August Chicken

I called this dish 'August chicken' first of all because most of the vegetables I used are harvested in August. Another reason is that I came up with this recipe just this August. It is definitely nothing special, maybe I cannot even say that it is my recipe. But I've made chicken this way already for four times and all these times the dish was a success. I don't even have time to take a photo as it is eaten so quickly. Roasted onions and garlic gives such a lovely flavour, fresh thyme and sage just strenthens. And soya sauce and mushroom juice softens the chicken!!! Easy and delicious dinner every time!!!

What we need:

1 chicken, cut into pieces
2 big onions ( it looks much better if you use small onions, then don't cut into smaller pieces)
8 cloves of garlic
1 red pepper
100 gr of mushrooms
4 tbsp of soya sauce
fresh thyme
fresh sage
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
zucchini (optional)
potatoes (optional as sometimes I serve the dish with rice)
2 tomatoes

What we have to do:

1. Put baking paper into a baking tray, sprinkle with some oil, then put chicken and cut vegetables onto the tray. Don't chop garlic cloves. Add thyme and sage, season with salt and pepper, soya sauce.
2. Preheat the oven 190C and bake for 45-50 min. Serve with boiled rice. If I roast potatoes together with chicken, I serve just with some fresh vegetable salad.

Stuffed red peppers with feta

Red peppers are one of those vegetables which can be used almost everywhere. But my favourite way of enjoying them is when they are roasted and pickled with garlic and apple vinegar and finally stuffed with feta. This dish isn't my invention! It is a popular meze in Greece and Turkey. Really delicious!!!

What we need:

6 red or green peppers
50 ml olive oil
1 tbsp of apple vinegar
salt and pepper
3-4 cloves of garlic
dried or fresh thyme
parsley
150 gr feta slices

What we have to do:

1. Clean the peppers. Place them on a baking tray and put in the oven (180C) on the second level. And roast them for 20-30 min. The peppers shouldn't get too soft but the skin can even burn a bit. (It is easier done on a coal grill, which also adds lovely smoky flavour). After takinf them from the oven, cover peppers with aliuminium foil and leave it to cool a bit and them peel the peppers, remove the seeds.

2. Mix chopped garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, oil and vinegar and pour over peppers and leave for at least 1-2 hours.

3. Stuff pickled peppers with feta, then sprinkle some more thyme and parsley, pour some pickling oil and vinegar and serve!!! Enjoy!!!

Stuffed peppers with chicken

I believe stuffed vegetables is one of the most popular dishes in traditional Turkish homes. If you are served any stuffed delight, be sure you are a special guest in this home. For some unknown reason, many Turkish think that making 'dolmas' is very time consuming, but personally I believe it is one of the easiest dishes in Turkish cuisine. Not too messy but always a winner!!!

What we need:

several peppers, deseeded
300 gr ground chicken
100 gr of rice
fresh mint and parsley
salt and pepper
red pepper flakes
onion
garlic
2 chopped tomatoes
1 bay leave
1 l of water or chicken stock
yogurt for garnish

What we have to do:

1. Mix ground chicken, chopped onion and garlic, mint, parsley, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes, washed and drained rice, 1 chopped tomato.

2. Clean the peppers.

3. Stuff the peppers with the filling.

4. Put peppers into a pot and pour over water. Add bay leave and 1 chopped tomato. Simmer for 30-40 min. Serve with yogurt. Enjoy!!!

Oven baked onion rings

If you've ever tasted onion rings, then you know how addictive they are. I just had to see their picture in a newspaper to decide that I have to make them!!! The idea for baking them instead of deep-frying came from Rachel Ray talkshow. I cannot say it is much healthier, but definitely contain less calories!!! Plus... so easy to make!!!

What we need:

1-2 big onions
1 egg
3 tbsp of flour
3 tbsp of bread crumbs
1 tbsp of olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
smoked paprika powder ( for extra flavour)
some dried dill

What we have to do:

1. Peel and slice onions, decide slices into rings.
2. Mix bread crumbs with salt, pepper, dried dill and smoked paprika powder. Whisk the eggs.
3. Roll each onion ring in egg, flour, then again in egg and bread crumbs.
4. Put some oil on a baking sheet and place onion rings.
5. Preheat the oven 175C and bake for 30 min. Serve with your favourite dip ( I generally mix mayonaise and ketchup)! Enjoy!!!

