Ozlem's Turkish Table

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!

I hope I am not bombarding you with posts from Turkey at the moment, please bear with me:) There is so much to see, taste and appreciate that I hope through these posts, you can get a taste of what we are experiencing.

We have been traveling towards the north Aegean, and passing through fig trees, peach and cherry orchards and lots of olive trees; a very bountiful region, in addition to its historical significance. Here is a fig tree at the above photo, smells so wonderful.

This is the steepest ancient theatre in antiquity in Pergamom at the Aegean region, and used to seat 10,000 people. It is 12,000 ft above sea level and you can see the modern city Bergama at below, a very impressive sight.

And here we are at the Temple in ancient city Pergamom; the Traejans used to visit the temple to offer their sacrifice of animals to the Gods but remain at the below level for worshipping. And a lovely Mulberry tree in the at the side:)


And this is the place to be at the modern city of Bergama, that you may like a lunch break. At this traditional “lokanta”, restaurant, you can enjoy their signature meatballs, “kofte”,

and a very refreshing glass of “ayran”. This is my favorite drink, consisting of plain yoghurt, cold water and salt of your taste. You can blend with some ice cubes to get the foam. Wonderful, healthy refreshing drink that we Turks enjoy a lot.

Last but not least, here is a happy man, Ali, at Pergamom, proudly selling wonderful pine nuts and pine honey, thanks to the abundant pine trees in the region

Aegean region has lots to offer in terms of history, culture and food, definitely worth a stop – highly recommended:)