Ozlem's Turkish Table

It has been an emotional day, as we made it to my hometown Antioch, where my parents are from and where I spent many happy holidays at my grandmother 450 years old house. It is the place where my cooking was inspired, the place we all turn to for many special times to spend together. It is a land of peace and tolerance as for centuries Christians, Muslims and Jews has been living peacefully in this wonderful city. And after 10 years, it feels wonderful to be back the roots. Below is photo from my grandmother’s old house with beautiful stone carvings; it is a comfort to know that it will be restorated to preserve all the history behind.

Antioch is an ancient city, dating back to 300 BC. In 7th century, Antioch was one of five patriarchal centres of the Christian church, the others being Rome, Alexandria, Istanbul and Rome.

And here we are in Samandagi,the ancient port city Seleucia Pieria (300 BC), walking along its famous tunnel of Titus (a covered channel of 1,300m long). There are rock tombs carved into the limestone cliffs by the side, dating back to Roman period, fascinating.


And as wonderful is seeing the lovely eggplant (aubergine) plantations, pomegranate and olive trees right by the rock tombs and the channel! What a bountiful region.

And a local lady selling the daphne soap, made from the daphne berries (with bay leaves), a speciality from the region – we all got our fair share!-

No visit to Antioch is complete without visiting the Church of St Peter, where it is believed that Apostle Peter preached when he visited Antioch and considered to be one of the earliest Christian house of worship.

Friendly children at the entrance of St Peter’s Grotto – and the modern city at the background-; they were curious about where we came from and very helpful:)


Last but not least, some wonderful examples of hand painted Turkish pottery and some good reading to share by our famous author Orhan Pamuk and Louis de Bernieres, author of the historical novel “Birds without wings”. Set at the backdrops of the collapsing Ottoman Empire, it is a novel about personal and political costs of war, as well as love between man and women, between friends of the collapsing empire. I look forward to reading it.

Hope you enjoy strolling through my hometown; more to come on the wonderful cuisine of Antioch:)

Aegean cuisine is wonderful using their fragrant olive oil, lots of fresh vegetables and herbs. We did an Aegean cooking class and got hands on learning Mousakka Agean style, Purslane with onions, tomatoes and garlic in olive oil, Gozleme – the Turkish pastry with various fillings and a semolina helva – just right a day before the start of Ramadan, as it is a festive dessert. A wonderful experience, thanks to Bizimev Hanimeli:)

Purslane is a very common vegetable with a great, mild flavor. We cooked the purslane with sauteed onion,garlic and tomatoes in olive oil. Then we added a little rice and cooked covered for about 20 minutes. Using olive oil is the key in this vegetable course; in this style of cooking in Turkish cuisine, we simply let the vegetables cook in their own juices and with olive oil.

The result is a wonderfully refreshing, tasty and a light vegetable course, that we enjoy eating at room temperature or cold – ideal for summer!

No Turkish cooking is complete without the mention of patlican, eggplant (or aubergine), the king of vegetables in Turkey. The key with eggplant is to make sure to get all the moisture out to avoid the bitter and soggy taste/texture. So simply slice the eggplants, season with salt and leave aside for at least 15 minutes. You will see lots of moisture coming up and squeeze dry the eggplants to take out all the moisture. This stage makes such a difference.

We made the moussakka Aegean style; this version involves lightly frying the eggplants and topping them up with a sauce of ground meat, tomoato, onion, garlic and green peppers. First we layered the fried eggplants and topped them with the meat sauce. Then decorated the top with sliced tomatoes and peppers, and off it went to be baked in the oven!

And this is the result! Juicy, wonderfully flavored moussakka without the heaviness of the bechamel sauce, highly recommended.

Another course we did was the Gozleme – delicious thin pastry filled with various fillings (potato and onion, spinach and onion, ground meat, onion and parsley). Here is Hatice Hanim showing us to strech the dough on the rolling pin.

Once we add the filling, we fold the pastry to make it a rectangle shape, and it is ready to bake!


And here is how the gozleme is traditionally baked on Sac ovens (the ovel shaped traditional ovens)

Time to tuck in! Here is our generous lunch spread with all the wonderful Aegean style cooking; stuffed zucchini flowers, grapevine leaves, yoghurt with cucumber and dill, eggplant and peppers cooked in olive oil, Turkish style dried beans cassesole and many more – cok guzel!:)

And best way to finish off Turkish style is with a cup of Turkish coffee:)

Turkish cooking is delicious, healthy and easy to recreate – I hope these inspires you to try sometime.
Afiyet Olsun!

Our fascinating Turkey tour continues; we are now in Kusadasi, staying at the charming Kismet hotel. The bouganvilles with their vibrant colour mesmerise us.

And here we are at the fascinating ancient city of Ephesus, what a sight. After Rome, Ephesus was the most populated city during the Roman Empire, with a population of 250,000 people. The scope of the ancient city is mind blowing. This is the Domitian Temple at the city of Ephesus, dedicated to the Emperor Domitious, whose was not much loved – and therefore the Ephesians turned the temple to a shopping arcade after he passed away!

This is the Curetes Street, the former processional way of about 210m long. This prestigious boulevard would lead up to the famous library and paved with precious marbles and statues at both sides.

And the landmark of Ephesus, the famous, beautiful library. The library was built as a monumental tomb, dedicated to the marshall Selsus, and it is the 3rd largest library in antiquity; simply breathtaking.

And here we are all congregated by the library as a group:)

Let me finish off with a fascinating view of the Kusadasi Bay, the Aegean sea is so inviting, mesmerising view:)
More to come from our Aegean cooking class!