Part 7 (1/2)

LAYERED CHEESE PIE Peynirli Borek This pie, made with fillo pastry, can be served hot as a first course, a tea-time savory, or as a snack. Milk sprinkled between the sheets gives it a lovely soft, moist texture. The most common cheese used in these pies is beyaz peynir, beyaz peynir, or ”white cheese,” which is salty and much like feta cheese. Another cheese called or ”white cheese,” which is salty and much like feta cheese. Another cheese called lor lor is like our cottage cheese. I like to use a mixture of the two. For this recipe, you will need large sheets of fillo; I used sheets measuring is like our cottage cheese. I like to use a mixture of the two. For this recipe, you will need large sheets of fillo; I used sheets measuring 19 19 inches inches [.dotmath] [.dotmath] 12 12 inches. These are usually sold frozen and need to be defrosted for inches. These are usually sold frozen and need to be defrosted for 2 2 to to 3 3 hours (see page hours (see page 9 9 for information about fillo). for information about fillo).

SERVES ABOUT 8 7 ounces feta cheese, mashed with a fork8 ounces cottage cheese2 eggs, lightly beatenblack pepperlarge bunch of flat-leaf parsley (2 to 3 ounces), chopped1 stick ( cup) b.u.t.ter, melted, or 1/3 cup vegetable oil14 ounces large fillo sheets cup milk1 egg yolk For the filling, mix the mashed feta, cottage cheese, and eggs thoroughly until well blended. Add pepper and stir in the chopped parsley.

Use a large rectangular or round pie dish, a little smaller than the sheets of fillo, and brush it with melted b.u.t.ter or oil. Place half the package of fillo (about 7 sheets), one on top of the other, at the bottom of the dish, brus.h.i.+ng each sheet with melted b.u.t.ter or oil and sprinkling each with about a tablespoon of milk. Let the sheets hang over the sides of the dish and press them into the corners with the pastry brush. If you are using a round dish, place the sheets so that the corners hang over in different places around the edge.

Spread the filling evenly on top. Then cover with the remaining sheets, brus.h.i.+ng each, including the top one, with melted b.u.t.ter or oil, and sprinkling all except the last two with a tablespoon of milk.

With a sharp, pointed knife trim the fillo around the edges, and score the top into 16 squares or diamonds with parallel lines, cutting only down to the filling, not right through to the bottom. Brush the top with egg yolk mixed with a drop of water.

Bake in the oven preheated to 350F for 30 to 45 minutes, or until crisp and golden. Serve hot, cutting along the scored lines, this time right through to the bottom.

CREAMY FILLO SPINACH PIE Ispanakli Tepsi Boregi This wonderful, creamy pie is somewhere between a savory flan and a spinach lasagne. The fillo turns into a soft, very thin pasta, so don't expect it to be crisp and papery. It sounds complicated, but it is quite easy and really worth the labor. I am sure you will be delighted by the result. It can be made in advance and reheated. The pie is excellent when cut up into small pieces and served at a party.Use a package of fillo containing large-size sheets. (I used a 14- 14- ounce package of sheets measuring ounce package of sheets measuring 19 19 inches inches [.dotmath] [.dotmath] 12 12 inches, minus inches, minus 2 2 sheets.) The large sheets are usually sold frozen and you need to defrost them for sheets.) The large sheets are usually sold frozen and you need to defrost them for 2 2 to to 3 3 hours before using (see page hours before using (see page 9 9 for information about fillo). The Turkish for information about fillo). The Turkish kasar, kasar, a sharp hard cheese, can be found in Turkish stores but mature Cheddar is equally good for the dish. From the supermarket, you can now buy packages of young spinach leaves, washed and ready to use, but you can also use not-so-young spinach and remove any thick stems, or use frozen leaf spinach. a sharp hard cheese, can be found in Turkish stores but mature Cheddar is equally good for the dish. From the supermarket, you can now buy packages of young spinach leaves, washed and ready to use, but you can also use not-so-young spinach and remove any thick stems, or use frozen leaf spinach.

