My Favorite Turkish Meal

Two of the foods I think Turks excel at come together beautifully to form my absolute favorite Turkish meal: fish and greens. I've never eaten fish as good as in Turkey. Maybe it's the quality of the fish -- salt water fish freshly caught -- or maybe it's the way the Turks prepare them. Either way, Turkey is blessed with four seas (Black, Marmara, Aegean, and Mediterranean) and a wide variety of excellent seafood.

Then, they've learned over centuries the best way to prepare the fish and the best foods to serve the fish with to enhance their flavor. And the most popular seafood accompaniment is a simple green salad, or preferably several varieties of salad. Turks will make a salad out of any vegetable. And unlike the loaded salad bar with heavy dressing that most Americans are used to, most Turkish salads are made out of one or two very fresh vegetables, thinly sliced or shredded, and topped lightly with salt and an olive oil/lemon juice dressing.

Some of my favorite fish I ate in Turkey:

• lufer -- from the Black Sea and Maramara. Even though lufer is translated as blue fish, I believe there must be something different from the Turkish variety and those available in the US, because the one time I ate blue fish in the US, I didn't like it at all. I first ate lufer in Turkey on an evening picnic with a childhood friend of my husband, grilled over an outside bar-b-que and served with lots of green onions and a salad of shredded romaine lettuce. I decided I could eat this simple meal every day for the rest of my life and be very happy. Lufer is one of the most popular fishes in Turkey. You'll find it featured in many fine restaurants. It can be prepared both grilled and lightly fried.


• mezgit -- Even though mezgit (blue whiting) is from the Aegean and Mediterranean, the first time I had it was in an outside restaurant on the shores of the Black Sea. It was served lightly battered and fried with a parsley, red onion and sumach salad. I decided I had to have two favorite Turkish fish dishes as the mezgit was just as delicious as the lufer.


• hamsi -- anchovy. If all you've ever had of anchovy come from little tin cans or on top of a pizza, then you're in for a true delight if you ever get to try fresh Turkish anchovy. The best hamsi from the Black Sea. I first ate a plate-full of this little fish in the home of my mother and father in-law. I initially turned up my nose at eating the whole of the small fish, head and all, but after I tried it, I couldn't stop myself from eating more. It was like scarfing down chips or popcorn. They're just so delicious, you can't stop.

Some of the most elegant Turkish meals I had were based simply on fish and salad. I remember the dinner following our niece's wedding at my sister-in-law's home. She'd prepared a huge platter of istavrit (horse mackerel), battered and lightly fried. This was accompanied by 4-5 different greens or salads: a plate of whole green onions, a large bowl of whatever greens she could find mixed together, a salad of chopped parsley, and a platter of salted whole romaine leaves.

When a fish is battered, it's usually coated in corn meal, salt, and pepper, and it's almost always fried in olive oil. My husband says that the most important thing to accompany fish, besides the greens, are onions, either green or dry, because the taste of onion brings out the full flavors of the fish.

Besides being nutritious, this simple, elegant meal is also incredibly nutritious. For more information on the variety of fish served in Turkey, check out this website: Seafish in Turkey.

Wrapped Grape Vine Leaves

Who doesn't love wrapped vine leaves, called dolma by many, called yaprak sarmasi by Turks. They are so delicious, that I wish I could make them all the time. Though I have to admit, my favorite wrapped leaf is cabbage, which my mother-in-law makes divinely.

This is a Turkish recipe for Wrapped Vine Leaves with Olive Oil (Zeytinyagli Yaprak Sarmasi). This is not difficult, just time consuming.

