Tag Archives | Turkish breakfast

Turkish Style Scrambled Eggs with Tomato, Pepper, Feta; Menemen

By Ozlem Warren on July 29, 2010 in Turkish Breakfast, Turkish Street Food 10

Turkish breakfast is my favouite meal of the day and we Turks love an unrushed, delicious spread of Turkish breakfast, especially at the weekend. Eggs prepared in different ways, salads, savoury pastries such as borek and gozleme, simit and many more adorn our breakfast table. Menemen, Turkish style scrambled eggs with tomatoes, peppers (and sometimes with beyaz penir, Turkish white cheese) is one of my homeland’s favorite brunch item, and a great street food. This delicious scrambled egg with vegetables is packed with flavour, it is nutritious and gets ready in minutes. There are many versions of it – garlic, onion, any choice of cheese, spinach would go well too. Served with nice crusty bread and a little garlic yoghurt by the side, this dish can make a wonderful light supper or a substantial lunch option.

Turkish breakfast spread from Ozlem’s Turkish Table cookery book, available to order now

I have a whole chapter on Turkish breakfast at my cookery book, Ozlem’s Turkish Table, Recipes from My Homeland and I truly hope you enjoy recreating your own Turkish breakfast. You can order my cookery book at this link, if you’d like.

Serves 4

Preparation time : 5 – 10 minutes Cooking time : About 5 minutes

8 eggs
1 green bell pepper, finely sliced
3 spring (green) onions, finely sliced
4 medium ripe tomatoes, finely diced
15 ml/1 tablespoon olive oil
15 ml/1 tablespoon butter
120 gr/4 oz Turkish white cheese or feta cheese, crumbled
5-10 ml/ 1-2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the butter and the olive oil in a frying pan. Stir in the bell pepper and cook for a couple of minutes, at low to medium heat. Add the spring onions, tomatoes and red pepper flakes, mix well. Crack the eggs in a bowl and mix. Add the feta cheese, combine well. Stir in the egg mixture to the frying pan and give it a good stir. Scramble the eggs until they are just done, retaining their juice. Season with salt and ground black pepper to taste.

Serve warm with a little more red pepper flakes sprinkled if you would like. Serve with toasted or crusty bread.

Afiyet Olsun !

Turkish style scrambled eggs with tomato, peppers, white cheese or feta cheese – Menemen

Cheese and Potato filled filo rolls; Peynirli, Patatesli Borek

By Ozlem Warren on June 23, 2010 in Appetizers and Mezes, Savory Pastries, Turkish Breakfast 4

Filo rolls with feta and potato, peynirli, patatesli borek

It is thought that the Ottoman Palace kitchens devised these tasty treats in order to tempt the precious little princes. The cigar shaped version with cheese and herb mixture is very popular at home for a snack, appetizer or as part of the Turkish breakfast. I had some left over cooked potato and added to the cheese and parsley mixture, the result was delicious – they disappeared very quickly, very popular with children as well as adults. Worth giving a go!

As with most savory Turkish filled pastries, this borek freeze very well once cooked too.

Serves 4 – 6
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 25 minutes

260 gr / 9 oz phyllo (filo) pastry sheets, thawed
110 gr / 4 oz potato, cooked
100 gr/ 3 1/2 oz feta cheese, crumbled
100 gr/ 3 1/2 oz shredded mozzarella
2 eggs (one for the filling, one for brushing the boreks)
1 bunch / 1/2 cup chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
15 ml / 1 tablespoon olive oil
15 ml / 1 tablespoon whole milk
Nigella and sesame seeds to decorate the boreks (before baking)

Bowl of water to seal the filo rolls

Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4

Mash together the cheese (feta and mozzarella), 1 egg, cooked potato, parsley and the milk to form a smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper. However, if the feta cheese is already salty, you may wish not to add salt.

Lay the filo sheets in front of you and cut to form elongated rectangles. Keep the pastry covered with a damp cloth as you are working. This will help to avoid it getting too dry or less manageable.