SERVES 8 1 pound young spinach leaves7 ounces feta cheese, mashed with a fork4 eggs2/3 stick (or 5 tablespoons) b.u.t.ter2 cups milk12 ounces large fillo sheets7 ounces Turkish kasar kasar cheese or mature Cheddar, grated cheese or mature Cheddar, grated To make the filling, wash the spinach, removing stems only if they are thick and tough. Put them to steam in a large pan with 4 to 5 tablespoons water over medium heat, with the lid on. Within very few minutes they will have crumpled into a soft ma.s.s, so keep your eye on them. Strain well, then, when cool enough to handle, squeeze them dry, pressing all the water out with your hands. Still using your hands, mix the spinach into the mashed feta.

Beat the eggs with a fork in a large bowl. Heat the b.u.t.ter in a pan. When it has melted, pour in the milk and heat until it is warm, then gradually beat this into the eggs.

Grease a rectangular or square baking dish a little smaller than the sheets of fillo. Open the sheets only when you are ready to use them and keep them in a pile so that they do not dry out.

Lay a sheet in the greased baking dish, pressing it into the corners with a pastry brush and letting the edges come up the sides of the dish. Pour a little of the milk-b.u.t.ter-egg mixture-about 4 to 5 tablespoons or a little less than a standard ladleful-all over the sheet. (You will need a similar amount to pour between each sheet and a larger amount for the last one on top.) Sprinkle on a little of the grated kasar kasar or Cheddar. Lay a second sheet on top and repeat with the milk-b.u.t.ter-egg mixture and then the grated cheese. or Cheddar. Lay a second sheet on top and repeat with the milk-b.u.t.ter-egg mixture and then the grated cheese.

Continue until you have used about half the sheets, then spread the spinach filling evenly on top. To do this, press lumps of the spinach and feta mixture between the palms of your hands to flatten them and lay them side by side.

Continue laying sheets of fillo, pouring over each the milk mixture and sprinkling with cheese until you are left with 2 last sheets. With a sharp or fine, serrated knife, trim the edges of pastry around the sides of the dish. Lay the remaining 2 sheets on top of the pie, sprinkling the milk mixture and cheese between them and tucking them down the sides of the dish. If there is too much to tuck in, trim with scissors. Pour any remaining milk mixture over the top.

Bake the pie in the oven preheated to 350F for 30 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown-it puffs up and falls again. Serve hot, cut into pieces.

VARIATION For an all-cheese filling instead of the spinach, blend 7 ounces feta cheese with 7 ounces cottage cheese and mix in about 4 tablespoons chopped parsley or dill.

PUFF PASTRY SPINACH ROLL Ispanakli Borek For 6 to 8 people, use the same filling of spinach and feta cheese as in the Creamy Fillo Spinach Pie (page 179).

Cut 10 ounces puff pastry in half and roll each half into a long rectangle about 9 inches [.dotmath] 12 inches. Roll it out on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Keep turning the sheet of pastry over and over, dusting it with flour each time until it is very thin. Spread the filling in the middle in a band 9 to 9 inches wide to about 1 inch from the short ends at the top and bottom. Fold one side of the pastry over the filling, then fold the other side over the first, making a long parcel. Press the ends firmly to seal them. Place the two parcels on a greased baking dish, folded side down, brush with an egg yolk mixed with a drop of water, and bake in the oven preheated to 375F for 35 minutes, until puffed up and golden. Serve hot.

COLD YOGURT SOUP with with CHICKPEAS CHICKPEAS and and BULGUR BULGUR Yogurtlu Nohut corbasi I made notes about this recipe and a few others at Haci Abdullah's restaurant in Istanbul. It is a cool summer soup using rural staples, and it takes only minutes to make.

SERVES 6 cup bulgursalt4 cups plain whole-milk yogurt2 tablespoons crushed, dried mint2 garlic cloves, crushed (optional)one 14-ounce can chickpeas, drained Put the bulgur in a pan with 1 cup water and a little salt. Bring to the boil and cook, covered, over very low heat for about 10 minutes, until the water has been absorbed and the grain is tender. Let it cool.

Pour the yogurt into a serving bowl, beat in 1 cup cold water, and add the crushed mint and garlic, if using. Season with salt, and mix well. Stir in the drained chickpeas and the bulgur and serve.

