Green Olive Rolls (Yeşil Zeytinli Rulo)

In Turkey patisseries are real life savers with their wide range of offerings that include baklava, böreks, cakes, cookies, meringues, milk puddings, poğaças, syrupy desserts, Turkish delights, etc. When you're late for work or school and do not have enough time for breakfast; when you're in need of sugar; when you want to bring dessert to a dinner party; when you are having people for a tea party; or when you just want to have some sort of pastry, you know there is a patisserie around the corner. Although they may differ in terms of their specialties--for example, one patisserie may not carry baklava and syrupy desserts and the other may not offer eclair and puddings, without exception all patisseries would serve small savory and sweet snack pastries. These butter loaded crispy pastries are generally referred to as kuru pasta in Turkish, which translates as "dry pastry." Even the smallest, not too fancy neighborhood patisserie would have at least six different kinds of pastry, 3 savory and 3 sweet that are usually baked in the afternoon just in time for the tea parties.

The olive roll pastry was my neighborhood patisserie's specialty, in those good old days when I used to live in Ankara. Hand fulls of buttery crispy rolls with pitted black olives in the middle were what we used to grab from the patisserie twice a week on our way to the coffee house that I and my friends frequented after school to play backgammon and cards.

I replicated the recipe, but was too lazy to pit olives, so in stead of black olives I used cocktail olives. The result was delicious. However, the dough should be a bit thinner than it is in the pictures. Not surprisingly, I didn't do a good job rolling the dough.


























makes approximately 50 rolls
3 1/2 cups flour
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup crumbled white/feta cheese
1/4 cup plain yogurt
~ 50 cocktail olives
1 egg yolk, beaten
nigella and/or sesame seeds



























-Make a smooth dough with flour, melted butter, feta, and yogurt.
-Roll the dough to o.2 inch thickness (don't take my rolls as an example, I couldn't locate the roller so had to use a glass jar!).
-Cut 1 X 3 inch rectangles.
-Place an olive on the rectangle shape dough and roll. Place the rolls on a greased pan making sure the fold would be at the bottom.
-Brush the rolls with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle nigella and/or sesame seeds.
-Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes.

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Purslane Tomato Salad (Pirpirim / Semizotu Piyazı)

I first had this purslane salad in Gaziantep, a city in southeastern Turkey at a kebap house. My childhood friend Özge, an archeologist by training, and I were on an archeological/historical tour covering three southeastern cities Adıyaman, Gaziantep, and Urfa. After watching the sunset at Mt. Nemrut in Adıyaman, we hopped on a minibus, arrived in Gaziantep late at night and found one of the restaurants that were recommended by friends from Gaziantep. With the first meal and baklava we had at our first stop, İmam Çağdaş kebap and baklava house in one of the narrow streets of Gaziantep, we knew that ours would be a culinary trip rather than an archeological one.

When we were served this purslane salad as a side with a variety of Antep kebaps and lahmacun--my all time favorite dish--that we sampled that night, I must admit that it did not receive the attention from us that it deserved. However, you would agree that after a long exhausting day of traveling, meeting with friends, climbing Mt. Nemrut, exploring Adıyaman, and doing all those things under the brutal southeastern sun in mid August, what one craves for is not a healthy salad. We were in the baklava and kebap capital of Turkey, after all. Two days later when we were leaving Gaziantep, we noticed that everyone on the plane, including the pilots, flight attendants, and us--of course, had at least two boxes of baklava with them, the best souvenir from Gaziantep. I had three.

Although I thought neither of us paid any attention to the purslane salad that night, I never forgot it and the perfect combination of purslane with fresh vegetables and paprika. I had the chance to have purslane salad at a dinner over at a Gaziantepli friend's house, and get the recipe. In Gaziantep purslane is called pirpirim as oppsed to semizotu, a common name for purslane in the western part of Turkey.


























