Stuffed Zucchinis with Ground Meat (Etli Kabak Dolması)

I was surprised to see that I haven't posted this recipe before, since it's one of my favorite summer time dolma dishes. Now that zucchinis are everywhere, especially round zucchinis that are perfect for stuffing, it's time to stuff zucchinis.




























makes 12 zucchini dolmas

12 round zucchinis or 6 thickish zuchinis
~1 lb ground meat (preferably beef)
2 onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup rice
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
1-2 tsp black pepper
1 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
2 tomatoes, grated
2 tomatoes, sliced
1 1/2 cup hot water

-If you're using globe zucchinis, wash them, cut tops off, and carve out each carefully. If you're using regular zucchinis, wash them, cut them in half and carve out each half carefully. Save the carvings for dishes such as Baked Zucchini Fritters or Baked Vegetable Fritters
-Slightly salt inside of all and set aside.
-In a bowl mix well ground meat, onion, rice, olive oil, parsley, dill, salt, black pepper, and 1 grated tomato.
-Loosely stuff each zucchini with the stuffing half inch to the top and place them in wide pot.
-Cover the tops with a tomato slice. (You can place the globe zucchini tops on tomato slices if you wish)
-Mix 1-2 cup of hot water with the remaining grated tomato and pour on top.
-Let it boil first, then cook on low for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

It goes well with yogurt.

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Baked Vegetable Fritters (Fırında Sebzeli Mücver)

Mücver is usually made with zucchini and then fried, however it is way lighter to bake it in these hot and humid summer days. This is a modified recipe that uses not only zucchini but also potato and carrot. If you have other vegetables in mind like spinach, leek, etc., you can add them, too.




























1 zucchini, grated
1 potato, grated
1 carrot, grated
3 spring green onions, chopped
1 green or red pepper, finely chopped
1/3 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/4 cup fresh mint or basil, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 or 1/3 cup white cheese or feta, crumbled
1/3 cup, pitted 'real' black olives, chopped
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 - 1/2 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
sesame or nigella seeds




























-Heat oil in a pan. Add first pepper, then carrot, then potato, and finally zucchini. Sautee until wilted, but not totally cooked.
-Transfer this mix in a bowl and let it cool down.
-Add green onion, parsley, dill, mint, eggs, cheese, olives, baking powder, and flour.
-Pour the mixture in a greased oven safe dish. Make sure the mix is not thicker than 1.5 inches in the dish.
-Sprinkle sesame or nigella seeds on top. You can also decorate it with sliced canned olives.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 400F for ~1 hour or until it gets golden brown on top or on the sides. Check with a clean knife or a wooden toothpick/skewer.

You can serve baked vegetable fritters as a side dish with dinner, with afternoon tea, or for breakfast.

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Purslane with Tomato (Domatesli Semizotu)

Purslane season is officially on! For those who have purslane growing in their yards or who can find it at the farmer's markets, flea markets, or Mexican grocery stores, here is another purslane recipe. Purslane with tomato is another version of Purslane with Rice. Mid summer when farmers markets are flooded by ripe tomatoes, you just cannot help but cook anything with tomatoes. So when we crave a sour taste, we make Purslane with Rice, which is cooked with lemon juice, and when we can get enough tomatoes, we make purslane with tomato, which is juicier and good for soaking crusty bread. Fresh purslane, ripe tomatoes and garlic were what we got from the farmer's market this week.

See more purslane recipes














1 bunch or 1 lb purslane (verdolaga in Spanish), washed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 small onion, finely diced
2 cloves of garlic, sliced or minced
2 tomatoes, grated or petite diced (or 1 can petite diced tomato)
1/4 cup rice (soaked in hot water for 15-20 minutes)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sugar
salt
black pepper
1 cup hot water

-Heat olive oil on medium heat and saute onions.
-Add purslane, tomato, rice (that you soaked and rinsed), salt, sugar, pepper. Stir for a couple of minutes.
-Pour in water.
-Cook on low covered for 15-20 minutes until rice is cooked.
-Serve warm or cold.

