Özlem's tagliatella pasta recipe -Italian Style

A totally delicious and Yet ..if u r on diet u might wanna consider this recipe as ur last option. Cooked and photo snapped by Özlem. Eaten by simah with great gusto (hey!! there was shrimp inside it.I could not resist!!).. A must try..

Ingredients
- 1 pack tagliatella type of pasta
- 1 pack of frozen shrimp
- 1 small can corn
- chopped fresh mint about 3-4 tablespoon
- 4-5 counts redpepper(sliced)
- 1 small box thick cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- barilla basil sauce

Preparation:
- cook the pasta in plenty of boiling salty water
  abour 7-8 minutes. It should be tender...
- heat the oil in a saucepan and cook the shrimp until
  their color turn into pink
- add the sliced redpepper and cook
- add the thick cream. It will be juicy.wait for 1-2
  minutes
- add chopped mint
- add corn,stir it.
- add cooked pasta to the creamy sauce
- add basil sauce.
- toss until well coated.

afiyet olsun...

Afife Teyze's Apple Pie

Among the first thing I loved when I came to istanbul was this pie.Afife teyze made it.And here I am, presenting her recipe for us all to try...This is not the picture of the pie i cooked for yenge that day...I didnt have halil's telephone at that time.. Hope u all dont mind. I will replace it with the real picture the next time i cook apple pie.

Ingredients

Green sour apples (granny smith) -mayhos tadi?-around 6?
125g butter
refined sugar (pudra sekeri) -250 g "1 packet is enough i think"
2 tablespoon rice flour
1 egg
1 turkish coffee cup water
1 packet baking powder (2 teaspoons?)
Flour (10-15 tablespoon-depending on the dough..am not so sure)
Cinnamon for sprinkling
refined sugar for sprinkling

Steps
-add all
-make a dough
-divide the dough into 2 parts
-roll one part (to make the lower crust)
-slice the apples
-sprinkle some cinnamon all over it
-sprinkle 2-8 tablespoonof refined sugar
-roll the other half of the dough (to make the upper crust)
-make holes all over the upper part of the crust with a fork
-Bake it in the oven..190 celcius till golden brown
-Let the pie cool down on the rack
-turn it upside down
-sprinkle refined sugar on top of it..The sour taste of apple matches pretty well with the sugar

Note:
It is important to make the holes all over the apple pie as the apples will soften and liquid will evaporate
Dont forget the water!! If u have read my blog-the quill of my heart- u will understand why..
If u dont have granny smith apples...use the normal apple..it doesnt matter..

Funda's Green Lentil Soup

This is the recipe as written by Funda...


Ingredients
2 glasses of green lentils
1 medium size onion
Olive oil
1 tblspoon of tomato paste
1/2 glass of pasta
salt
dried mint

Steps
1.  Soak the green lentils into hot water for an hour.
2.  Boil them until they fully cooked.
3.  Get another pot. Add some olive oil.
4.  Cut an onion into dices, and add into oil.
5.  Stir occasionally until the onions get softer
    - not more than 2 minutes.
6.  Add one tblsp. of tomato paste. Stir again.
7.  Drain the lentils. And add into the onion pot.
8.  Prepare some hot water.
9.  Add into the pot to cover the lentils.
10. When it boils, add some type of thin pasta (sehriye)
   or small dough pieces.
11. Add some salt and cook until all the ingredients become soft.
12. Before turning off the heat, add some dried mint.
13. It's ready! Easy, tasty and very nutricious!

ŞiŞ Tavuk

Ingredients
boneless chicken (goğus, kuşbaşı vesaire)
onion
olive oil
salt
black pepper
dried mint
dried oregano
sticks (as seen in the pic above)

Steps
-cut the chicken into small slices
-dice the onion
-add the rest of the ingredients
-let it marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours..
-put the meat thru the sticks
-grill it till cooked


Note
Other ingredients such as dried red chilli can be used.
Other spices such as cummin or curry can also be added..everything depends on you.
The marination process will tenderize the meat making it soft to cook. Time of cooking wil
lessen the longer the meat is marinated.
This is a simple food to cook. Very healthy and good for diet.
Happy cooking!!
l

Glossery of Terms and useful information in cooking

These are some terms useful to know when reading the recipe books.

Process
To use either a food processor or a blender to finely chop or puree ingredients.

Bake Blind
To bake a pastry case,usually containing baking paper and beans or rice,before filling to ensure a crisp finish

Puree
To process or blend ingredients to a smooth consistency

Dust
To lightly coat ,usually just before serving and often with icing sugar or coca powder

Rub in
To rub butter or other fat into flour,using the fingertips

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1 cup coconut,desiccated = 90g
1 cup chocolate, grated = 125g
1 cup cornflour = 185g
1 cup sugar -caster =250g
-granulated =250g
-icing = 125g
1 cup sultanas = 75g

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

International Glossary

They are basically the same thing... just different names..

cornflour - cornstarch
prawns - shrimp
eggplant - aubergine
spring onion - scallion
zuchinni - courgette
bicarbonate of soda - baking soda
caster sugar - superfine sugar
choc bits - chocolate chips
glace fruit - candied fruits
icing sugar - confectioners sugar
plain flour - all purpose flour
swiss roll - jelly roll
pouring cream - thin cream
sponge fingers - lady fingers

