Dandelion Salad (Hindiba Salatası)

The taste of dandelions my mother picked selectively from the weeds from our garden many years ago has been active in my palate since childhood. After developing a curiosity for cooking, the name of this wild weed that tasted superb was a question in my head. I had guessed that it may have been dandelions, but to me dandelions were bitter weeds that are not very tasty. I purchased them every once in a while just because they were extremely healthy. One day, it was confirmed that the unforgotten weed with a delicious taste reminiscent from my childhood was indeed dandelion and I was not cooking it properly. The good taste of this green weed wasn’t being maximized. The secret was the way it was prepared. I remember every single ingredient in that dandelion salad my mother made when I was still a kid so, I decided to recreate it to acquire the same exact taste.

Most of the dandelions that were available to me at grocery stores and the farmer’s market were more mature and hence chewy. Luckily, recently I found young, whole dandelions not separated by the leaves at my favorite grocery store. The dandelions in my memory were cooked as a whole with all the leaves attached since they were young and tender. The salad in this recipe turned out to be almost free of the bitter taste and very appetizing.

2 bunches dandelions (approx. 2 lb)
3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp paprika
¼ cup olive oil
2 ½ tbsp pomegranate molasses

Wash dandelions thoroughly and cut off the roots. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the dandelions for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and run cold water over the cooked greens to stop the cooking process. Cool and drain. Gently squeeze the dandelions to remove excess water and place in a bowl. Add the garlic, olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes, paprika and the pomegranate molasses. Toss and serve at room temperature.

Note: If the leaves are tough, they should be discarded as they will be chewy. Young dandelions should be picked.

Green Olives Salad (Yeşil Zeytin Salatası)

One of the indispensible food items for breakfast in Turkey is olives. Whether green or black, plain or with sauce, olives must exist on every Turkish person’s breakfast table. In order to break away the bitterness, green olives are cracked but still served as a whole with the pit. In smaller towns, families purchase large quantities of fresh olives once a year which they crack and cure for the year’s supply. Black olives are not pitted or cracked and cured in such away that there is no trace of the bitterness.

I personally find much more flavor in cracked green olives that are not commercially pitted. If using for salad, I usually pit them myself. Pitted olives rarely enter my house as I think that most of the flavor is diminished when the pit is removed commercially. We purchase some very good quality olives here in the States that are not cracked (can’t find cracked ones) and not pitted and I find them a little bitter. Therefore each time I visit Turkey, I bring cracked green olives with me. The following olive salad is made with olives I brought with me during my recent visit to my hometown in Turkey. Our favorite time to eat olives is breakfast/brunch, but olive salad can be eaten as appetizer or side dish during lunch or dinner. Preferably use fresh thyme for this salad. I did not have any fresh thyme on hand so I used home dried thyme that my mother brought with her last year during her visit.

2 cups green olives (pitted)
1 ½ tbsp pomegranate molasses or lemon juice
½ tbsp red pepper paste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 ½ tbsp thyme leaves (fresh preferable)

Wash and drain olives. Add pomegranate molasses, red pepper paste and olive oil. If using dried thyme, crumble with hands over olives. If using fresh thyme add whole leaves. Toss together and serve.

Turkish Milk Pudding (Muhallebi)

Muhallebi is a milk based dessert that is known throughout Turkey and the surrounding regions. Traditional Turkish muhallebi can be consumed all year around however in my opinion the best season to relish this delightful dessert is during the summer months. One spoonful of cold muhallebi is refreshing in the heat of the summer and will enliven your palates.

Authentic muhallebi does not include mastic gum flavor, however people have become creative and have made it with various flavors such as chocolate, vanilla, almond and etc. My all time favorite flavor is mastic gum (to see pictures of mastic gum: go to my Cardamom Mastic Gum Pistachio Cake post) which can be found in Mediterranean grocery stores in the U.S. It usually comes in small pieces and mortar and pestle can be used to grind it. Grinding it in a blender or food processor will result in having sticky gum on your machine which actually happened to me. I still cannot get the small tiny sticky gum from my blender, so now I stick to mortar and pestle.

Enjoy muhallebi plain or with any flavor you desire.


2 cups whole milk
1 small piece mastic gum (grinded)
1 tbsp rice flour
1 tbsp corn starch
¼ cup sugar
1-2 tsp finely ground pistachios

In a small bowl, mix ¼ cup of the milk with rice flour and corn starch. Stir well so that there are no lumps. Once the milk starts to thicken, set aside.

Boil the rest of the milk on medium heat. Add sugar and stir. Gradually, pour the thickened milk (that was mixed with corn starch and rice flour) on top of the boiled milk and continue stirring. Turn heat to low. Add ground mastic gum. Stir until the milk slightly thickens. Remove from heat and let it cool.

Pour into serving size dishes and store in a refrigerator for 4-5 hours. The mixture will fully thicken in the refrigerator. Sprinkle finely ground pistachios or cinnamon just before serving. Serve with cookies.

Lobster Sauté (Sotelenmiş Istakoz)

Although I do not cook lobster often, this was the first time I cooked a lobster with spices rather than just steaming. Using ingredients commonly used in Mediterranean cooking, the lobster turned out to be very flavorful and light. It was still tender after being steamed and sautéed in oil.

The sautéed lobster can be a delicious ingredient for a sandwich as well being served as a salad, side dish or main dish. We ate it with rice pilaf and steamed vegetables.

1 whole steamed lobster
2 tbsp white onion
1 garlic clove (chopped)
2 tbsp fresh parsley
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp paprika
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 tbsp white vinegar
½ tsp salt

Cut whole lobster in half lengthwise and remove meat from the tail and claws of the lobster. A cracker will be needed to remove meat from the claws. Roughly chop the meat. Set aside.

