How to cook spinach?

Of course, there are many ways but this is one of my favourites! I like cooking lovely purslane in a similar way to this as well. We need to wait for it to come into season I’m afraid:)

1. Wash the spinach, leave in a bowl full of water and a bit of apple vinegar as it cleans the bacteria.
2. If you’re using brown rice, boil it in a pan with water for 10 minutes to soften it a bit.  If you’re using white rice, skip this step.
3. Peel and chop up a big onion.
4. Peel and chop 2 or 3 tomatoes (or do it the easy way – buy some chopped tomatoes).
5. Heat some olive oil in a pan for a bit, then add the onions.
6. When they turn a bit yellowish, add the tomatoes.
7. Then add the spinach and stir well. Don’t be scared to use the whole pack! It will look like too much, but it will reduce a lot.
8. Then add a half a mug of rice to this mixture. (I like it with a lot of rice, but it depends on your choice).
9. Then add 1 or 2 mugs of warm water depending on how thick the mixture is. Stir them altogether, the water level shouldn’t be too high above the spinach – just slightly over…
10. Cook it for 10 more minutes then serve with a drizzle of lemon juice and a bit of yoghurt on the side.
    

Ember roasted Aubergine Pate

Aubergine is one of the main dishes of Mediterranean cuisine I suppose, but mainly an Ottoman heritage… It is native to India and had a long journey all around the world and grows pretty much everywhere.  Once I read on a book that there are 100 different ways of cooking aubergine in Ottoman cuisine. I am not sure I can make it that much but I will try to add new ones as I cook.

Funny enough, it is rich in nicotine, but it does not make you a passive smoker, so no worries! But I vividly remember when I quit smoking I adored aubergine…(Quit fags have aubergine instead?)

This recipe is particularly nice in summer, when you have picnics. We can call it `picnic aubergine`, as it is a very nice meze, you can have it like hommus, with some pitta bread or any bread really or as a side dish to your meat, sausages, or almost as a main course for piscaterians like myself.

Right let`s begin then:

Serves 4

What do I need to buy?

2 big aubergines
half a pack of feta cheese (if you don`t have enough you can replace it with some yoghurt)
3 – 4 cloves of crushed garlic
dill (optional could use parsley as well or may be coriander? It is all up to your taste)
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil

How do I cook it?

1. The best way to cook this is to have hot embers of course or a fireplace but if not, you can grill the aubergines till the skin turns dark and literally burns. But score through the skin a few lines so that the inside will cook better. (I would say grill about 20 – 25 minutes, but check occasionally as you might make the smoke alarm go off like mine!)
2. Remove the skins, don`t worry about little bits of leftover skins as they give nice smoked taste.
3. Put the flesh in a bowl, then add the crumbled feta, crushed garlic, more than half of lemon juice, a little bit of olive oil and half a spoonful of yoghurt and stir them well. Feta should become almost invisible, you can mash them if it is easier.
4. Add some chopped dill or parsley, have a taste if it is not lemony enough add more.
5. Serve on a flat plate topped with dill or parsley and possibly black olives.

Enjoy!

Spinach and Feta Borek – Filo Pastries

Yummy! I have never ever rejected anyone offering borek. If you want to find out why, try this recipe. It is perfect for picnics as it is edible hot or cold, any time of the day.

You can call anything cooked with filo pastries “borek” actually, but this dish is cooked happily in the Balkans as burek, in Greece as spanakopita (with spinach and feta), in Israel as burekas (with cheese).

You can fill your borek with anything you want, but usually cheese and spinach is used.  Flat parsley or minced meat are also good options.