Lay one strip of filo and place a tablespoon of the filling along one of the short ends (take care not to overfill as the filling may ooze out while cooking). Fold over the pastry from each side to seal in the mixture and then roll up like a cigar. Wet the end with water to seal. Continue, keeping the finished ones covered with a damp cloth as you work. Refrigerate until required.

Mix the olive oil and the other egg in a bowl. Grease the tray with a little olive oil. Brush the pastries with olive oil and egg mixture. Sprinkle nigella and sesame seeds over the pastries and bake until they are golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Serve hot as part of a meze spread.

Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem

Spinach and Cheese Pie – Ispanakli, Peynirli Borek

By Ozlem Warren on April 2, 2010 in Savory Pastries 24

Ispanakli, Peynirli borek; spinach and cheese pie

Merhaba (means Hello in Turkish);

I hope this lovely borek recipe inspires you to go back to kitchen and make it for friends and family – or why not just treat yourself?-

This wonderful pie has to be one of the most deliciously pleasing and easy borek around. If you can get yufka, fresh paper thin fresh pastry sheets, it would be best. Alternatively, filo pastry sheets for this recipe also work well. If frozen, you need to defrost them overnight in the fridge and leave at room temperature about 2 hours before using. I combine the feta cheese with mozzarella in this recipe to make it moister. At home, boreks, savory pastries are a very popular snack with ladies’ tea time gatherings and immensely popular with children too. I remember fondly looking forward to my mother’s tea parties to enjoy these tasty treats, and now my children totally love them anytime of the day.

Here’s also my YouTube video to make this delicious and easy borek:

I love savoury pies, borek and many variety are included at my new book, SEBZE, Vegetarian recipes from my Turkish Kitchen, including the scrumptious Tratybake borek with mashed potato filling, Patatesli Borek. You can get a copy of SEBZE here worldwide.

5) Tray bake börek with onions, potato, mineral water – Patatesli sodalı börek – Image credit to Sam A Harris

SEBZE, Vegetarian Recipes From My Turkish Kitchen

This borek is a great addition to a weekend brunch or a dinner party appetizer, Afiyet Olsun!

Serves 8 -10
Preparation time – 15 minutes
Cooking time – 40 minutes

150 gr / 7 oz spinach leaves
150 gr/ 7 oz feta cheese, beyaz peynir, mashed with a fork
100 gr / app. 4 oz grated mozzarella
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup / 125 ml milk
1/2 cup / 125 ml water
3 tablespoons mild olive oil
12 sheets of fillo pastry (cut in half vertically, which makes 24 sheets)
1 tablespoon nigella seeds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 180c/350 F/gas mark 4

Remove the stalks of the spinach, wash and chop roughly. Mix together in a bowl with the feta cheese, shredded mozzarella and two of the beaten eggs. In a separate bowl, mix the water, 1 tablespoon olive oil and milk.

Grease a rectangular baking dish with the remaining olive oil. Lay the pastry sheets along its long side and cut in half vertically. Open the sheets only when you are ready to use them and cover the rest with a damp towel so that they don’t dry out.

Lay three sheets in the greased baking dish. Pour a little of the milk-olive oil-water mixture (about 3 tablespoons) all over the sheet. Repeat this layering two more times, using three fillo sheets each time.

Lay three more sheets over and spread the spinach filling evenly. Continue laying three sheets of fillo, pouring over each the milk mixture, three more times. Lay the remaining sheets on the top of the pie, sprinkling the milk mixture. Whisk together the remaining beaten egg with a little olive oil and brush over the pastry. Sprinkle with sesame or nigella seeds.

Bake the pie in the oven for about 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Serve hot, cut into pieces. This dish can be successfully reheated.

Important tips: If you would like to cut back on the amount of the eggs, you can omit or decrease them in the spinach and feta filling. 2) Once cooked, if you keep the pie covered with flax or parchment paper, this will keep the pie moist. 3) This pie freezes wonderfully. Once cooled, put the pie in a freezer bag and seal. When you’d like to reheat (at 350 F for about 15 minutes), put the pie in a greased baking tray and sprinkle the top with a little milk and water mixture to give some moisture.

Afiyet Olsun,

Ozlem