Recipes    

Turkish cuisine provides healthy, hearty, delicious food for family and friends.
Find out more

Cookery Classes

I teach Turkish cooking classes in England,Turkey & USA, hope you can join us!,
Find Out More

Magical London Winter Wonderland





Greetings from London to you all. We made it to London and the city looked beautiful and magical with the snowflakes and festive lights. First stop was the Somerset House; spectacular site with a wonderful ice skating ring in the middle, indeed a hidden jem to be discovered in London. There are wonderful exhibitions, magnificent collection of paintings (by Rubens, Manet, Gauguin and many more), and family workshops. They also host a lovely Deli called Tom’s Deli with great pastries, sandwishes an coffee & tea. The Ice Skate Rimg is open until January 23rd, worth a visit.

One of the things I love about London is that it is a great walking city and you get to see a lot by walking. We walked from Somerset House to Covent Garden (about 15 minutes), which looked very festive with the lovely and huge red bauble decorations. With live opera singing at the background and wonderful markets, an amazing site to see.

And English National Ballet’s Nutcracker; an incredible performance to remember and fill you with the festive spirits. And if you still have some energy, head to the real winter wonderland in Hyde Park with lots of rides and attractions:)

Hope this greetings find you all well. Best wishes for the Holiday Season and New Year, and safe travels to all!

Continue Reading

Giada's Milanesi Cookies


My good friend Giada is from the Italian part of Switzerland, and used to bake these wonderful cookies around Christmas time to share with us all when we lived in Austin. We loved getting them and always looked forward to it; delicately flavoured, yummy cookies, just a wonderful thing to celebrate and share. She very kindly shared the recipe and me and my daughter had a go making them. They are lots of fun and easy to make as family, and putting a little edible glitter on adds an extra sparkle and magic 🙂

Preparation time: 25 minutes Cooking time : 10 minutes
Makes about 35-40 cookies (depending on the size and shape)

125gr/ 1 ÂĽ oz gr butter
125gr/ 1 ÂĽ oz sugar (1 cup)
2 eggs
pinch salt
Zest of ½ lemon
250gr/ 8 Âľ oz flour
1 egg yolk to brush the cookies
15ml/1 tablespoon (or more) of raspberry jam to decorate cookies
Edible sparkly glitter to decorate the cookies

Preheat oven to 200 C (about 400F)

In a large bowl, work the butter until creamy. Add sugar and eggs mix well. Stir in the salt, lemon zest and flour, and knead into a dough. Cover and keep in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Put a little flour on the surface and roll the dough flat. Cut the cookies with different shapes of your choice. If you like, spread a little raspberry jam to some for a different variety.

Place the cookies on a greased tray and brush with the egg yolk. Bake for about 10 minutes, until they turn golden colour. Once cooked, sprinkle with edible glitters and enjoy:)

Afiyet Olsun!

Continue Reading

Eggplant (aubergine) Pot Stew and Beautiful Winter Frost at Wisley Gardens – Patlicanli Tencere Kebabi



This is one of my favourite stews – or as we call in Turkish, Pot Kebabs, “Tencere Kebabi”. The marriage of sweet, meaty aubergines with the delicately flavoured shallots (and lots of it) is divine; you hardy need the meat to add extra flavour (You may try excluding the meat for a delicious vegetarian course). I love dipping the crusty bread to its juice. Also the lentil/bulgur patties (recipe is under the section of mezes in the blog) goes very well to dip into the yummy juice of the stew.

Christmas Eve dinner is traditionally Turkish dinner in our home, as our international (extended) family loves Turkish cooking, especially the aubergines. So this will be my main course this year. You can cook this delicious stew ahead of time and any left overs can be frozen successfully. You can enjoy entertaining stress-free:)

And a little photo from the wonderful Wisley Gardens; the frost on the plants make the gardens look absolutely magical.

Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 35 minutes Cooking time: 55 minutes

3 small to medium eggplants (aubergines), quartered and sliced
450gr/1lb shallots, peeled and cut in half
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in cubes
1 carrot, cut in cubes
500gr/ 1 ÂĽ lb beef or lamb in chestnut sized pieces
90 ml/ 6 tablespoon olive oil
400gr/ 14 oz can of chopped tomatoes
15ml/1 tablespoon Turkish red pepper paste (optional)
8fl oz/ 1 cup water
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and ground black pepper

Spread the eggplant slices in a tray and sprinkle salt over them, leave for 15-20 minutes. Salt will help to take the moisture out of the eggplants. Drain the juices, as they are bitter, and squeeze dry the eggplants with paper or tea towel.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pan. Stir in the eggplants and shallots and sauté until they start to turn golden brow (my mother actually would shake the pan too, so that the aubergines don’t get bruised:) Season with salt and pepper. Add the meat to brown a little. Toss in the carrots and potatoes and cook for a few minutes, stir well. Season with salt and black pepper generously. Add the chopped tomatoes, red pepper paste (if used) and water, mix well. Check the seasoning and add the red pepper flakes. Cover and cook on a medium to low heat for about 40 minutes, until the sauce starts to thicken.

Serve hot with some nice crusty bread or plain rice by the side. The bulgur&lentil; patties in the blog (under Meze section) would go really well to dip in the delicious juice of the stew too.

Afiyet Olsun!

Continue Reading