Let’s begin:

• 500g filo pastry
• 1 glass of milk
• 5 spoonfuls of olive oil or butter
• 3 eggs
• some sunflower seeds or black seeds
• 250g feta cheese
• 1 pack of fresh spinach leaves (alternatively a big bunch of parsley)

1. Spread some butter onto your cooking tray, this will stop your borek from sticking the tray.
2. Filo pastry is usually sold in a round shape so leave one sheet aside and cut the rest to fit to your tray.
3. Mix your butter or olive oil, milk, and eggs all together in a bowl.  Stir well.
4. Put the sheet of filo pastry in your tray, leave the corners out, you will close them at the top once you finish layering.
5. Spread the oil-milk-egg mixture with a brush over each sheet, and put each sheet on top of the other.  Use half of the sheets.
6. Soften the spinach in a pan quickly, cool it down and mix with crumbled feta cheese. (if you use parsely, you do not need to cook it.)
7. Pour this mixture onto your filo pastry layers in the tray.
8. Then, carry on putting the filo pastries one by one over this mixture and each time do not forget to spread some butter-milk-egg mixture onto the sheets otherwise they will become dry.
9. When there is no filo pastry left, cover the corners of the first big sheet onto your borek and spread the rest of the butter-milk-egg mixture on top.

10. Sprinkle some seeds over it.

11. Cook it for about 20 minutes in the middle of a pre-heated oven at 200C, until the top and the bottom gets brownish. It is delicious eaten with a spoonful of yoghurt.

Bon appetit!

How to make butternut squash taste delicious?

Well, easy, having tried this recipe, butternut squash is no longer an unknown! Everytime I saw this yellow funny shaped thing in the market, I wanted to buy, but had no idea how to cook except in a soup. Eureka! It is a recipe Ebru suggested but she says it is some well known chefs recipe, so as soon as I learn, I will let you know. (Now I can confirm that it is a recipe from Hugh Fearnley – Whittingstall )

Lets start now, ingredients for 4 people:

two equal sized butternut squash
feta cheese
parsley
olive oil
garlic cloves 2- 3
paprika, black pepper, salt

1. Halve both butternut squashes into two so, now you have for pieces.

2. Crush the garlic cloves then put some olive oil paprika, black pepper and the crushed garlic in a bowl and mix them well then brush this mixture onto the butternut squash.

3. Heat the oven to about 200 c then put the butternut squash halves onto a tray, leave for about 15 minutes. Check them with a fork if they are not soft enough, leave more.

4. Once they are softened, take the tray out, with the help of a knife, scoop out the flesh of the squash then mash it with feta. After that, add the mixture inside the butternut squash skin.

Tabbouleh – KISIR

“If you were leaving for a desert island which three mezes would you take along with you?” The reporter asks. Lebanese cook does not hesitate: “Tabbouleh, tabbouleh and tabbouleh.”

This was on BBC radio the other day while I was about to start making tabbouleh or Kısır as it is said in Turkish. And I do believe that it is one of the easiest and tastiest meze i ever had. Also very healthy as it is cooked with bulgar wheat.

It is one of the dishes my mom used to do for tea when her friends were coming over. In Lebanon, they like it is more like parsley salad. which I quite like as well. Ok, let’s begin then!

What do I need to buy?

• 1 Cup Bulgur Wheat (fine grained you can find two types of bulgur wheat either fine or for rice)
• 1/2 Cup olive oil
• 1/2 Cup lemon juice
• 2 – 3 tsbp of tomato and pepper paste
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
• 1 cucumber
• 1 bunch flat parsley
• 1 bunch mint
• 5 -6 spring onions
• 2-3 ripe tomatoes finely chopped (optionally peeled)
• pomegranate sauce (optional and could be found in middle eastern shops)

How do I cook it then?

1. Cover the wheat in boiling water and let stand for five minutes it will absorb all the water
2. mix lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper then add half of it over the wheat.
3. Chop the spring onions, parsley, mint, tomatoes and cucumber.
4. Mix all the vegetables with bulgur wheat while stirring add the rest of the oil- lemon juice mixture.
5. If you can find some pomegranate sauce this is the time to add it. It has a sour taste so It is important not to add a lot if you put lemon juice already.
6. Refrigerate few hours but you can have it without refrigerating.
7. Tabbouleh is ready, you can have it with some iceberg lettuce a well, enjoy!