Cookies with Pistachios (Antepfıstıklı Kurabiye)

Recently, Turkish Food Passion has been attempting to broaden its dessert repertoire due to its limited number of published dessert recipes. Today, Turkish Food Passion presents its first cookie recipe. The cookies are made with ground pistachio nuts which are commonly used in Turkish desserts. Hazelnuts or almonds may be substituted for pistachios. These cookies will go perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea any time of the day. Enjoy.

Yield: 18-20 cookies

1 cup flour
1 stick softened unsalted butter (4 oz)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup finely ground pistachio
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
½ tsp baking powder

Using a Stand Mixer:

Combine softened butter, egg, vanilla and sugar in the stand mixer bowl. Using stand mixer wired whip attachment, whisk until all ingredients are integrated. Start with speed 2 to and gradually increase to speed 8.

Change the wire whip attachment and replace with the flat beater attachment (make sure the mixer is turned off and unplugged when doing this). Fold in the rest of the ingredients except the pistachios and mix at speed 4. Once all the ingredients are married, add pistachios and mix again for 1-2 minutes until pistachios are distributed evenly.

Manually:

Combine softened butter, egg, vanilla and sugar in a bowl. Whisk until all ingredients are integrated. Fold in the rest of the ingredients except the pistachios. Once all the ingredients are married, add pistachios and mix again for a few more minutes until all pistachios are distributed evenly.

Grease a cookie sheet. Take spoonful of the cookie dough and drop on the greased cookie sheet with no particular shape.

Bake at 350° F for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool for 2-3 hours. The cookies can be stored in air tight jar to keep them fresh. Enjoy with hot tea.

Parsley Omelet (Maydanozlu Omlet)

Parsley omelet is a simple, quick and tasty egg dish that we often had for brunch at home in Turkey. It can be consumed for breakfast, lunch or even for a light dinner. When I am busy and need something quick to eat, I resort to this delicious omelet.

It is customary to use butter or vegetable oil for omelets and some other dishes in Turkey, however for health reasons I always choose to cook with olive oil. In Turkish cuisine, we have a whole new group of dishes called ‘Zeytinyağlılar’ meaning ‘Dishes with Olive Oil’ which are always made with olive oil and always without meat which are usually eaten at room temperature. The hot dishes can be made with olive oil, vegetable oil or butter. For example, rice pilaf and omelets are typically made with butter or vegetable oil.

You may notice that for almost every recipe published in my blog I have used olive oil (extra virgin). Butter is only used for baking purposes in my kitchen and I think that is more than plenty of butter for our bodies. If the butter in stores was natural and completely made from milk, I would not hesitate using it more often. One of those days I will try to make my own butter because I know how delicious natural butter can taste. If you insist on using commercially produced butter, you can substitute the butter for olive oil in my recipes.

Now comes the omelet recipe.

4 eggs
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
2 tsp olive oil (or butter)
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp ground black pepper
Pinch of salt

In a small bowl add the eggs, parsley, black pepper, paprika and salt. Mix until the eggs are integrated with the parsley.


Heat oil on medium heat and pour the egg parsley mixture on hot oil. Leave on heat until eggs are cooked. To cook eggs faster, cover the pan for a couple minutes.

Cherry Compote (Vişne Kompostosu)

The summer is here and so are the colorful and tasty fruits. Being a fruit person, I love buying many varieties of fresh fruits every week. Yesterday evening, I went grocery shopping and could not resist buying so many different types of fruits. One of those fruits that made it to my cart was cherries. I usually savor all these succulent fruits plain, however this time I made an exception and made the delectable cherry compote recipe that is very common in Turkey. Almost any type of fruit can be used for compote. The result surpassed my expectations as I am not a big fruit dessert person. It turned out sweet and very refreshing. This is a keeper so I will continue to make compote with other fruits. Here is the recipe.
½ lb fresh red cherries
½ cup sugar
3 cloves
¼ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp honey
½ cup water

Wash and dry the cherries. Remove the stems and pit the cherries. Do not discard the stems and seeds; they will add additional flavor to the compote. Place the cherries in a small pot add sugar, cloves, vanilla and water. Place the stems and seeds in a cheese cloth, tie the cloth and place in the pot with the rest of the ingredients. Let it boil on medium heat. Reduce heat and let it simmer for 5-6 minutes. Remove cheese cloth and discard. Add honey and stir. Remove the compote from heat. When slightly cooled, put in a small serving bowl and place in the refrigerator. Enjoy cool.

Broiled Jumbo Shrimp (Izgara Karides)

I am back to posting recipes again. This past month I was traveling quite a bit, so between heavy work load and travels I did not get a chance to cook at all. Although I love exploring new and interesting places to eat when we are on vacation, eating out was getting old after a full month which is probably the longest I have gone without cooking in the past five years. Finally this past weekend I had some delicious home cooked meals visiting family which was exactly what I wanted.