1 bunch purslane (~1 lb), washed and chopped in small pieces, stems discarded
1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, peeled and thinly cut in half moon shape
1-2 green peppers (anaheim, Hungarian wax, banana, etc.), finely chopped
1 red pepper pepper, finely chopped
1 onion, cut in thin half moons
juice of half lemon
1 tsp pomegranete syrup (if you cannot find it, use juice of one lemon in stead of half)
1 tsp sumac powder or flakes
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp paprika (I used 1 1/2 tsp of a spicy variety)

-Put thin half moon shape onion in a bowl. Scatter 2 tsp salt on top. Rub onion with salt for a minute. Rinse salt off the onion with water. Drain.
-Put all the ingredients in bowl, season with lemon juice, pomegranate syrup, olive oil, sumac, paprika, and salt.


Weekend Herb Blogging, founded by Kalyn, is hosted this week by Haalo of Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once.

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Flaky Spinach Pie (Ispanaklı Tepsi Böreği)

After gathering courage to make my mom's zucchini börek, I now am familiar with using phllyo dough for other various börek recipes. As I mentioned before börek is a common term for all pastries that use Turkish yufka i.e. phllyo dough. Depending on the filling, the shape and sometimes the region the term börek is preceded by a descriptive noun: kabak böreği (zucchini börek), ıspanak böreği (spinach börek), kıymalı börek (börek with ground meat) or su böreği (water/boiled börek), tepsi böreği (layered börek) etc.

Spinach börek is definitely a nation-wide favorite. It's made for and served at afternoon tea gatherings; sold by street vendors or patisseries early in the morning for breakfast; or can be a whole meal for lunch or dinner served with a yogurt beverage, ayran, or coke, but 95% of the time with tea.

Although spinach börek can be made in different styles such as bundles, rolls, or spiral, the most common version is layered, tepsi in Turkish which literary translates as "tray."




















20 phyllo dough sheets (1 packet usually has 40)
1 lb fresh or frozen spinach
1/2 cup white cheese or feta
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/3 cup olive oil (I prefer olive oil, but others can be used too)
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
black seeds (nigella seeds)















-Thaw phyllos according to the instructions on the package.
-Put fresh spinach in a bowl. Sprinkle a little bit of salt. Rub spinach leaves with your fingers until wilted. Drain excessive water. (If you're using frozen spinach, let it thaw first. Squeeze to drain excessive water. Sprinkle salt and rub spinach leaves with your fingers. Drain excessive water once again)
-Add feta, black pepper, and crushed red pepper to spinach and mix well.
-In another bowl beat the eggs and add milk and olive oil. Mix well.
-Grease an 8 X 11.5 pan (or in a pan that's approximately the same size with phyllo sheets)
-Layer half of phyllo dough sheets in the pan by brushing every single layer generously with the egg+milk+oil mixture.
-On the 10th phyllo sprinkle spinach mix.
-Cut the 1 tbsp butter in to small pieces and sprinkle on spinach.
-Keep layering the rest of phyllos by brushing each layer with the mixture.
-After putting down the last phyllo, pour whatever is left from the egg+milk+oil mixture on top.
-Sprinkle the pie with black (nigella) seeds or sessame seeds or neither.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 390F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.
-Wait for 10-15 minutes and then cut into square pieces.

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Vegetarian Stuffed Globe Zucchini (Zeytinyağlı Yayla Kabağı Dolması)

I hadn't seen these round zucchinis, globe zucchinis or zucchini ronde de nice, or whatever you call them, in a long time. They are perfect for stuffing. They are very easy to scoop, yet the outside is firm and stays so even after an hour of cooking.


























