Grated rind of half a lemon
3 eggs
30ml/2 tablespoons milk

For the chocolate sauce:
100gr/4 oz good quality milk or dark chocolate
10ml/2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Makes 1x7in (17.5cm) round cake

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Grease and line a 17.5cm (7in) round tin. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Beat together the butter, sugar and lemon rind until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding 2 tablespoons of flour with the last two. Fold in the remaining flour, and then gently mix in the milk. Turn into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn out on the wire rack to cool.

One of the best and easiest ways of melting chocolate is to melt it either in a bain marie or in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Make sure the bowl fits securely over. Break the chocolate into chunks and place them and the cocoa powder in a bowl, sitting over a pan of hot water. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to cool.

Pour the sauce over the top of the cake and make a pattern with prongs of a fork and leave to set.

Afiyet Olsun,

And a here is a photo from Devon, from the lovely seaside town, Sidmouth. We were there at the weekend; the English coastline is beautiful and it was very relaxing and peaceful.

Special Note: My heartfelt thanks to you all, who expressed their concerns and good wishes for the devastating earthquake at the eastern part of Turkey. It is heartbreaking, and one would hope no more casualties. Prayers and good wishes go for all the folks there, to have the strength to keep going and keep the hope alive.

Maria’s Apple Cake with Cinnamon and Walnuts

Posted by Ozlem on Sep 27, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 2 comments

The UK apple season runs through Autumn and Winter. We have loads of different varieties at the moment and the orchards are packed full of apples. My good friend Sarah gave us a basket full of apples a few weeks ago, and I have been looking to find a good recipe to use them. Then another good friend, Maria, mentioned her mother’s apple cake recipe (from Greece); with use of cinnamon, it sounded yummy and reminded me my mother’s version. Cakes and pastries are favorite tea time treats in Turkey, and we use cinnamon, nuts and fruits in our cakes too.

So with our English apples, we gave it a go for Maria’s apple cake. The result was a lovely, moist apple cake with wonderful smells of cinnamon. This is quite a generous size of a cake and would be great for cake bake, gatherings, parties. Children love to be involved too! We added walnuts though you can skip that if you’d like it nut free (or add another nut of your choice) or add raisins instead. My special thanks to Sarah for the wonderful apples, and Maria, for the lovely recipe:)

Serves 10-12
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 45-50 minutes

4-5 medium size apples, peeled and cut in small chunks
Juice if 1/2 lemon
4 eggs, beaten
460gr/1lb plain flour
340gr/12oz caster sugar
115gr/4oz/1/2cup crushed walnuts
15ml/1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
15ml/1tablespoon baking powder
100ml/1/2 cup sunflower oil

Icing sugar to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F

Prepare a large size baking tray by greasing it lightly with sunflower oil.

Mix the apples with the lemon juice in a bowl (that will prevent apples to get darker).

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until smooth. Add the oil and keep on beating. In a separate bowl, sift the flour and stir in the baking powder, mix well. Add this flour mixture to the sugar/egg/oil mixture, mix well. Finally stir in the apples, walnuts and cinnamon, and combine well.

Pour the cake mixture into the greased baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes. The cake should rise and turn golden brown at top. You can insert a skewer to see if the cake is cooked – if the skewer comes clean that means it is cooked. If not, cook for a futher 5-10 minutes.

Once cooked, cool down the cake for about 15 minutes. You can dust with the icing sugar if you like. Slice the cake and serve; some vanilla ice cream by the side goes well too.

Afiyet Olsun!

Baked Fresh Figs with Honey and Clotted Cream – Kaymakli Incir Tatlisi

Posted by Ozlem on Sep 12, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorized | 8 comments

I love figs; my grandmother used to have a huge fig tree in her garden and we grandchildren used to love “helping” picking them up. Turkey produces some of the finest figs; they are sweet, juicy and darker than the average fig, especially the Bursa variety. There was an article on Turkey’s dark Bursa figs on the Daily Telegraph a couple of weeks ago, saying that they will be available at M&S; stores until late September – well, did I run to the M&S;? I sure did and got my beloved Turkish figs

Figs are packed with fiber; they are not only delicious but very healthy too. It is so wonderful to eat just plain; what a treat to have them by the salad for lunch or for a special treat. But if you’d like to turn them into an easy, healthy, delicious dessert, here is the recipe, an adaptation from Ghillie Basan’s version:

Serves 2-4
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes Baking time: 5-8 minutes

4 ripe (preferably) Turkish figs
15ml-30ml/1-2 tablespoons clear honey
30ml-45ml/2-3 tablespoons clotted cream (or crème fraiche or plain yoghurt)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Preheat oven to 180F/350C

Wash the figs and pat them dry. Using a sharp knife, cut a deep cross from the top of each fig to the bottom, keeping the skin at the bottom intact. Place the figs upright in a baking dish.

Drizzle the honey and the lemon juice over the figs and bake in the oven for about 5-8 minutes. Take out the baking tray from the oven. Spoon a dollop of clotted cream or yoghurt into the middle of each fig, or serve them in bowls and let everyone help themselves with yoghurt or cream.

Afiyet Olsun!