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Savory Spinach and Feta Cake (Ispanaklı ve Beyaz Peynirli Kek)

In several previous posts I have mentioned the importance of afternoon tea time in Turkey and the snacks that we would have with our tea. This cake is a total green deliciousness that my mom used to make for our lazy afternoon tea hours. Years later during another tea gathering with her friends she learned a recipe for sweet spinach cake (I know it sounds weird, but it doesn't taste anything like spinach. Spinach is there just to make it green and distract the ladies from gossip by causing curiosity for the source of its color), and unfortunately stopped making this one. I never cared much about sweet cakes, so this one is definitely my most favorite green cake.

As you can see from the ingredients, it is a very flexible cake. You can add more herbs or take out the ones you don't like; use feta or grated mozzarella or cheddar; use crushed pepper flakes and make it spicy or very spicy. It's all up to you. Because of the spinach puree and the amount of flour this is a moist, spongy cake, not a dry one.



























serves 6-8 people

1 lb spinach
2 cups flour
1 cup oil (olive, canola, or vegetable; I used half olive and half canola)
3 eggs
1/3 cup Turkish white cheese or feta cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup black olives, sliced (you can use canned olives but they won't bring any flavor to your cake)
1 green bell pepper or 2 green chili peppers, fınely chopped
2-3 green onions, finely chopped
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped
1/2 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 tsp oregano leaves
1-2 tsp salt (depending on how salt the cheese is)
2 tsp baking powder


























-Put washed spinach in a food processor with a couple of tbsp of olive oil and make into a puree. You should have approximately 2 cups of spinach puree.
-Beat 3 eggs with salt in a mixing bowl until it doubles in volume.
-Add remaining oil, spinach puree, dill, parsley, peppers, green onion, sliced olives, and cheese to eggs and mix with a spoon.
-Add flour and baking powder to this mixture and mix.
-Grease a baking pan, any shape you prefer, with butter. Pour the mixture and bake in a preheated oven at 350-360F for 45-50 minutes. Baking time might vary with different shapes and ovens. Check with a knife or wooden skewer/toothpick.

Wıth all its greenness this is my contribution to Weekend Herb Blogging that was started by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and is now organized by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once, and is hosted this week by Katie of Eat This.

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Strawberry Jam (Çilek Reçeli)

In the farmers' markets in Turkey strawberries are sold in two different piles on the same stand. One pile is for small strawberries which are sold for "jam" (reçellik) and bigger strawberries, the ones for the table (yemelik), would be in the other pile. I haven't seen this at the American farmers' markets, but you can always go to a strawberry farm and pick up your "jam" strawberries. That is exactly what we did. Last weekend we were at the Washington Farms in Athens and picked up gallons of delicious strawberries for jam and the table.


























This easy and guaranteed strawberry jam recipe is from my mom.

If you are planning to keep the jam in the fridge, the ratio of stawberry to sugar is 1 to 1. If you will use 1 lb of strawberries, you need 1 lb of sugar or 1 kilo of sugar for 1 kilo of strawberries. However, if you intend to make multiple jars of strawberry jam and to preserve them in your pantry, than the ratio of strawberry to sugar should be 1 to ~1.2.


























5 cups of strawberries make ~3 cups of jam, ~18 oz jar

2 lbs small strawberries (if you start with big ones, slice them into two or three pieces), washed and stemmed
2 lbs of sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp water

-Place the strawberries in a pot and add 2 tbsp water and cook on medium. Once it starts boiling, start the timer for 10 minutes.
-After 10 minutes of boiling, add sugar and stir gently. Once it starts boiling again, turn it between low-medium and set the timer this time for 25 minutes.
-Stir infrequently and carefully skim any foam with a slotted spoon.
-At the 23rd minute add lemon juice.
-Turn it off and pour in a clean glass jar. Close the lid and let it cool. Store in the refrigerator.

