Tomato, vermicelli and parsley soup

Now this soup is very, very easy, it takes not more than 15 – 20 minutes to cook and good for when you have cold (or man’s flu : ) as well.

What do I need to buy?

serves 2- 4 (if it is a main dish then just for two people)

2 – 3 big tomatoes (or if you are rushing, one can of organic chopped tomatoes)
a handful or a bit more vermicelli
(optional mint) blackpepper, red pepper flakes
half a lemon juice
a spoonful of olive oil
half a pack of parsley

1. Chop the tomatoes then put them in a pan and start cooking on medium heat.
2. Pour 4 – 5 glasses of lukewarm water and bring up to boil.
3. Add vermicelli, stir well and cook on medium heat.
4. Once vermicelli is soft, add  parsley and then spices..

little note for omnivores: If you have come chicken at home, boil it then use its water in this soup.

Serve with a bit of lemon juice and some bread.

Enjoy!

Shiitake and chestnut mushroom soup

Yummy!

One could think why I would waste those lovely shiitake and chestnut mushrooms in a soup. Well here`s the answer, because this soup is delicious! It is amazing if you add a little bit of spice too! Normally I would have made a pasta dish but this time I had time and said why not try it?

10 – 12 pieces of chestnut mushrooms
10  pieces of shiitake mushrooms
1 medium size onion
single cream or yoghurt
parsley
black pepper
pinenuts

1. Chop the onion and cook it with some oil till it gets brown.
2. Chop the mushrooms then add them into the stirfry.
3. Pour some warm water to soften them, just to the top of the mushrooms then let them relax.
4. After 4 – 5 minutes, pour 4 – 5 glasses of warm water, bring it to boil then simmer it up.
5. Add some black pepper and if you like it some red pepper flakes and chopped parsley in.
6. Blender the soup then let it cook slowly for about 4 -  5minutes.
7. Fry the pinenuts and put them in before serving. Add a little bit of parsley to decorate.

Marvellous!

Lentil Kofte

Hello,

Well, I cooked these lovely lentil koftes for the Greek Easter weekend we had with friends, mostly drinking and eating lovely food.

It is very easy and a good mezze to have next to meaty stuff as well as by itself. Me? I can eat it even first thing in the morning

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 glass of red lentils
• 1 glass of bulgar wheat (fine bulgar)
• 5-6 spring onions
• 2 medium onions
• Spicy tomato paste (or preferably hot pepper paste, but it is hard to find)
• Hot pepper sauce, called Harissa, or just a red pepper
• Lettuce (little gem is preferable)
• A bunch of parsley
• Mint
• Black pepper
• Salt
• Olive oil
• Water – 3/4 glasses

1. Boil the red lentils with 3 or 4 glasses of water until they get very soft – almost melting.
2. Add a glass of bulgar wheat to the lentil mixture. This will make the mixture dry out a bit, so that it is firm but not sticky. Let it cool down until you can hold it in your hands. Taste it – if the bulgar wheat inside the mixture is not soft enough, add half or a glass of hot water to soak it up.
3. Chop the onions finely and cook them in olive oil then add the pepper paste and harissa or red pepper, mix it well.
4. Add the onion and pepper mixture over your already cooled down lentil & bulgar wheat and mix them well.
5. Add some salt, black pepper and mint.
6. Chop the spring onions and parsley and add them to this mixture, stir well. It should not be too dry not too wet, make some balls with it and put them over little gem lettuce on a plate.
7. Cool it down for an hour or so before you eat it!

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.

pastries with cheese and parsley

Hello there,

Thanks to friends visiting the new flat I had the chance to cook a lot, so have got a lot of recipes. This one in particular is very good when you have lots of people around and no bread at all. They are very tasty, warm, and could be eaten with all sorts of mezes. Called poğaça in Turkish, but according to wikipedia, it seems to have names like Pogača or Pogacha in the Balkans pogácsa in Hungary and pogatschen in Austria. It says it becomes foccaccia in Italy a more flat version. I feel like it sounds more of a Slavic word pogaca. (pron. may be say it like this in english : po-acher?)

It is definitely not a very healthy food given the amount of oil you use but very comforting and happy food I should say! The loveliest thing with pogaca is it is very good in the mornings or in the afternoons with tea.

Right, let’s begin cooking then.

What do I need to buy?
3 eggs (keep one yolk away as it will be used later)
one cup of plain yoghurt
a pack of butter
a cup of sunflower oil
1 bunch parsley, chopped fınely
3 spoonful of baking powder
a pack of feta cheese, crumbled
flour
sesame seeds or black seeds

How to make the dough?
The easiest way is trying to feel it:) Put the oil, butter, baking powder, yoghurt and 3 eggs (one yolk aside) in a bowl and add the flour slowly. Whilst kneading it will become not too wet not too dry, it should end up feeling like an earlobe as it is said in a Turkish idiom:)

Then mix the feta and parsley in a bowl this will be your stuffing. Do not forget the stuffing can be anything you want like just cheese, potato, or minced meat ( it is better to cook the minced meat before you put in the dough.)

Take several pieces of dough, make them round in your palm by rolling and pressing. They should not too thin or not too thick like 2 – 3 inch wide. After that put some stuffing in each of them and close them as it is showed here.

It is sort of a half moon shape. Then it is time to place them a on a greased baking sheet. Brush them with egg yolk then sprinkle black seeds or sesame seeds on top.

Put the tray in preheated oven (200 degrees) and cook until the colour of the pastries turn brownish and smelling beautiful.

There is an alternative and easier way of cooking which is when you make the dough you put the feta and parsley in it. And you make your dough a mixture. Then make several little doughs and cook them the same way.

After all these epısodes your pogaca is ready and believe me it is not hard as it sounds, enjoy!