BARLEY SOUP with with YOGURT YOGURT Yogurtlu corbasi This Anatolian peasant soup with the delicate flavor of mint and saffron is magnificent. I make it when I have a roast chicken carca.s.s or, better still, when I have two and have remembered to retain the cooking juices and melted fat.

SERVES 8 OR MORE 1 or 2 chicken carca.s.sessalt and white pepper1 large onion, chopped2 tablespoons vegetable oil2/3 cup pearl barleygood pinch of saffron threads2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley4 tablespoons chopped mint2 cups plain whole-milk yogurt Put the chicken carca.s.ses in a large pan with about 5 pints (11 cups) water. Add salt and pepper and boil for 1 hour or longer. Strain, and put back any little bits of chicken into the stock.

In the washed and dried pan, fry the onion in the oil until soft. Add the stock and any cooking juices and melted fat left over from the original roasting of the chicken. Bring to the boil, then add the barley. Crush the saffron threads with the back of a spoon on a little plate and stir them in. Simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the barley is swollen and tender. Add the chopped parsley and mint and adjust the seasoning, but remember the yogurt will add a little needed sharpness.

Just before serving, beat the yogurt in a bowl with a few ladles of the soup. Then pour the yogurt mixture into the soup, beating vigorously, and heat to just below boiling, stirring constantly. Do not allow the soup to boil, or it will curdle.

TOMATO and and RICE SOUP RICE SOUP Domatesli Pirinc corbasi For this fresh-tasting soup, I blend the tomatoes to a cream in the food processor without peeling them and cook them only a little. The egg and lemon finish gives it a creamy texture. The rice should be cooked separately and added just before serving as it goes mushy if it stays too long in the soup. Spearmint is commonly used but you can use other types of mint.

SERVES 4 TO 6 1/3 cup basmati or long-grain rice2 chicken bouillon cubes2 pounds ripe tomatoessalt and black pepper3 teaspoons sugar, or to taste2 sprigs of spearmint, finely chopped1 eggjuice of lemon First, cook the rice. If using basmati rice, wash it in a bowl of cold water, then drain and rinse under cold running water. Pour it into plenty of boiling salted water and cook for about 20 minutes, until just tender. (Some brands that claim not to be parboiled or pre-cooked now take as little as 8 to 10 minutes, so read the information on the package.) Drain and keep it to one side until you are ready to serve.

In a large pan bring to the boil 1 cups water with the crumbled chicken bouillon cubes.

Without peeling them, cut the tomatoes into quarters and remove the hard white bits near the stem end. Blend to a light cream in the food processor and add to the pan. Season with salt, pepper, and sugar and add the chopped mint. Mix well and simmer for 5 minutes.

Just before serving, stir in the rice, adding a little water if the soup is too thick, and bring to the boil. In a little bowl, beat the egg with the lemon juice. Add a ladle of the soup to the egg, beat well, pour it into the soup, stirring vigorously for a few seconds, only until it becomes creamy, then quickly take it off the heat. Do not let it boil again, or the egg will set.

PUMPKIN SOUP Kabak corbasi This is the simplest ever pumpkin soup where the pure, sweet taste of pumpkin is married with the slightly sharp one of yogurt. The large orange-fleshed pumpkins are winter vegetables, but you can find them throughout the year in Asian and Middle Eastern stores, sold by the slice, with their seeds and fibers removed, and wrapped in plastic wrap.

SERVES 4 2 pounds pumpkin4 cups chicken stock (or use 2 bouillon cubes)1 to 2 teaspoons sugarsalt and black pepperTo serve: 1 cup plain whole-milk or strained Greek-style yogurt, at room temperature Remove the peel and any seeds and fiber from the pumpkin and cut the flesh into pieces. The peel is extremely hard and you have to cut it away by laying the slices or chunks flat on a board, cut side down, and then pressing down with a large heavy knife to cut the skin off.

Put the pieces in a large pan with only about 1 cups stock (it will not cover the pieces), and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes, or until the pumpkin is tender.

Blend to a puree in the food processor, or mash it with a potato masher, and return to the pan. Add the remaining stock, the sugar, and a little salt and pepper, and cook for a few minutes more, adding water to thin the soup, if necessary.

Serve the soup hot, and pa.s.s around the yogurt in a bowl for people to help themselves.