-------------to be continued in the same blog page --------------

Sosisli Milfoy Borek

Ingredients

rough Puff pastry (Milfoy hamuru)
hot dog (kokteyl sosis)
a bit of ketchup
egg yolk (mixed with a bit of water) for glazing
black sesame (corek otu)

Steps

-cut the square puff pastry into the shape of the triangle.
-spread ketchup evenly on it.
-put the hot dog on the pastry
-roll it over.
-glace it up with egg yolk
-sprinkle over the black sesame seed.
-bake it in the oven 200-230 degree Celcius for..?? until it is cooked.


note:
-the size of the milfoy/puff pastry depends on you.
-the shape of the borek depends on you. This is just a suggestion.
-u can add in the other type of filling like spinach filling, meat filling or cheese filling.
-cooking has specific general rules which u have to obey but the creativity is entirely your own..

Afiyet Olsun

Ozlem's Practical Pizza Recipe

Ozlem made pizza the other day and gave us a few slices
which Hatice relished all...
I asked her for the recipe...
I thought we can all benefit from it.
Here is the recipe as written by ozlem...

Preparation:

- go out and buy pizza dough (1 ekmek hamuru) from the
firin (bread maker shop)
- with sprinkled flour,give it a shape of pizza
- put dough to oiled pizza pan
- spread tomato sauce over the pizza dough,sprinkle
some oregano or whatever you want
- put grated cheese (sutas taze kasar that was what I used)
- then add in whatever toppings you want ( I usually like
bellpepper,mushrooms,sucuk,sosis,zeytin)
- again put a little bit of (bir avuc kadar) grated cheese
over all of them
- put it in oven at 200 degrees; about 20-25 minutes or
until done...

Pogaca

Ingredients

Flour
1 packet butter (250g)-softened at room tempreture
1 glass yogurt
2 small packet of baking powder (or 4 teaspooons?)
1 full egg
1 egg yolk (for glazing)
salt
black sesame (corek otu)
cooking aid: dough mixer

Fillings:

A. White cheese
-white cheese, a bit of lor cheese, egg yolk, sliced parsley (very bit)
-all mixed together

B. Minced meat
-fry a very thinly diced onion till soft
-add in the minced meat till cooked

Steps

-add butter,yogurt,baking powder,salt, and egg.
-add the flour bit by bit..at first starts with 2 glasses of flour and adding..
-mix them all to forma dough. If u have dough mixer,use it. If not use the hands.
-Keep adding the flour until the dough is quite soft (the softness of the soft tip of ur ears).
-keep kneading.
-take a small pice of ithe dough.
-roll it up in circle
-make a hole in the middle
-fill it up with the desired filling.
-close the hole up.
-put in on the cooking tray.
-glaze it up with egg yolk mixed with a few drops of water.
-sprinkle the black sesame on top.
-bake it in the oven till yellowish-brownish color (see the pic above)


Note:
-All has to be done within half an hour since after that the baking powder effect will not be total
-The filling can be with potato filling and spinach filling. Since I dont like them, I dont bother to put the filling recipe here.
-If u want to make a crunchy pogaca, lessen the flour. Then it will be somehow buscuit like. But if u want to make it almost like sort of bread, add more flour. If i am not mistaken it is usually 250g butter to 1 kilo flour?
-mixing the ingredients by hand is cool..but the stickiness after that is ouch... i do prefer the mixer at least till the wet and dry ingredients have mixed properly.
-the yogurt is of the turkish yogurt. It is thick in consistency that you can cut it with a spoon. Not the watery yogurt normally found in Malaysia or USA.
-The shape of pogaca is optional. The shape can be round, oval...any shape u like..depending on ur creativity. The typical pogaca is round of course...but there is no harm being creative,isnt it?

Bon Apetit!

Kapuska

Ingredients:

1 white cabbage (beyaz lahana)
domates salcasi (or 5 or 6 fresh tomatoes - grated)
onion
salt
pepper
dried mint
oil
2 greyfruits(squeeze the juice)
water (1-2 glasses-depends on you)
red chilli pepper powder (kirmizi biber)

Preparation:
-slice the cabbage in medium size
-Dice the onion
-fry it in oil till soften
-add in the salca or grated tomatoes
-add in sliced cabbage
-add in of water
-add in salt and pepper to taste
-add in dried mint
-cook till the cabbage is soften (first high heat then low heat)
-2 minutes before the heat is turned off, add in the greyfruit juice bit by bit
(the taste depends on you and the size of the cabbage)
-turn the heat off.
-eat it.
-if you like it hot, put a bit of dried red chilli pepper powder (kirmizi biber) on top

towards the end of her life, anne used fresh green onions (taze sogan) instead of normal onion.Hatice loves it without the red chilli pepper. Halil eats it with yogurt and no gravy. I love it with loads of gravy and loads of red chilli pepper..

eat it anyway you like. The presence of greyfruit gives kapuska the sour taste and vitamin C. If you dont have greyfruit, you may try using maybe lime or lemon? I have never tried it. But you may..tell me how it goes...

Marul

Clean the leaves properly. Sprinkle with salt. Eat it. AS simple as ABC...