10 globe zucchinis
1 heaping cup of rice (I measured 1 1/2 tbsp rice for each globe zucchini)
2 medium onions, grated or finely chopped
3 tomatoes, grated or blended
3-4 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp dried currants
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup fresh mint, chopped finely or 1 tbsp mint flakes
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped finely
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil


























-Wash globe zucchinis, slice the top as a hat and scoop out the flesh. (you can save the flesh to make zucchini fritters later)
-Mix all the ingredients (except for zucchinis) in bowl.
-Stuff the zucchinis with this mixture. (If there's stuffing left, you can stuff a bell pepper or a tomato)
-Place those little hats on top and place zucchinis in a pot. Pour 2-2 1/2 cups of water or more to cover the zucchini dolmas half way.
-Cover and cook on low-medium for approximately 50 mins to an hour or until rice is cooked.
-Serve warm or cold, preferably with yogurt on the side.




























recipe update
There was a little bit of whining about the slight sweetness caused by currants and all spice, so the next time I made stuffed globe zucchinis, I did not use those two ingredients. I replaced them with 2 tbsp of sumac (powdered or flakes, or you can use juice of 1 lemon). I also discarded the zucchini tops, and covered little dolmas with a slice of tomato; this way dolmas were juicier than when I made them using the tops.

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Sea Bass in Paper (Kağıtta Levrek)

Levrek is a popular fish in Turkey all year around since it's farmed intensively. However, wild caught sea bass is exceptionally tastier and highly sought after. Fish fillets steamed in paper bags taste great. At seafood restaurants they are served with crusty bread and big green salad. Any fish can be prepared this way.


























serves 4 people
4 sea bass (or any fish you want) fillets
1 onion, thinly sliced in half moons
4 tomatoes, diced
2-3 green chilies, chopped or one green bell pepper, chopped
1-2 cups chopped mushroom
juice of one lemon
4 bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
salt and pepper
2-3 tbsp olive oil or melted butter
parchment paper

-Saute onion, mushroom and green pepper with olive oil (or butter) in a frying pan on medium heat until soft, approximately for 10 minutes.
-Add tomato, bay leaves, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook for another 10 minutes.
-Add dill after turning it off.
-Cut 4 pieces of wax paper approximately 12 in X 24 in (30cm X 60cm). Brush one side with butter and fold pieces into to to make squares. Fold over two open sides to create a pocket.
-Place one fish fillet in each bag. Spoon one of forth of vegetables in each bag. Fold over the open edge to seal the paper bags and place in an ovenproof dish.
-Sprinkle a little bit of water over the bags and bake in a preheated oven at 380F for 20-25 minutes.
-Serve fish immediately with the bags.

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Zucchini Börek (Kabak Böreği)

Börek is a common name in Turkey and neighboring regions that were influenced by Ottoman cuisine for a pie made with flaky pastry: phyllo or yufka. Börek can be made in different forms (bundles, rolls, rounds, squares, etc.) and with different fillings (eggplant, ground meat, milk, potato, spinach, and white cheese).

This particular recipe is my mom's signature dish. This is the dish that I asked her to make every time I went back home from boarding school, college or from the States, and that my friends ask her to make whenever they come over for tea, for dinner, or for a visit. I haven't made zucchini börek before simply because it is hard to find Turkish yufka here and phyllo doughs that you can find in the stores are too thin (harder to deal with), starchier (fit better for baklava than börek), and come in rectangles rather than rounds as we have them in Turkey. However, for the first time I haven't been to Turkey over a year now. I decided that I couldn't wait for another year for zucchini börek.


























~30 sheets of phyllo dough=1 box (since they're really thin, a couple will be lost along the way)

for the filling
2-3 zucchinis, grated approximately 4 cups of grated zucchini
3 eggs
1/2 cup finely chopped dill
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint or 3 tbsp dry mint flakes
1/2 cup crumbled Turkish white cheese or feta
1 tbsp paprika (or Hungarian paprika)
1 tbsp or less black pepper
salt (depending on how salty the cheese is)
1 tsp spicy red pepper flakes (optional)

for brushing phyllos
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt (nonfat, reduced, or whole)