Main Courses Meat-lamb or mutton-cooked in a variety of ways, is the prestige food of Turkey. Chicken comes second. Fish and seafood were always appreciated in the coastal cities, especially in Istanbul and Izmir, but, apart from a few esteemed fish, they were considered poor man's food and were bought from vendors and eaten in the street. At night at the top of the Bosphorus, a thousand lights glittered on the sea from the little boats of menfolk fis.h.i.+ng for their families. It is only in the last twenty years, since fish restaurants have proliferated in response to demand by foreign tourists, that they have become enormously popular with the local population. It seems surprising in a country surrounded by three large seas-the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean, as well as the smaller Sea of Marmara-that fish does not enjoy equal status to meat, even though it is more expensive. One suggestion is that for a people with atavistic tastes born in the steppe lands of Central Asia, it was not easy to incorporate the produce of the sea in their culinary traditions.

Many years ago I asked the head of the a.s.sociation of Turkish Chefs why meat was so important in Turkey. He replied that in Ottoman times, Islamic law allowed men to have four wives, and they were obliged to satisfy them all equally and that required a great deal of strength and energy so they had to eat a lot of meat! A certain sultan, he said, was reputed to have habitually eaten a whole lamb at one sitting. I suspect he was pulling my leg.

Meat is the food cooked when people entertain, but the majority of the population can rarely afford it and lives mainly on bulgur, rice, pulses, and vegetables. Rice pilaf is eaten almost every day in the cities, sometimes for both lunch and supper, either as an accompaniment or as a substantial main course. As well as being a staple meal, it has always been considered a grand dish of celebration. There is no wedding without a rice pilaf. Bulgur pilaf is more common than rice in rural homes since Anatolia is wheat country.

SMOKED MACKEREL with with WALNUT SAUCE WALNUT SAUCE Taratorlu Usk.u.mru This can be served as a first course or as a cold main course with pickles, sliced red onions, and a green salad. Cold-smoked mackerel is soft and moist and more of a delicacy than the hot-smoked variety. Hazelnuts, almonds, or pine nuts can be used as an alternative to walnuts for this cla.s.sic sauce, which is called tarator. tarator. In that case, white bread should be used. The sauce can also be served with poached or grilled fish or with cold vegetables cooked in olive oil. In that case, white bread should be used. The sauce can also be served with poached or grilled fish or with cold vegetables cooked in olive oil.

SERVES 4 FOR THE SAUCE1 cup walnut halves3 slices whole wheat bread, crusts removed2 garlic cloves, crushed6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil3 tablespoons white wine vinegarsalt2 cold-smoked mackerel1 lemon, cut in quarters Make the sauce first. Grind the walnuts in the food processor, then add the bread, previously soaked in water and squeezed dry, and the garlic, and blend together. Add the oil and vinegar, a little salt, and blend with just enough water (about 4 tablespoons) to produce a creamy consistency.

Skin and fillet the fish and serve with the sauce and lemon quarters.

DEEP - FRIED RED MULLET with with GARLIC AND PARSLEY GARLIC AND PARSLEY Barbunya Tavasi Deep-frying is the most popular way of cooking small-to medium-size whole fish, and red mullet (barbunya (barbunya ) are among the most prized. Garlic and parsley enhance their sweet flesh. Ask the fishmonger to clean the fish, but to leave the head on. Serve them with salad or Mashed Potatoes with Olive Oil, Scallions, and Parsley (see page ) are among the most prized. Garlic and parsley enhance their sweet flesh. Ask the fishmonger to clean the fish, but to leave the head on. Serve them with salad or Mashed Potatoes with Olive Oil, Scallions, and Parsley (see page 168 168 ). ).

SERVES 4 4 red mullet (weighing about 9 to 12 ounces each)5 garlic cloves, crushedsalt and black pepper6 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsleyflourolive oil, for fryingTo serve: 1 lemon, cut in quarters Rub the fish with about a quarter of the crushed garlic mixed with salt and pepper, then stuff them with 5 tablespoons of chopped parsley mixed with the remaining garlic and a little salt and pepper.

Roll the fish in flour until they are well covered and deep-fry in sizzling olive oil for about 4 to 5 minutes. Then lift them out and drain on paper towels.