Ingredients:

• 150 grams vine leaves ** I used one 16 oz jar
• 2 1/4 cup (550 g) water
• 1 teaspoon (6 g) salt
• 6 large size (600 g) onions **note, although the recipe calls for this many onions, it seemed excessive to me and I used about half
• 2 tablespoons (20 g) pinenuts
• 2/3 cup (150 g) olive oil
• 1 1/4 cups (240 g) rice ** I used brown rice
• 2 teaspoons (12 g) salt
• 2 teaspoons (8 g) sugar ** I omitted the sugar
• 2 tablespoons (20 g) currants
• 1 small bunch (40 g) parsley
• 1 small bunch (30 g) dill
• 10-15 medium leaves (10 g) fresh mint
• 3/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon (1 g) allspice
• 3/4 teaspoon (1.5 g) cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (20 g) lemon juice
• 1 medium (100 g) lemon

Directions:

Wash and remove stems of vine leaves. Reserve stems. Heat salted water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil. Add vine leaves. Simmer for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Remove from liquid; drain. Complete volume of liquid to 2 1/4 cups. Set aside.

Combine finely chopped onions and pinenuts in a saucepan. Add oil. Saute covered for 20 minutes or until onions are tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in rinsed and drained rice; mix well. Saute for 3-4 minutes, stirring again.

Add salt, sugar and 1 1/3 cups of reserved liquid; stir. Sprinkle currants over. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes; drain. Remove from heat. Let stand covered for 10 minutes.

Stir in finely chopped herbs. Season with spices. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Toss slightly.

Place 1 tablespoon of filling over wrong sides (non-shiny) of the grape vines. Fold sides over filling. Roll into oblongs 2 1/2 cm (1 inch) in diameter and 5-6 cm (2 - 2 1/2 inch) long.

Spread hard stems of vines, and stems of parsley and dill on bottom of a shallow saucepan. Arrange wrapped vine leaves in saucepan. Heat remaining reserved liquid. Add to wrapped vegetable. Cover and simmer for 50 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from heat; cool.

Garnish with lemon slices. Serve cold with lemon juice drizzled on top.

This recipe is from Samples from Turkish Cuisine by Ayse Baysal

Garlic Mayonnaise

This is not my recipe, nor is it Turkish, but is one I find quite wonderful. It is from Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health by Nancy Harmon Jenkins.

Aiolo, sometimes called the "butter of Provence" because it is so integral to the cuisine, is simply a mayonaise incorporating quantities of fresh garlic--usually two cloves per person in Provence. That is a lot, and you might wish to use less (I do--three or four cloves for this recipe), but since the whole point of aioli is garlic, by all means don't stint. The quality of the garlic is most important--it should be fresh and plump with swollen cloves. Reject any shriveled cloves or any in which the core is developing a green sprout.

Traditionally aioli is made with egg yolks and garlic pounded in a mortar. A lighter sauce can be made in the blender with a whole egg and an egg white, but the blender does odd things to the taste of garlic, so I prefer to make the lighter mayonaise in the blender, then fold the garlic paste in separately by hand. I always use organic eggs, but if you're not sure of your egg source and worried about salmonella, don't try this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 whole egg
1 egg white
salt to taste
1 to 1 1/2 cups fruity extra-virgin olive oil as needed
juice of 1/2 lemon or more to taste
4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Make the mayonnaise by whirling the egg and egg white in a blender with a little pinch of salt. Remove the center knob from the blender lid and, with the blender churning, start to pour in the olive oil, a very thin thread at first, until the mixture starts to thicken. Stop the blender and pour in a few tablespoons of lemon juice, then start the blender again and continue adding oil, a little more thickly as the mixture emulsifies and mounts. When all the oil has been added, turn the blender off and set aside.

Combine the garlic in a small bowl or a mortar with a teaspoon of salt and pound the garlc or crush it with the back of a spoon until you have a thick and homogeneous paste. Now use a spatula to scrape the mayonnaise into the garlic paste and turn gently to incorporate everything. Taste and add more salt and lemon juice if desired.

If the mayonnaise breaks down and separates while you're blending it, remove it all from the blender and start over again with a fresh egg. Whirl the egg until it is light and add, bit by bit, the broken-down mayonnaise and more oil and lemon juce. It should be easy to reconstitute the mayonnaise. Then proceed as directed.

Makes about 1 1/4 cups; 20 servings