Lemony Mushrooms / Limonlu Mantar

Writer's Note:  I love these lemony mushrooms.  My roommate in Cambridge, MA, made them for me once about a decade ago and they are still my go-to mushroom dish.  Something about the butter and lemon combination imparts a tangy flavor that is both bright and earthy.  Thanks, Cory.

Ingredients:

1 lb brown or white button mushrooms, or other varieties, cut into 1/2 inch slices

2 tbsp. olive oil

2-3 tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. Herbs de Provence

1/4 cup white wine

1 lemon, squeezed

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Heat olive oil and butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet until butter is melted.  Add mushrooms, Herbs de Provence, salt and pepper, and saute until the mushrooms begin to sweat.  Add white wine and saute until wine is absorbed.  Add lemon juice and saute until the mushrooms are tender and lemon juice is absorbed, about 10 more minutes.  

Orange Fennel Chicken with Black Olives / Zeytinli Portakalı Tavuk ve Rezene

Writer's Note: It is really cold in Berlin. There is snow on the ground, my heaters are cranked to high, and yet, I am still freezing here in my new apartment in Kreuzberg. In honor of sunnier places and a yearning for the Mediterranean, here is a new recipe.

Ingredients:

2-3 large chicken legs, or other chicken parts

1 navel orange, half squeezed, half sliced into thick slices

1/3 cup olive oil

2-3 fennel bulbs, peeled and quartered

1/2 cup black olives

1 tsp. Aleppo pepper

1 tsp. dried mint or Herbs de Provence

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. fresh pepper

Directions: Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Mix olive oil, spices, and orange juice as marinade. Rub the marinade on the chicken and fennel pieces. Line the bottom of a deep baking rack with aluminum foil and lay the chicken pieces and fennel pieces in the bottom. (If using chicken breasts, lay them breast side down for the first 50 minutes of baking.) Surround with the orange slices. Pour the remaining marinade over the chicken and fennel. Bake chicken for 10 minutes at 500 degrees and then lower temperature to 350 degrees. Bake for another 50 minutes until chicken is cooked through. Ten minutes before the chicken is finished, add the olives to the bottom of the pan. If the chicken skin has not crisped, turn the broiler on for 5-10 minutes until skin is crisp. Serve with drippings spooned over the chicken and fennel.

White Asparagus / Beyaz Kuşkonmaz

Writer's Note: The move to Germany has unfortunately taken a bit of time so I am only just getting to updating the blog. In honor of white asparagus season (that is weiss spargel for those of you in the know), here is a new recipe.

Ingredients:

1 lb. white or green asparagus, peeled and cut into 2-3 in. pieces

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tbsp. dried mint

salt to taste

Directions:

Heat the oil over medium heat until hot and add mint and salt. Add asparagus and saute until a little wilted, about 4-7 minutes depending on the thickness of your spargel. Add 2-3 tbsp. hot water and cover to steam. Remove lid and saute a little longer until just tender. Serve hot as a main course with a nice white wine.

Stuffed Eggplant Deconstructed / Tembel Patlıcan Dolması

Writer's Note: In Damascus there is a street corner called Lazy Housewives' Corner. The grocers there have pre-cored eggplants for stuffing, shelled peas, and carrots cut into decorative sticks. It's a lazy chef's paradise. Also apparently a good place to pick up a hooker since I saw my one and only prostitution transaction on that street corner. I guess it's a good place to go if you're too lazy to even go through the hassle of getting a housewife.

Since Damascus is a bit far to travel, I'm stuck as my own sous chef. For days I have been wanting to make stuffed eggplants. I had all of the ingredients ready but the time never presented itself. Yesterday I got home from a long day and decided stuffing the eggplants was an unnecessary step better suited to housewives in Damascus. So here's Lazy Cantabrigians Stuffed Eggplant.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, diced

1/2 lb. ground beef

2-3 small eggplants, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes

2-3 tbsp. pomegranate molasses

2 cups full-fat traditional yogurt

4-6 garlic cloves

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. Aleppo pepper

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Optional: Aleppo pepper and dried mint

Optional: 1/4 cup pine nuts

Directions: Saute the onions in the olive oil over low-medium heat until they are translucent and soft. Add the pine nuts, ground beef, pomegranate molasses, cumin, 1 tsp. salt, and Aleppo pepper and saute until the beef is just cooked through. Add the eggplants and cook for 4-5 minutes until the eggplant is a little soft. Cover and lower heat and continue to cook until the eggplant is cooked through, stirring occasionally. Add the parsley and stir for an additional minute until it wilts. Turn off heat.

Make a paste from the garlic cloves and 1 tsp. salt using a mortar and pestle. Serve the eggplant dish with the garlic yogurt and sprinkle with the Aleppo pepper and dried mint if you desire.

Cauliflower and Potatoes with Turmeric, Fennel Seeds and Mustard Seeds

Writer's Note: OK, I admit it. This is an Indian dish I adopted from Madhur Jaffrey. But I think it would appeal to the Turkish palate. And it is a comfort dish I turn to when the weather's cold and I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself.

Ingredients:

4 tbsp. clarified butter, or 2 tbsp. olive oil and 2 tbsp. butter

1 small cauliflower, cut into florets

3-4 small potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp. fennel seeds

1 tsp. brown mustards seeds

1/4 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. Aleppo pepper

salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Melt the butter or olive oil and butter in a wide deep skillet. Add the mustard seeds and fennel seeds and let them cook for 2-3 minutes until the sizzle. Add the potatoes and saute for 5-7 minutes. Add the cauliflower and saute for another 5-7 minutes. Add the turmeric and stir so it coats the vegetables.