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Bowl Kebap (Tas Kebabı)

Bowl kebap is one of my mom's specialties. Although I have been very picky about red meat dishes all my life, bowl kebap is something that I never said no. I have been craving it recently and noticed that I had never made it here. Almost four weeks ago I was on the phone with my mom getting the details of her recipe. The same day one thing let to another and I ended up buying plane tickets to Turkey and a couple of days later I was there having bowl kebap for dinner with my parents. My trip was not for bowl kebap, of course, but I definitely asked my mom to make it a couple of times in two weeks before I flew back. After green plums (something I cannot find here) of which I ate one pound a day, bowl kebap was the food of my short trip to Turkey.



Bowl kebap is a very simple recipe. Preparation time is approximately 15 minutes, but you need to cook the meat over an hour for tenderness and deliciousness. Since you cook this dish in a bowl that sits in a pot, make sure you have the right utensils before you start chopping.


































 serves 4-5 people

1-1.1 or 1.2 lb stew beef or lamb
2-3 potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 onions, diced
1 tsp or more black ground pepper
1 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp tomato or red pepper paste
3 tbsp olive oil or 2 tbsp olive oil + 1 tbsp butter
2 cups of boiling water































-For this dish find a bowl that is resistant to heat and would hold all the ingredients. Next find a pot that the bowl would fit upside down, as in the pictures.
-Place potatoes at the bottom of the bowl.
-In a different bowl mix meat, onion, salt, pepper, olive oil, and tomato or red pepper paste with your hands. Make sure meat gets coated with all.
-Add the meat mix to the bowl, on top of the potatoes.
-Place butter on top.
-Put the pot on top of the bowl. Securing both the pot and the bowl with your hands, turn the pot upside down so that the bowl will be sitting in it upside down.
-Since this is how we will be cooking the bowl kebap and we don't want the bowl to move, place a heavy container on top to seal or stabilize it: a pitcher, teapot or a pot filled with water.
-Pour 2 cups of boiling water in the pot, between the bowl and the pot.
-Start cooking on high. Once you see bubbles on the sides of the bowl, turn it down to low and cook between 75 to 90 minutes.
-When you turn it off, you need to move the pitcher, teapot or whatever you placed on top, and slowly remove the bowl leaving the ingredients in the pot to mix with the water which has turned in to delicious juice now. If you do not remove the bowl when it's still hot, it will be sealed to the pot and almost impossible to move.
-Serve bowl kebap with any kind of rice, although white is my favorite, and/or bread.

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Spinach with Eggs (Yumurtalı Ispanak)

For many reasons I am not cooking lately and when I cook I am craving comfort food; I try to choose the ones that are easy, delicious, and definitely nutritious. Back in the day, one of my housemates was an egg-freak lazy cook and made this dish annoying number of times. Mainly because of that I'd never made spinach with eggs in years. Today, when I realize I was running out of my options for easy and nutritious comfort foods, I remembered it.

In Turkey spinach with eggs is usually made with ground meat, however thanks to my boarding school cafeteria I learned to dislike ground meat and try to avoid it as much as possible. Fortunately, this is a very flexible dish; you can make it vegetarian or with ground meat or use beef franks, TVP, or any ground meat substitute you prefer.


























serves 1 person

1/2 lb spinach, fresh or frozen
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 eggs
2 tbsp butter or olive oil
1/4 lb ground meat OR 1 beef frank, thinly sliced OR 1/8 cup TVP, soaked in hot water and rinsed OR simply skip this ingredient
1 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper



























-Heat butter on low-medium in a skillet that has a lid.
-Add onion, red pepper flakes, and ground meat, beef frank, TVP if you are using any.
-Stir until ground meat is cooked. If you are having a plain one with no meat, stir until onion is cooked.
-Add spinach and sauté until spinach is tender and changes color.
-Season with salt and black pepper.
-Prepare two holes on the spinach bed for eggs.
-Break eggs into these holes.
-Put the lid on and cook until eggs are cooked.
-Serve with crunchy bread. Spinach with eggs is also very good with Tabasco or any spicy sauce on top.

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