Chicken rolls

A few days ago I had a conversation at work about fast food and all my workmates came to a conclusion that I am a healthy food freak! Well, I took it as a compliment and tried to prove that even the unhealthiest snack can be turned into much healthier one. The Internet is loaded with advice about leading healthy way of life. Just it needs to be taken into practice. Unfortunately, healthy eating is still too far for me. But I'm trying. I don't like snacking around with crisps and if I go to Burger King, I go just for ice-creams. Though on a day like yesterday I enjoy a snack like that - fajita filling rolled in phyllo dough. Fast-oily-but-delicious and I wouldn't say very unhealthy!

What we need:

1 sheet of phyllo dough cut into big triangles ( I buy circular phylo and cut into 4 triangles)

1 chicken breast, cut in slices
1 onion, sliced
1 carrot, cut in stripes
1 red pepper
5 mushrooms
some chilli
salt and pepper to taste
coriander seeds
cumin
olive oil

What we do:

1. Cut all the vegetables and chicken and fry slowly in a pan with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and add spices.
2. When the filling is ready, take phyllo triangle roll the filling in.
3. Fry in a bit of oil on both sides.
4. Serve with your favourite salad. Enjoy!!!

August fruit crumble

August is a pleasing month which gives us the tasties peaches, plums, nectarines and many other lovely fruit. So last Saturtay we were so overwhelmed by these fruit that we bought far too much. By Wednesday some of the fruit started to loose their looks, that is why I decided to go with fruit crumble. I love crumbles because it's not a real pie or cake, so by loading baking dish with fruit and just some crumble on the top it makes me feel a bit better... Only if you don't add extra ice-cream... But I had to add as it's a hot day in Istanbul again...

What we need:

( I made quite a small crumble, but if you have more mouths to please, double ingredients)

for crumbles:

3 tbsp of brown sugar
2 tbsp of homemade vanilla sugar
1 teaspoon of cinammon
2 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of corn flour
2 tbsp of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder

fruit for filling:

2 peaches
4 plums
2 nectarines
1 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of homemade vanilla sugar

Wht we have to do:

1. With a fork or hands mix butter with sugar, vanilla sugar, cinammon. Then add corn flour, flour abd baking powder. Make everything into a ball and put in a fridge for 30 min.

2. Brush baking dish with butter and slice the fruit. Add vanilla sugar and pieces of butter.

3. Take the dough and crumble with hands or with a grater.

4. Pre-heat the oven 180C and bake for 30 min until crumbles get golden brown and the fruit juice is bubbling.

5. Serve with ice-cream. Enjoy!!!

Aubergine ( Eggplant) parmigiana

I found the recipe in Jamie Oliver's website and I loved the simplicity of this recipe and I knew that it would be perfect for our meatless dinner. I cannot say that I've never made anything similar as it is typical Mediterannian cuisine dish and aubergine/eggplant is always in my fridge. But I loved the idea of putting cheese and bread crumbles on the top which made very crunchy top and garlic and fresh tomato sauce made a great combination with eggplant. I really loved the dish and as my husband said, 'I can eat it every day!'

What we need:
2 large firm aubergines
olive oil
1 onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp dried oregano
4 fresh ripe tomatoes
salt and black pepper
a large handful of fresh basil
2-3 large handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 handfuls of dried breadcrumbs
a little fresh oregano

What we have to do:
1. Remove the stalks from the aubergines, slice them up into 1cm thick slices, and put to one side.
2. Add the onion, garlic and dried oregano into a pan with olive oil and cook for 10 minutes, until the onion is soft and the garlic has a tiny bit of colour
3. Remove tomato skins, carefully squeeze out the pips and cut up the flesh. Add the tomato flesh ( or tinned tomatoes) to the onion, garlic and oregano. Give the mixture a good stir, then put a lid on the pan and simmer slowly for 15 minutes. When the tomato sauce is reduced and sweet, season it carefully with salt, pepper and add the basil. You can leave the sauce chunky or you can purée it.
4. Grill or fry the aubergines on both sides.
5. Put in caserrole dish a small layer of tomato sauce, then some grated Parmesan, followed by a single layer of aubergines. Repeat these layers until you’ve used all the ingredients up, finishing with a little sauce and another good sprinkling of Parmesan. Finally, toss the breadcrumbs in olive oil with a little freshly chopped oregano and sprinkle them on top of the Parmesan.