-Thaw frozen phyllo as indicated on the package.
-Mix well all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl. Set aside for 10-15 minutes.
-It will be a juicy mixture. Squeeze the mixture and pour that excessive juice into a smaller bowl. Add 3 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 cup yogurt into the juice and mix well. You will use this to brush phyllos.
-Place a phyllo, wide side facing you, on the counter. Brush it with the mixture and put another phyllo on top and brush it, too. Since phyllos are too thin, it's better to use two at a time).
-Place filling ~one seventh of zucchini filling on the long side of phyllo and roll up to make a long cigar.
-Grease ~ 11 X 13 or ~11 X 11 oven tray.
-Hold one end of the long cigar and coil roll around to form a spiral shape as in the picture above.
-Repeat brushing, filling, rolling, and coiling until there's no more filling.
-Pour whatever juice left in the brushing and filling bowls on the börek.
-Bake in a preheated oven at 380-390 F until golden brown. Approximately 50 minutes.
-Cut into triangle pie slices. Serve with tea or soda for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

It is not a common practice throughout Turkey, but where I come from, Thrace, we love to eat our savory börek by dipping it into jam, especially into cherry jam.

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Vegetarian Stuffed Zucchini Flowers (Zeytinyağlı Kabak Çiçeği Dolması)

In his novel Karıncanın Su İçtiği (Ant Drinking Water), the second volume of a series titled Bir Ada Hikayesi (An Island Story), one of my favorite Turkish writers, Yaşar Kemal, writes about stuffed zucchini flowers in a way that resembles his famous descriptions of cotton fields, horses, snakes, the Taurus mountains, rain, the sea, i.e. nature in general. He writes in meticulous detail about this delicate Aegean dish so that while reading the novel you feel like you almost can taste it. After finishing Karıncanın Su İçtiği, I really wanted to have stuffed zucchini flowers, a delicious dolma dish that I first tasted when I was visiting Bodrum peninsula. Bodrum offers a great variety of Aegean dishes once you can pass its ranked #2 after Istanbul wild nightlife.
Although dealing with delicate flowers might seem difficult, to make stuffed zucchini flower is not harder than any other dolma dish. The demanding part is to find zucchini flowers. If you are already growing zucchini plants, pick flowers early in the morning when they are open and free of bugs. On the other hand, if you don't have a garden you might find zucchini flowers at farmer's markets (possibility:low), flea markets with produce sections (possibility: medium), or at Mexican grocery stores/markets (possibility: high).












serves 4
20 zucchini flowers
1 1/2 cup rice
2 medium onions, very finely chopped or grated
1/3 cup + 2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp currants
2 tbsp pine nuts
1/2 tsp allspice or cinnamon
1 tsp sugar
1 or more tsp salt
juice of 1/2 lemon or 2 tsp pomegranate molasses
1-2 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh mint
1/2 cup finely chopped dill
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley (save the stems)
-Trim the stems and remove the stamens from the flower. It might be tricky to remove the stamen; I used a little knife to cut the stamen. Wash the zucchini flowers, check inside for any unwanted guests, and then place them in a bowl of hot (not boiling hot, though) water to soften. Set aside.
-Heat 1/3 cup olive oil in a pot. Add onions and cook for 3-4 minutes.
-Add rice and stir for 5 minutes.
-Add currants, pine nuts, sugar, allspice or cinnamon, black pepper and salt.
-Add 1 cup water and cook on low until water is absorbed. Turn it off.
-Add greens: dill, mint, parsley, and lemon juice or pomegranate molasses. Mix well and set aside to cool down.
-Place the parsley stems that you saved at the bottom of a pot. If you do not have parsley stems you can cover the bottom of the pot with vine leaves or apple skin. Flowers are very delicate so you don't want to put them directly on the pot.
-Drain zucchini flowers. With a small spoon or your fingers stuff each flower with the rice stuffing: gently open up the petals, put the stuffing, and seal the flower by folding the petals one by one around the filling.
-Place stuffed flowers tight on parsley stems (or whatever you have). Sprinkle 2 tbsp olive oil and pour 1 cup of water.
-Find a flat-ish plate that would fir in your pot. Place the plate on stuffed flowers. The weight of the plate will hold the dolmas down and intact.
-Cook covered on low heat until water is absorbed, approximately half an hour.
-Wait at least 20 minutes before taking stuffed zucchini flowers out of the pot.
-Serve warm or cold. Goes well with yogurt.

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