Heat olive oil on medium heat. Sprinkle paprika, black pepper and salt on the oil. Add garlic and onions. Sauté until onions are translucent. Pour vinegar. Add the lobster pieces along with the parsley and sauté for 1 minute. Serve warm or cold with potatoes, rice or bulgur pilaf.

Baked Pasta (Fırında Peynirli Makarna)

Here is a comforting recipe...

For the Sauce:

3 cups grated kaseri (similar to keskeval cheese)
2 ¼ cups milk
3 cloves of garlic (chopped finely)
3 tbsp flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp dried parsley
½ tsp red pepper flakes
¼ tsp ground black pepper
½ tbsp salt


For Boiling the Pasta:

1 box Penne Rigate pasta (the pasta that is shaped like a cylinder and cut diagonally)
1 tsp oil
1 tsp salt


In a large pot, boil water. Add pasta to boiling water and follow cooking directions. Usually this kind of pasta requires about 12-13 minutes. Add a little of oil and a pinch of salt so that the pasta does not stick together while cooking.

In the mean time, heat olive oil on medium heat, in a deep pan. Add garlic and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the milk, parsley, salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes prior to adding flour. Stir the ingredients for a minute and add flour. Stir constantly so that the flour does not produce lumps. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens slightly.

Preheat oven to 350º F. Once the pasta is cooked, drain and spread in a Pyrex dish. Pour the white sauce over the pasta and mix. Sprinkle the cheese on top and place on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 20 minutes or until the top of the pasta starts to take a brownish color.

Product Review (Toast-R-Oven & Skimmer)

Happy New Year! I wish you all a healthy, prosperous and happy year.

2010 was a very eventful year for me limiting my time spent on my blog. Hopefully in 2011 Turkish Food Passion will be richer with more cooking and delightful recipes.

I wanted to start my first post for this year with a product review (actually two) sponsored by CSN Stores as mentioned in my previous posts. The two products I selected to review are Black and Decker Classic Toast-R-Oven in Silver and Calphalon Stainless Steel Skimmer.

One of the most attractive attributes of the Toaster Oven is being multifunctional. Most of the time, I use it to toast bread or bagel. In addition to toasting bread/bagel it can heat up leftover pizza, boreks, and other types of food. Baking or broiling small amounts of foods is also possible through the Toaster Oven. I was impressed with its baking/broiling capabilities as the temperature goes up to 450 F°. It comes with a bake pan in it. A crumb tray at the bottom of the Toaster Oven catches the bread crumbs falling and can be easily removed for cleaning purposes and placed back. The Toaster Oven is efficient when baking/broiling/heating small amounts of food; there is no need to turn on the regular oven and waste energy. This little Toaster Oven takes care of one or two-person portions.

In terms of esthetics, it’s a very good looking toaster oven with just the right size. The half black, half silver color makes it attractive and fits in with my other appliances in the kitchen.

The Toaster Oven fits four pieces of bread at once and makes the bread crispy on the outside and soft inside with golden brown color which makes it appealing to the eye. One need to be careful when removing bread as the toaster tends to get hot. An oven glove in one hand will solve this issue.

It is a great product for the price. I actually look forward to more bread/bagel toasting, baking and broiling in this little oven.

The other small, yet very functional product I tried is the Calphalon Stainless Steel Skimmer. I usually use this versatile skimmer when making broth or boiling lentils. This skimmer is the perfect size. Although a little on the heavy side, this is expected when using stainless steel products. I am not fond of using plastic utensils even though they are light. Not only does this skimmer skims the foam successfully, it can also be used in removing frying foods (i.e. fried vegetables) from the oil. The oil drips down while picking the cooked food. I have also used this skimmer when squeezing lemon on the salad to prevent the lemon seeds from falling in the salad. This is when I feel lazy to get the lemon squeezer out. The skimmer is in a reachable distance from my workspace and I use it for multi-purposes.

I look forward to using the toaster oven and the skimmer again in my future cooking which will be shared with you.

Lamb Shank (Kuzu İncik)

Today’s recipe is lamb shank! I have never made lamb shank before, so I was proud of myself when it turned out delicious. The recipe is not labor intensive; once I browned the shank, I threw all the ingredients together in a pot, grabbed a glass of wine and sat on one of the two pieces of bar furniture I have on my kitchen island with a good book.

Before we get to the delightful recipe, I would like to express my pleasure on my upcoming product review with CSN Stores. In the past, CSN Stores offered a giveaway or a review and I chose the giveaway and one of my lucky readers won a 10” and 12” Calphalon Non-Stick Omelet Combo Set. This time however, I would like to actually review one of their products. CSN Stores has an amazing selection of products in their 200 plus online stores. Please stay tuned.

Now back to the lamb shank…

Note: 1 lamb shank can be enough for two people

1 lamb shank
4-5 cloves of garlic (sliced)
2 shallots (sliced)
2 portabella mushrooms (sliced)
2 potatoes (cubed)
3 small carrots (sliced 1 inch thick)
1/2 cup white wine
3 tbsp olive oil
1 ¼ tsp salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ tsp ground black pepper
1 cup water

Heat olive oil on medium heat in a large pot. Brown the lamb shank in the pot on all sides. Add sliced garlic and shallots. Stir for about 3 minutes until the shallots are transparent. Add the portabella mushrooms and stir. Add the white wine. Let it simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add the potatoes, carrots and the rest of the ingredients including the water. Mix well and cook on medium heat for 10 minutes. Then, turn heat to low and cook covered for 2 hours or until the lamb shank is tender. Serve with rice and salad.