6. Pre-heat the oven 190C and bake for 20-30 min until it's bubbling and gonden brown on the top.
7. It can be served hot or cold. Enjoy!!!

Fig and Brie Panini with turkey ham

When I saw this panini recipe in Closet Cooking with beautiful figs poping out with beautifully melted brie, I knew that I want to try it. So after our weekly shopping in a street market, I brought several kilos of figs and after enjoying them for a while I understood that now it a very good time for the panini. Well, I couldn't put 2 figs into my sandwich as they were falling over, that's why I used one and it was still perfect. Well, it doen't look SOOOOO mouthwatering as in Closet Cooking but still it tasted great. Savoury and sweet flavours went really well and I'll definitely make it some other day!!!

What we need:

2 slices of bread
1 fig
40 gr brie
2 slices of turkey ham
olive oil

What we have to do:

1. Make the sandwich by putting all the ingredients between te slices of bread and brush the outsides with olive oil.
2. Grill until the brie is nice and melted and the bread is golden brown.

Fettuccini muffins

This dish can be served as a side dish but it's a great dish just by itself and very simple to make, plus muffin shape make them nice to look at!!!

What we need:

400 gr of your favourite pasta
2 eggs
100 gr of cheese
100ml of milk
1 red and green pepper
60 gr of pine nuts
oil for frying
butter
chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste


What we have to do:

1. Boil pasta. Then drain.
2. Fry peppers and pine nuts with some oil. Season with salt.
3. Mix eggs, milk and half of the cheese. Mix in peppers with pine nuts, chopped parsley and pasta. With a spoon and a fork transfer into buttered muffin tray. Sprinkle some extra cheese.
4. Preheat the oven 180C and bake for 15-20 min until light golden. Serve!!!

Beef meatballs with curried vegetables

Ramadan has just started in Turkey!!! Most people still follow fasting tradition, but when the sun goes down, the fun time starts. Yesterday evening I was just going to my evening class during 'iftar' ( dinner after the sunset) and it was so unusual to see almost empty streets, when I was passing some apartments I could just hear fork and knife sounds. Yes, Ramadan in Turkey has some magical spirit!!! Though I am Catholic but I love this time of the year... when everyone tries to give up bad habits, or just be a better person for a while. It's like Christmas for me... just without snow... And one more thing I am really enjoying during Ramadan is preparing 'iftar' dinner or visiting our friends. This gives me opportunity to try traditional Turkish home-made food. Every woman tries to cook their best dishes during that time!!! And definitely I get inspiration for my future dishes. This is my first 'iftar' dish this season - beef meatballs with curried vegetables which I served with fettuccini muffins.

What we need:

500 gr of ground beef
chopped thyme and mint
1 egg
2 tbsps of bread crumbs
1 tbsp of yogurt
salt and pepper
some ground cumin
some smoked paprika
oil for frying

for curried vegetables:

1 big carrot
1 onion
1 red and green pepper
2 peeled and chopped tomatoes
1 teaspoon of corn starch
1 teaspoon of curry powder
salt and pepper
thyme
150 ml of stock

What we have to do:

1. Mix meatball ingredients and shape balls. Fry in oil for 4-6 min on each side ( depending on the size of the meatballs).
2. Grate or slice the carrot, onion, peppers and fry in oil, then add chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper, curry powder, thyme. Simmer for a few minutes and then add cornstarch and vegetable or beef stock. Mix it well and put the meatballs into curried vegetables. Simmer for 5 min and serve! Enjoy!!!

Chickpea and three peppers curry

At home I have a rule that we shouldn't eat meat every day. So if one day we have any kind of meat, the other day I will definitely make a vegetaran dish. Anyway, I try to go with a vegetarian dish as often as I feel like! And my family really loves curries, so this curry was an easy choise!

