The Global Kitchen

Well I hear it's going to be cooling down here. Tomorrow it's supposed to be a brisk 103 instead of the 110 degrees we've been having. So hopefully I'll be able to fire up my oven soon!

I just can't seem to get away from the Turkish recipes! I was drawn in by the picture of this recipe although, mine didn't look anything like the food photographers. I think food stylists and editors cheat.

The kafta tasted like meat loaf to me. She gives a lot of ideas on other spices to add, which I'll definitely do since I have leftover meat. I have some fresh mint that needs to be used. Other suggestions are cinnamon and allspice. Cumin and Corriander, or red pepper flakes.

Kafta is usually rolled onto a ball, flattened and grilled on a skewer. You can also make "sliders" like this recipe.

When I make them again I'm going to grill them on my cast iron grill pan instead of broiling so they'll get a sear on them.

This dish was invented in Turkey by a man called Iskander in the 1920's and is a mainstay of Turkish Kebab houses.

The sauce and meat are served hot and the yogurt should be at room temperature.

Kofta Meshweya

1 1/2 lbs lamb with the shoulder with some fat, ground into a pate. (I just bought ground lamb)
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
2 medium onions, finely chopped

Mix.

Yogurtlu Kebab
(Kafta with Tomato Sauce and Yogurt)
From The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden

1 lb tomatoes peeled and chopped
4 tbs olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1 tsp sugar
1 pita bread
Ground Lamb Kafta mixture from above recipe
2 1/2 cups plain whole milk or thick strained yogurt(I bought 2% Greek strained yogurt to cut some fat and calories)
1 tsp Paprika
2-3 tbs toasted pine nuts
2 tbs flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Put tomatoes in a pan with 1 tbs olive oil, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat until they soften.

Toast the pita bread until it is crisp and brek into pieces.

Shape the lamb meat into 12-16 small burgers. Broil, turning once, until they are brown on the outside and pink on the inside.

In a bowl put a quarter of the toasted pita, cover witht the tomato sauce, and top with a layer of yogurt. Mix the paprika and the remaining olive oil and dribble over the yogurt. sprinkle with pine nuts. Top with a kafta burger and sprinkle with parsley.

I promise my next recipe will not be Turkish.

The story behind this dish is that when it was fed to a Muslim Cleric for the first time he swooned either from the sheer pleasure of the dish or from the amount of costly olive oil used. The dish was very very very good but not quite swoon worthy. Maybe if you're a cleric who doesn't eat well.

Anyway I cut the recipe in half. The dish is served at room tempreature as an appetizer but I had it for dinner with a salad and bread. One serving is one eggplant. I really had to restrain myself from eating two. Leftovers need to be brought to room temperature.

The Imam Fainted- Imam Bayildi From The Greatest Dishes by Anya Von Bremzen

6 Slender Japanese eggplants about 7 inches long
salt
4 medium ripe tomatoes
2/3 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
3 medium white onions halved and sliced
12 large garlic cloves,peeled and chopped
1/2 cup lukewarm water
2 heaping tsp sugar
1/3 cup chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
2 tbs lightly toasted pine nuts
lemon wedges

Using a vegetable peeler slice off strips of eggplant skin in one inch intervals for a "striped" effect. Pierce in several places with a small knife. Soak completely submerged in a bowl of water with 1 tbs salt. Place a plate on top of the eggplant to weigh them down. Soak for 30 minutes. Remove, squeeze water out of eggplants and pat dry with a paper towel.

Preheat oven to 350

Halve and seed 2 of the tomatoes and grate on the large holes of a box grater. Discard the skins. Seed and dice the other 2 tomatoes.

Heat 3 tbs of the oil in a large shallow ovenproof casserole or dutch oven. Sautee the onions over medium low heat until softened (about 10 minutes). Stir in the garlic and tomatoes both grated and diced and arrange the eggplants among the onions so they touch the bottom of the pan. Pour in the rest of the olive oil. Cover and cook over medium low heat for 10 minutes urning the eggplants once.

Mix the water and sugar and pour over the eggplants. Salt to taste and place the pot, covered, in the oven. Bake for 35 minutes turning the eggplants every 10 minutes. At the end of cooking all the water should be absorbed and the cooking liquid and tomatoes should be glossy.

Cool the eggplant to warm or room temperature. Cut a slit in each eggplant and stuff with about 1 1/2 tbs of the onion/garlic/tomato mixture draining it on a fork as you stuff.

Transfer the eggplants to a serving platter. Spoon the sauce around them and sprinkle with parsley and pine nuts. Squeeze some of the lemon juice on top.

This Turkish dish is from Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon by Claudia Roden. I love this cookbook. It's beautifully photographed, the recipes are easy and the ingredients are readily accessible at any grocery store or Middle Eastern market. The recipes are also appealing if you're cooking for someone who isn't really adventurous.

This dinner went together easily. Minimal chopping and 2 pots. I cut the recipe in half so I'd have dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. I used thighs. I just cut the skin off, trimmed the fat and cut the meat off the bone. I also cheated and didn't use butter and oil for the chicken. I just used a little bit of butter. And I didn't use as much butter in the rice as the recipe indicated. I also sprinkled it with Zatar and lemon juice.

I had a Japanese eggplant that needed to be used so I brushed it with olive oil and sprinkled it with salt and pepper and served it on the side.

Chicken With Tomato Pilaf (Tavuk Ve Domatesli Pilav)
From Arabesque: A Taste of Morocco, Turkey and Lebanon by Claudia Roden

Serves 4
Pilaf
1 1/2 cups Basmati or long grain rice
1 lb ripe tomatoes, peeled (I didn't peel mine)
1 chicken bouillon cube
2 tsp sugar
salt and black pepper
1/2 stick butter cut into pieces

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs
1 tbs sunflower oil
2 tbs butter
salt and black pepper
2 tbs chopped parsley
quartered lemon or sumac

Soak rice in cold water for a few minute and drain and rinse.
Cut tomatoes into quarters and cut off stem. Puree to a liquid in a food processor. Add enough water to the tomato to make the mixture 2 2/3 cups.

Put the tomato in a sauce pan with crumbled bouillon cube, sugar, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Add rice, stir, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile stir fry chicken in melted butter and oil until browned.

Remove rice from heat and stir in butter pieces until melted.

Pile rice on plate and top with chicken and cilantro. Sprinkle with sumac and lemon juice if desired.