turkish poached eggs in yogurt (cilbir)

Turkish poached eggs in yogurt (cilbir)

I have a feeling that when I meet new people I have barely got the social niceties out of the way before I am grilling them on their favourite foods. Omer was no exception, as he told me about cilbir, a Turkish egg and yogurt dish, his favourite comfort food from childhood. Sadly, something got a bit lost in translation as Omer's passionate defence of gloopy eggs in a sour yogurt sauce sounded, frankly, revolting. But then Omer isn't much of a cook and hadn't actually cooked it himself. And in trying to get firmer details, I struggled as my Turkish is non-existent too.

turkish-style cucumber and tomato soup

turkish-style cucumber and tomato soup

So much for the expected heatwave. Oh well, I love this simple soup, which is slightly tart and refreshing on a hot day (rain or not and rather nice at the end of summer too. Don't be deceived by its somewhat sludgy appearence!

a little time travel: kamut kisir

kamut kisir

The myths behind the whole grain, Khorasan Wheat (Kamut), are the food equivalent of an Indiana Jones-type boys own story; rediscovered in the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh, the ancient grains were sent to the US and replanted by a farmer in Montana. The truth is sadly more prosaic. But what is indisputable is that khorasan wheat had fallen out of use over centuries, very largely because yields are relatively low and farmers started to develop higher yielding grains.

a story of a Goth, a grandmother and baklava, with a sting in the tale!

honey nut baklava

I am thinking about Christmas baking and alternatives to the usual spiced cakes. I want to make some baklava, filo pastry stuffed with spiced nuts and drenched in a honey syryp, which reminded me of my first ever baklava experience and possibly the most disastrous "meet the family" episodes of my life.

smoky chargrilled aubergine salad

smoky chargrilled aubergine salad

There is a dish on the menus of Turkish restaurants called Hünkar Beğendi. I don't read Turkish, but I understand it to mean "the Sultan's Delight"; a simple lamb stew served on a bed of creamy aubergine puree. But whenever I see these words, I translate them in my head as "whole hunk of love on a plate" because this peasant adores the stuff.

a lively marinade for chicken wings

lively marinaded chicken

English weather is topsy-turvy at the best of times and right now is no different. In mid September, it felt as if autumn was well and truly on its way. Chilly mornings and evenings and damp air all around. But it that beautifully perverse way that English weather has, as October approaches so does the balmy weather and that Indian summer we thought had passed us by has firmly come to stay.

turkish-style stuffed tomatoes

On my mission to be frugal I had decided not to throw out some leftover rice, intending to make a Turkish or Greek rice stuffing for some kind of vegetable. I would decide on which vegetable to use when I actually got to the market and saw what was available. Of course all my frugal intentions went out the window when I saw (actually smelt first) a beautiful mound of the plumpest most scarlet tomatoes I have ever seen.

Still on the vine, you could smell their intense green clove-like aroma from about 30 feet away. I had to have them. At all costs. This turned out to be the debt of a small sovereign nation) All my frugal intentions went out the window. Well life is not too short to stuff a tomato!

what heathcliffe did next: merguez mezze

merguez with green pepper

Heathcliffe had asked me to pick up some merguez sausages from Phoenicia, my local middle eastern deli in Kentish Town. Fortunately I know what merguez sausages look like. A peculiar thing to say you might think, but the butcher's counter meats are labelled in Arabic (which I don't read) and quite often I am mystified by what I am actually looking at. Gargantuan cuts of meat the like of which I have never seen before, hugger-mugger with somewhat grotesque mounds of sausage. But still I come in to browse, hoping that I'll get one of the friendlier butchers to explain to me what exactly it is I am looking at. Occasionally when I'm feeling brave or adventurous I'll actually buy something.

mezze: what the sujuk!

sujuk mezze

"Have you ever had sujuk before?” Heathcliffe asked me as he prepared his glorious mezze feast. WTF? (I thought rather inelegantly). I hadn't heard of it before either. Heathcliffe was preparing a rather unprepossessing sausage. Its skin was a plastic pink colour, the flesh a "crushed raspberry" hue. If I'm honest, I wasn't really looking forward to it. But I am a girl who likes her adventures in food. So I was prepared to try it, if only the once.

marinated beyaz peynir (turkish white cheese)

marinated Turkish white cheese - beyaz peynir

There are lots of Turkish and Cypriot shops near where I live in north London. A comparative recent discovery is cans of cheese. Yes, you heard correctly - a can of cheese. This is "beyaz peynir" (which in Turkish means "white cheese"); a salty, dense cheese made from unpasteurized sheep milk, very similar in taste and texture to Greek feta cheese. Actually I would defy you to tell the difference. Perhaps feta is a little more tangy and beyaz peynir is firmer and a little creamy.

a feast from the (not-so) mysterious east (that's dalston not the levant) and there's a party going on in my mouth!

heathcliffe's splendiferous mezze

What is a feast?

• A festival of food
• A joyous, happy meal
• A sumptuous entertainment
• Something highly agreeable, which is partaken of, or shared in, with delight
• To gratify or delight (as in to feast your eyes or your soul)
• To treat at the table bountifully