What we need:

2 glasses ( 1 glass equals 220ml) of boiled chickpeas
1 big onion
1 jelapeno pepper
1 sweet pepper
1 green Turkish pepper ( I have no idea how they are really called! Just long green peppers some with sweet and bitter flavour, others are almost as hot as chillies)
salt and pepper
2 tbsp of olive oil
3 tbsp of curry sauce
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of sugar
1/2 lemon juice
bay leave
1 glass of vegetable stock and 1 can ( 200ml) of tomato juice or finely chopped tomato
some parsley
boiled rice for serving

What we have to do:

1. Chop onion and peppers and fry in a pot with some oil.
2. Add chickpeas, spices, curry sauce and mustard, vegetable stock and tomato juice and simmer for 20 min. If you want thicker curry, you can crash some chickpeas.
3. Add some chopped parsley and lemon juice. Simmer for 2 min and serve with boiled rice. Enjoy!!!

Melon Sorbet

Another hot day in Istanbul finally made me make sorbet. I was postponing any 'ice-cream' delight to some other day as it seemed so complicated. But this time I decided to please myself without going to any store just from what I have. So I read several sorbet recipes and gave it a try! Proud to say that it was a great try!!!

What we need:

1/2 melon, peeled and cored (about 500ml puree)
5 tbsp sugar
100 ml water
two leaves of mint ( pureed with melon)

What we have to do:

1. Cut the melon into chunks and puree in a blender with sugar and the water until smooth. Taste, then add up to 2 tbsp additional sugar, if desired.
2. Put puree into a freezer-friendly dish and put it into a freezer for 3 hours. Mix it with a fork every half an hour, then leave it again for 2 hours and serve!!!

Tuna fish and zucchini pie

I love tuna and I always look for different ways of enjoying it. At local shopping centres it's almost impossible to find fresh tuna, that's why I have to enjoy canned. Yet I'm loving any flavour I get from it!!!

What we need:

for pie crust:

400 ml of flour
150 gr of cold butter
1,5 teaspoon of salt and sugar
2-3 tbsp of cold water or milk

for filling:

1 small zucchini
1 big onion
parsley and dill
2 cans of tuna fish
1-2 tomatoes
thyme
salt and pepper taste
ground bay leave
3 eggs
100 ml of milk or cream
100 gr of cheese
some olive oil

What we have to do:

1. Mix flour and butter, salt and sugar in a food processor until crumbled. Then add water or milk. Make it into a ball, wrap it up into plastic and put it into a fridge for 30-40 min.
2. Fry zucchini and onion in some olive oil. Add salt and pepper. When veggies are done, drain if there is too much juice. Add canned tuna , chopped parsley and dill, ground bay leave and thyme. Mix it.
3. In a bowl whisk eggs and milk and half of the cheese. Mix it in the tuna with veggies.
4. Take the pie crust and roll out a pad. Then fork it and add the filling. Sprinkle some more cheese on the top and add sliced tomatoes.
5. Pre-heat the oven 190C and bake for 40-45 min until the pie is golden brown. Enjoy with a bowl of fresh salad!

No-bake cake with strawberries / Nekeptas tortukas su braškėm

I believe everyone has experienced the feeling that cookies spent too much time at home and noone really fancies eating them. So I had to make something up by adding cream and strawberries. A great combo!!!

No Bake cake with strawberries

( serves 6)

What we need:

200 gr any cookies or crackers ( my cookies were in a shape of a cow! :) )
300 ml cream
2 tbsp gelatin
1 glass of strawberries ( it can be even more)
3 tbsp of sugar
a bit of lemon zest and lemon juice

What we have to do:

Whisk cream until foam with sugar, lemon zest and juice.
 Pour 3 tbsp of warm water over gelatin and let it soak for 10 min. Then melt the gelatin completely in a microwave oven or over a steaming water pot. When it cools a bit add to the cream.
Put the cookies and half of the strawberries into the cream.
Put cling film into any bowl or tray and pour cookies and cream mix. Put it into a fridge for 2-3 hours.
Decorate with fresh strawberries before serving.
You can substitute the strawberries with any other summer fruit.
Enjoy!!!

