Eggs cooked in a bed of tomatoes and banana peppers

If you are planning a trip to Istanbul, make sure you start, at least one day of your stay, with a full Turkish breakfast in Rumeli Hisari, the suburb that gets is name from the Ottoman fortress on the European side of the Bosphorus, which was built for the conquest of "Constantinopolis."

Make sure you go early because they are very popular and you might end up having to wait for a table overlooking the water and believe me no other one will do.

Select one of the cayevleri (tea houses/cafes) lined up along the outer wall of the fortress resembling carriages of a train linked to one another. Be careful in your selection, as there are fancy looking cafes that might have managed to sneak in between these carriages of simplicity. They too will serve a Turkish Breakfast but if want the real deal, you will need to pick a no frills one with flowery table clothes and cheap looking tables and chairs.

Turkish Shortbread Cookies

As we were lazing on the couch tossing ideas for my blog one afternoon, hubby says to me "It is the International Shortbread Week" next week so you should make some to celebrate it.

There is no such week, of course, but I googled it just to be sure regardless. Recognising my lovely better half's communication patterns by now, this meant he wanted me to make some and he rarely gives me a wishlist so the "International Shortbread Week" it is.

Roasted Capsicum with Garlic Yoghurt

2011 was the year of a big milestone for me. I have turned 35, which meant that I have finished living half of my life, according to Cahit Sitki Taranci, a Turkish poet who has written the infamous poem “Age 35, half way.”

He must have known something, as funny enough, doctors tell us that at 35 the female fertility starts to decline and the risk of having problematic pregnancies arises. But also around the same time we start feeling we are, in fact, getting old as our bodies stop cooperating and that last glass of champagne becomes one too many.

No matter how old I get, I still love celebrating my birthdays. It is one day I officially can claim to be all about "Moi!" And the more important they are the bigger the celebration would have to be.

So last summer, I packed up my bags and flew to Turkey to celebrate my 35th with my family, relatives and friends with a big party in our summerhouse. Raki and wine flowed. Everyone brought a dish or two and I've baked the very same cake my grandmother used to make for me every single one of my birthdays. Yes, I had my cake and I ate it too!

So yesterday, as I was thinking about which recipe to post this week I came across three lost capsicums in the fridge.

They made me think of the lovely little dish that Hatice Abla (the ever so lovely Dalyankoy local who comes up with the simplest and tastiest dishes) brought to my party.

And for a second, I was in Dalyankoy, cutting my cake. My mum was laughing, my dad was hugging me, everyone was clapping and laughing and I was happily kicking 35 in the butt!

So here is to many returns!


Roasted Capsicum with Garlic Yoghurt

Ingredients:

3 large red capsicums
2 tablespoons of olive oil
¾ cup natural yoghurt
1 small clove of garlic
Pinch of salt to taste

Here is how:

Wash and deseed the capsicum. Chop them into 4 cm long and 2 cm wide rectangles.

In a large frying pan, dry roast them stirring regularly until they are dry and change their color.

Add the olive oil and salt. Keep roasting until they are slightly browned and wilted. Turn off the heat and leave them to cool. 

In a bowl, mix the yoghurt and the grated garlic until combined.

Place the roasted capsicum in a flat plate and top up with the garlic yoghurt.

To serve, you can combine a tablespoon of olive oil sprinkled with some chilli flakes or ground paprika in a frying pan until the oil sizzles and drizzle on top of the garlic yoghurt.

Afiyet olsun! 

Stuffed Eggplant

Eggplant is one of the key ingredients of the Mediterranean cuisine. Australians are very familiar with the Italian antipasto melanzane grigliate, eggplant thinly sliced lengthways, grilled and soaked in a marinade of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, parsley and chilli; the Greek moussaka, sliced eggplant layered with a mince mixture and topped with a beschamel sauce and babagannoush, roasted and pureed eggplant mixed with tahini, garlic and olive oil.

But what they probably don't know is, for us Turks, eggplant is a vegetable for all seasons and occasions. We fry it as a whole, then stuff it with a flavoursome mince in winter or sauté of fresh tomatoes, onions and garlic in summer. We cube and cook with diced meat and potatoes in a simple tomato sauce or roast and purée it with a beschamel sauce and top it up with a meat stew to serve as a main. We roast and mix it with yoghurt and garlic or fry it in slices and top with a garlic yoghurt and tomato sauce to serve it as an an appetiser on a raki (national Turkish drink made from aniseed) table.