I am kind of starting to cook again this week as time permits however more cooking and baking will take place in my kitchen beginning next week which translates to additional delightful Turkish recipes showing up on my blog. As mentioned before, there will be more focus on desserts, cakes and cookies but for now, we will have to settle for this luscious, simple shrimp recipe that my husband and I made together a couple months back. I hope you enjoy it, we sure did.

Note: I tried to attend to comments between travels as much as I could, however I did not have the chance to respond to your e-mails. As soon as I can I will respond to your e-mails. Thanks for understanding.

9 jumbo shrimp
1 tsp salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp red pepper paste (pureed kind)
1 tsp thyme
1 garlic clove (chopped)
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses

Clean and divine shrimps and place in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and marinade over night.

Turn on oven broiler and broil for 5 minutes on each side. Serve with pilaf and vegetables.

Filet Mignon (Bonfile)

This is a fairly easy recipe. If you love meat, you certainly will love this and if you love vodka, you will love it even more! Although vodka is not a traditional Turkish alcoholic beverage, I had some on hand and could not resist adding it to the marinade. The pomegranate molasses which is prevalent throughout Turkey and the Mediterranean region adds some tanginess to the steak. A mild spicy flavor can be tasted from the red pepper paste which is also commonly used in Turkish cuisine. I used the kind that is pureed and looks like tomato paste instead of the kind with a thicker grind and texture. One of these days, I will have to make a post on the red pepper paste as it is not widely recognized here in the States.

The filet mignon actually might taste better if cooked on an outdoor grill than in the oven broiler. Enjoy with potatoes or rice.

2 fillet mignon steaks
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
1 tbsp pureed red pepper paste
1 shallot
1 garlic clove
2 tbsp vodka
1 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Grind the shallot, garlic and the rest of the ingredients except the steaks in a food processor. Remove and place in a bowl. Marinate the steaks for 30 minutes in the marinade.

Heat olive oil on a medium heat. Sear each side of the steaks for 5 minutes. Heat oven broiler and broil for 13-15 minutes on each side for well done steaks. Adjust cooking time based on personal preference.

Cardamom Mastic Gum Pistachio Cake (Kakuleli Damla Sakızlı Antep Fıstıklı Kek)

It is time for a new cake recipe! One day I felt like making a cake, a type of cake that I had never had before. So, I took a look at my pantry and refrigerator and got some ideas based on the ingredients I had on hand. I set out to make the cake without completely deciding what kind of flavor I wanted. As I made my cake, I made my decisions to add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. What came out was a cake with ground cardamom, ground pistachios and mastic gum! Yes, mastic gum. What is mastic gum? I get this question a lot…If you are not from the Mediterranean region or if you are not familiar with Mediterranean cuisine or if you haven’t traveled to the Mediterranean countries, most likely you do not know mastic gum. Mastic gum, ‘damla sakızı’ in Turkish is harvested from Pistacia lentiscus shrub, a native to the Mediterranean region which is from the pistachio family.

Liquid is bled from the trunk of the tree and then sun dried into hard, small, translucent pieces that secret a very distinct and pleasant aroma. It can be grounded using a mortar.


Mastic gum is mainly used in chewing gum in Turkey as well as the famous Kahramanmaraş Dondurması (Kahramanmaraş Ice Cream) and some other desserts and cookies. I bought the mastic gum a while back when I attempted to make Kahramanmaraş Dondurması which I will leave to talk about another time. Mastic gum can be found in Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern stores in the U.S.
The cake I made this evening, turned out crispy from the outside and soft and fluffy from the inside, exactly how I had envisioned. It is light and not too sweet, just perfect. I am actually eating a piece of cake as I am typing this post. My palates are dancing right now! This version turned out far more superior compared to my previous two attempts. I hope you enjoy it.


1 3/4 cups flour
1 ¼ cup sugar
1/2 cup yogurt
1 stick unsalted butter 4 oz. (melted & cooled)
4 eggs
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup ground raw pistachios
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground mastic gum
1 lemon zest
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla extract

Unsalted butter for greasing the cake pan
¼ tsp of flour to sprinkle on greased cake pan

Note: All ingredients need to be at room temperature. To hinder the cake from cracking around the ring, cover with aluminum foil only for the first 20-25 minutes of baking time.

Using a Stand Mixer:

Place the eggs, the one egg yolk and sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Attach the wire whip to the beater shaft of the mixer. Using the wire whip of the mixer beat the eggs and sugar starting with the lowest speed and gradually increasing the speed to 8 until creamy. Once a creamy texture is attained, add the lemon zest, yogurt, cardamom, vanilla, baking soda and mix at speed 2. Add the pistachios and mastic gum and mix for 1 minute. Add flour and continue mixing at speed 2. Scrape down the ingredients sticking around the bowl with a spatula. Add melted butter gradually until a smooth batter is attained.