Nekeptas tortas su braškėm

( 6 asmenims)

Reikia:

200 gr sausainių ( manieji buvo karvės formos sausainiukai :) )
300ml grietinėlės
2 v.š. želatinos
1 st braškių, nors gali būti ir daugiau
3 v.š. cukraus
citrinos žievelės ir sulčių

Gaminam:

Želatiną užpilti 3 v.š. šilto vandens. Leiskite išbrinkti 10 min. Tada ištirpinkite mirkrobangėje arba virš puodo su verdančiu vandeniu.
Grietinėlę išplakite su cukrumi, citrinos žievele ir sultimis iki standumo. Supilkite atvėsusią želatiną. Išmaišykite.
Sudėkite sausainius ir beveik visas braškes. Išmaišykite, kad sausainiai pasidengtu grietinėle.
Stačiakampę formą arba apvalią ištieskite maistine plėvele ir supilkite visą sausainių ir grietinėlės masę. Dėkite į šaldytuvą 2-3 valandom. Išėmę papuoškite braškėm.
Vietoje braškių galite naudoti ir kitas vasaros uogas. Skanaus!

Eggplant with spicy garlic sausage ( suçuk)

A few years ago I say one cookery show where they made kind of eggplant steaks. And the idea of rolling eggplant into cornflour really grabbed me as it protects the eggplant from soaking too much oil. So this time I made a quick fix-mix and this is what turned out! Delicious!

What we need:


1 big eggplant
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp of corn flour
1 tomato
50 gr of smoked garlic sausage
50gr of cheese
dill or parsley for garnish
oil for frying

What we have to do:

1. Cut the eggplant horizontally and season with salt and set aside for 1 hour. Then wash it and roll in corn flour and fry until light brown.
2. Then on a baking sheet place one slice of fried eggplant, then put tomato slices, then again eggplant, then sausage, eggplant and tomatoes and cheese on the top. Season with pepper and bake in the oven until cheese melts. Enjoy!!!

Cottage cheese pie with rasins

This is another traditional Lithuanian dish that I used to enjoy most of my childhood Sundays. Cottage cheese is a very common ingredient in Lithuanian cuisine and Lithuanians have numerous ways of preparing it. And all of them are absolutely delicious!!!

What we need:

500gr of cottage cheese

2 eggs

150gr of sugar

4 tbsp of semolina

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

200gr of rasins

0,5 teaspoon of baking powder

80 ml of cream

a pinch of salt

butter for a baking tray

What we have to do:

1. Use a fork to smash cottage cheese, add sugar, cream, semolina, lemon zest, baking powder, rasins and egg yoks. 

2. Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt and carefully mix in cottage cheese batter.

3. Butter baking tray and sprinkle some semolina, then put the batter. 

4. Bake in a 200C oven until golden brown for about 30 min. Serve with cream, jam or yogurt. This time I served with homemade black current jam.

Holiday in Lithuania

My last holiday was special for several reasons. Firstly, it was the longest time I spent in Lithuania since I'd moved to Turkey ( even 4 weeks!), secondly, it was the first time when my husband visited my native areas, that's why we spent most of the time travelling round Lithuania. Even now when I look at the photos we took, it's quite difficult to choose those which would show the beauty of my favourite spots in Lithuania ( we took more than 2000 photos!!!). Anyway, below you can see collages of the most favourite places for my husband and me!!!

My husband joined me in Lithuania 2 weeks later but still we managed to look around, even if it ment spending much time on the road. That's the advantage of a small country - you can go and come back home ( to my mum's pace) the same day!!! So Lithuania is just a bit more than 65 thousand square kilometres with a population of 3,48 million people, almost 540 thousand live in the capital city  Vilnius.

The first place we visited was the Hill of Crosses situated in the north west part of Lithuania, about 8 km from a city of Siauliai. I would say that this hill standing in a plain field shows Lithuanians' Christian devotion and national identity. From 1944 to Lithuanian's independence in 1991 this hill of Crosses was leveled several times by Soviet Union Officials, still everytime crossed were rebuilt by worshipers as a proof of nationalism. Nowadays this area is being visited by many pilligrims and each day hundreeds of new crosses are hanged or built. 