Add 3 tbsp. of hot water and cover the skillet, shaking the skillet to both coat the vegetables with the turmeric and steam the vegetables so they cook faster. Remove the cover and add the Aleppo pepper, salt and pepper to taste. Continue to cook, stirring, until the vegetables are cooked through and a little browned. Serve hot plain or with garlic yogurt.

Green Beans with Tomatoes and Olive Oil / Zeytinyağlı Taze Fasulye

Writer's Note: Most Americans like their vegetables crunchy. Fair point. No need to cook them to death. But this particular dish is lovely when the beans are soft and melt in your mouth. Best served with crunchy bread and a cold glass of rakı.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 lb. frozen or fresh flat Italian green beans, defrosted

1 tsp. salt

pinch of sugar

1 lb. can or fresh peeled whole tomatoes, crushed with your hands

Directions:

Heat the olive oil over low-medium heat and add onions. Cook onions until they are translucent. Add green beans, sugar, salt, and tomatoes and cook over very low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes and green beans are soft. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Tomato Bulgur Pilaf / Domatesli Bulgur Pilav

Writer's Note: I've neglected this site for way too long. Excuse? Ten-day trip to Turkey with classmates. No earthquake, no coup, no lost students. Entirely a success. The food was, as always, amazing. Before I left I made a Turkish dinner for a small group of friends with this bulgur pilav. Serve it with any meat dish.

Ingredients:

2 cups course-grained bulgur, washed

3 cups onions, diced

1-2 jalapeños, seeded and chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

3-4 small peeled tomatoes, canned or fresh, diced

6 tbsp. butter or 2 tbsp. olive oil and 1 tbsp. butter

2 cups beef broth

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Melt the butter over medium heat and add the onions and stir until translucent. Add the green pepper, jalapeños, and tomatoes and cook down until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the bulgur, salt, and pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add the beef broth, bring to a boil, and simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 15 minutes until the bulgur has absorbed the liquid.

Zucchini Pie / Fırında Mücver

Writer's Note: Hello men, see that spread? That's the way ladies brunch when you aren't around. A few weeks ago I was invited to ladies' brunch with a group of amazing women -- lawyers, development specialists, human rights activists. They were candy for my brain. And the food was phenomenal. Sorry, boys, we were perfectly content without you.

Ingredients:

2 eggs

2 tbsp. cottage cheese

2-4 tbsp. fresh dill, chopped

500 grams feta cheese

1 large red onion, diced

3 tbsp. olive oil

2 zucchinis, grated on coarse grater, salted and drained after 20 minutes

1-3 tsp. Urfa or Aleppo pepper

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. dried mint

3/4 cup flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook red onion in olive oil until soft and translucent. Squeeze the water out of the grated zucchini with your hands so they are as dry as possible. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Grease a small square pyrex dish with olive oil or butter. Pour ingredients in dish and bake for 25-35 minutes until it is firm and a toothpick comes out clean.

Baked Broccoli Pie / Fırında Brokoli Mücver

Writer's Note: The broccoli in the fridge was mocking me. Hello, yes, I am still here. And I will be here for the rest of eternity if you don't think of something to do with me. Seriously, it's bad when your produce can make you feel guilty. So here's a fun brunch dish to help you escape its judgmental stare.

Ingredients:

12 oz. broccoli florets, cut small

5 oz feta, crumbled

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

3 tbsp. olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 tbsp. full-fat traditional thick yogurt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. dried mint

1/2 tsp. Aleppo pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a small square pyrex baking dish.

If you like, you can blanch or steam the broccoli for a minute or two to soften it, but it is likely unnecessary. Saute the onion with the olive oil over low-medium heat until the onions are soft and have taken on the hue of the olive oil.

Mix all of the ingredients in a mixing bowl and then pour into the pre-greased baking dish.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes or until the top is slightly browned. Cool on the counter before cutting into serving pieces -- careful, the pie is very soft.

Serve warm.

Broccoli Potato Leek Soup / Pırasa Patates Brokoli Çorbası

Writer's Note: A guy I used to date once said my kitchen was where fruits and vegetables went to die. No, he wasn't one of those crazy people who believe plants have souls, he just meant that invariably there was a bunch of spinach at the bottom of my fridge that had long out-lasted its usefulness. I admit it, I hoard spinach and eggplant and bananas in my kitchen in case a group of traveling carpenters knocks on the door and demands to be fed. (I once met a group of German traveling carpenters who belonged to a 16th century guild, wore top hats and carried walking sticks, and only listened to death metal. They were working in a hostel I stayed in off the western coast of Ireland. So it could happen.)

In my fridge now is an odd assortment of vegetables, courtesy of Boston Organics. I got some beautiful broccoli with freakishly long stalks. I like broccoli stalks, they taste better than their alien heads. Given that the leeks in the fridge were looking like they should be playing shuffleboard and wearing dentures, I thought a broccoli stalk leek potato soup was in order.

Ingredients:

stalks from 2-3 large stalks of broccoli, peeled and chopped

2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped

3 leeks, white and light green parts only, chopped or 2 small onions, diced

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. olive oil

4 cups chicken or vegetable broth

salt to taste

optional: Aleppo pepper

Directions:

Melt the olive oil and butter over low-medium heat and saute the leeks or onions until they are soft. Add the broccoli stalks and potatoes and saute for a few minutes. Then add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat until all of the vegetables are tender. Blend until smooth. If you're a fussy soup person, you can strain the soup, but I'm not running the The French Laundry so bits of potato don't bother me. Add salt to taste and sprinkle some Aleppo pepper on top if you want to add some kick.