Manually:

In a deep bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar until the mixture is creamy. Add the lemon zest, yogurt, cardamom, vanilla and baking soda. Continue mixing. Add pistachios and mastic gum and mix for 3-4 minutes. Add the flour mix with the rest of the ingredients. Finally, add the melted butter and whisk until a smooth batter is attained.

Set oven heat at 350ºF. Grease a cake mold or a Pyrex dish with unsalted butter. Sprinkle a little flour on the greased pan or cake mold. Pour the cake batter in the cake mold. When the oven is ready, place in the middle rack and bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. To check whether the cake is baked well or not, insert a toothpick in the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, that means your cake is ready, if it comes out with batter, that means it still needs baking.

When you remove the cake from the oven, let it rest for about 15 minutes before taking the cake out of the cake mold.

Enjoy with a hot tea or coffee.

Turkish Bread Loaf (Somun Ekmeği)

The significance of bread in Turkish meals cannot be overstated. Every Turkish meal includes some sort of bread; either somun loaf, flat, pide or lavaş bread. Most Turkish people living in Turkish cities do not spend time making bread at home due to the numerous bakeries on almost every corner. The smell of bread coming out of these bakeries that make bread twice daily overfill the streets in the morning and in the afternoon. The most prevalent types of bread that can be found in Turkish bakeries are the Turkish somun bread and flat bread. Of course the breads may deviate from city to city in Turkey as every region has its own traditional cuisine. In Turkish villages, women get together and make flat bread (sac ekmeği) on iron griddle lit with wood or lavaş bread which is made in a tandır; a clay oven.

The closest bread to Turkish somun bread is French bread which we (my husband & I and maybe other Turks too) consume in order to satisfy our cravings of Turkish bread while living in the States. I made somun bread once last year to attain a closer taste to what we had in Turkey and it turned out just okay, so I never published the recipe. I kept putting off trying it out again until recently and in the mean time I spent some time studying bread baking. This time I am much happier with the result except one insignificant thing. Instead of cutting a horizontal line on top of the loaf as it is done with Turkish somun bread, I made diagonal cuts and thus could not attain the same Turkish bread look, but the bread tasted so good could not resist publishing it now. When I put my bread in the oven, I realized something was missing and couldn’t figure it out until I got the bread out. It was the look of it. For this reason, I am also sharing my bread picture from last year with the right incision, however with a slightly different recipe.

Caveat: I baked my bread on a pizza stone and the pizza stone cracked while the bread was baking. I am guessing it cracked because of the contact between the hot baking stone and the water dripping from the top of the bread to the bottom of the stone while basting. In any case, I did not disturb the baking process until it was finished. You may choose to bake it on a baking tray or cookie sheet.

The bread’s crust turned out crispy just as I had envisioned and the inner part soft. I was very pleased with the result and happy to share it with you.

For the Dough:

3 ¾ cups all purpose organic flour
1 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp salt
1¾ cup warm water

For Baking and Basting:

1 tsp cornmeal
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp black sesame seeds
Water for braising

Using a Stand Mixer:

Place the water a small bowl. Add yeast, stir and let it sit for 30 minutes.
Sift the flour and salt and place in the stand mixer bowl. Add the water with the dissolved yeast to the mixer bowl and place the mixer speed on stir for about 2 minutes. Run the mixer at speed 2 and gradually increase to speed 4 until the dough is soft and elastic (about 5-7 minutes). The dough can be tested by cutting a small piece and stretching it until it is transparent. If the dough stretches without breaking, then it is ready.

Manually:

Place the water a small bowl. Add yeast, stir and let it sit for 30 minutes.
Sift the flour and salt and place in a deep bowl. Add the water with the dissolved yeast to the flour and start kneading until the dough is elastic. Usually this will take about 15-20 minutes. Follow the same testing in order to make sure the dough is ready.

Making the Bread:

Cover the dough and let it sit for 2 hours in room temperature. The dough will rise.

With hands, push the dough down and let it sit 2 ½ hours.

Let it rise again.

Sprinkle baking sheet/stone with cornmeal. When the dough is ready, place the dough in the baking sheet or stone and give it an oval shape. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Run a knife horizontally on top of the bread or a few diagonal cuts.


Let the shaped dough sit for 1 hour.

Heat oven at 450 º F and place a small, empty iron pot inside while the oven is heating. When ready, place the baking sheet or baking stone with the bread in the oven and add 2 cups of water in the empty pan in order to generate some steam for the bread baking.

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. While baking, baste with water every 5 minutes. Enjoy warm!