Another place really worth visiting is Palanga. It is a town on the west of Lithuania and it is known for its sandy beaches and nightlife. But we went there for other reasons. First of all we visited Amber Museum  which is surrounded by Palanga Botanical Park with its lovely trees, ponds and statues. Amber museum is housed on the estate of Tiskeviciai palace. The exposition includes numerous amber pieces many of them have inclusions of plants or insects. Not far from the Amber museum, we visted Birutė's Hill. It is the highest dune at the seaside in Palanga and it is believed that in 14-16 centuried this area was used as pagan sanctuary and observatory. Birutė (died in 1382 or in 1389) was the second wife of Kestutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and mother of Vytautas the Great. The story of her marriage to Kęstutis still is a romantic legend in Lithuania.It is said that Birutė was a priestess and served the Pagan gods by guarding the sacred fire. When Kęstutis heard of her beauty, he visited the shrine and asked her to marry him but recieved a refusal because she had promised the gods to guard her virginity until her death. Kęstutis then took her by force to Trakai and threw a big wedding.  A more recent place to visit in Palanga is Palanga Bridge which is a perfect place to watch the sunset or sunrise. And of course the liveliest street of Palanga - Basanavicius street with all its bars, restaurants, cafes and many other things.

Straight from Palanga we went to Klaipeda and stayed there overnight. The other morning we headed for Smiltyne and Nida. Smiltyne, Juodkrante and Nida are beautiful places next to Klaipeda just over the Curonian lagoon. So we took a ferry got into Curronian Split ( Kursiu Nerija) which is one of the most amazing places in Lithuania. Our first stop was Lithuanian Sea Museum and Dolphinarium with lots of sea animals including seals, sharks, pinguins and of course wonderful Dolphin show!!! Later on we moved to Nida which is about 43 km from Smiltyne and we had to cross some lovely fishermen villages nowadays popular with holidaymakers. In Nida it was great to see wonderful sand dunes, lovely little holiday houses and of course our cold Baltic Sea!!!

If you ever go to Lithuania, another place that should be visited is the Open Air Museum in Rumsiskes. This is a place where you can really experience the life during the last two centuries. The exibition of this museum include dwelling houses, farmstead buildings and folk art monuments transferred from all ethnographic regions of Lithuania - Aukštaitija, Žemaitija, Suvalkija and Dzūkija, and reassembled in a 175-ha area, in a beautiful location near the Kaunas Man-made Sea and Praviena rivulet. During the school year many educational programmes are organized to help to learn how cheese was produced, how clay pottery was made or how a scarf can be weaved. It's really worth going there for a day and making a picknic in any lovely shadow. And that was exactly what we did!

I think it is enough for today about our travellings. Another reason is that next time I'm going to write about my favourite city - Vilnius and in there there are numerous things to see and say... So to be continued...

Back from Lithuania with potato pancakes

Last four weeks I spent in Lithuania enjoying mild summer, natural beauty that my native areas can offer. So I decided to write the first after-holiday entry with a Lithuanian dish that every Lithuanian is enjoying when the first new potatoes come.

What we need:

1 kg of peeled potatoes
a pinch of salt and pepper
1 egg
1 onion
oil for frying
100 ml of sour cream
50 gr of cottage cheese
dill and parsley
some smoked salmon ( optional, just added for some smoky flavour)

What we have to do:

1. Find the smalled grater and grate potatoes. ( Every Lithuanian home has a special blender/ grinder)
2. Add salt and pepper, some chopped dill and onion, 1 egg. Mix it well.
3. Pre-heat oil in a pan and add one spoonful of potato batter and let it fry until golden brown and then turn it upside down. Then remove from the pan and serve. Continue until potato batter is finished.
4. Mix cottage cheese ( or cream cheese) with sour cream, add some salt and chopper parsley and dill. Place some of this mixture on a pancake and garnish with some smoked salmon and some herbs. Enjoy!!!

Skanaus!!!