Pistachio Helva with Ice Cream

Pistachio Helva

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of semolina (farina)
• 1 stick of unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons ground unsalted pistachio nuts meat (I use my coffee grinder)
• Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions:
In a pot, bring water and sugar to a boil, stirring occasionally. When it comes to a boil, remove from the
heat, set aside.

In a large pot, combine butter and semolina. Sauté the semolina over medium heat stirring slowly for about 5-6 minutes (should NOT turn brown). Lower the heat, slowly add the syrup, stirring constantly. It will thicken. Add 1/2 cup ground pistachio, stir until well blended. Remove from the heat. Cover the pot. Wait 10-15 minutes. Using an ice cream spoon or a melon baller, shape them into balls, place on a serving dish. Sprinkle remaining ground pistachios over them as garnish. Serve warm helva with vanilla ice-cream (optional).

Ground pistachios

Cooked helva

Melon baller used to shape this helva

Ice-cream scoop is used to shape this helva

 

Chocolate Balls with Pistachios & Coconut

Here's a great party favorite. They are bite size and go great with after dinner drinks too.
No cooking involved, just mix, roll and chill. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 3 table spoons sugar
• 3/4 cup orange juice
• zest of 1 orange,finely scraped
• 5 cups finely crushed Petit Beurre or Tea Biscuits (about 11oz)
• 2 heaping table spoons cocoa powder
• 1 stick (1/4 lb) unsalted butter
• 1 cup coarsely chopped unsalted pistachios
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels
• 1/2 cup light coconut flakes (drier and smaller flakes)
• 1/2 cup coarsely grated pistachio nuts' meat

Directions:
Crush biscuits in a large bowl. I crushed them by hand, but you can put them in a large plastic bag and crush them with a roller or even with an empty wine bottle. It is OK to have small uncrushed pieces for when you add liquids they dissolve easily. I use Tea Biscuits instead of the Petit Beurre biscuits since they are lighter.
In a small bowl, combine orange juice with sugar. Mix well with a spoon until sugar dissolves.
Add all ingredients including the orange juice with the exception of coconuts and grated pistachio nuts to the large bowl. Mix well, chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Melt chocolate over boiling water.

Place parchment paper on a cookie sheet.
Form the mixture in the bowl into small walnut size balls by rolling them between the palms of your hands. Use up all of the mixture to make all of the balls. Mine yielded a total of 50 balls.

Coarsely Chopped Pistachios for the mixture

Grated pistachios for the outside

Mixture formed into balls ready to be dipped in chocolate

Dip the balls in melted chocolate first, then roll half of the balls in coconut flakes and the other half in pistachio nuts. Place them on the cookie sheet. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving. You may want to place fancy party tooth picks to add a nice accent to these delicious dessert bytes.

Half the balls are rolled in grated pistachios

The other half rolled in coconut

 Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Black Eyed Peas & Peppers in Olive Oil

Black Eyed Peas & Peppers in Olive Oil

Here's a simple dish that could be eaten hot or cold, either by itself or as a side dish or in combination with a pilaf like rice, bulgur or quinoa. I usually use dry black eyed peas, since they taste better than the canned ones. But if you are in a hurry, you can use canned beans as well. Dry beans need to be soaked overnight. Therefore, when I soak and boil them, I double the recipe for beans and I keep boiled drained beans in the freezer for future use.

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup dry black eyed peas (soaked in water overnight)
• 5+1 cups of boiling water
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• ½ cup olive oil
• 4-5 small peppers (red, orange, yellow or green)
• 1 teaspoon paprika or chili peppers
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Soak dry black eyed peas overnight or at least for 3 hours.

In a pot combine 5 cups of boiling water and beans.  Let it simmer over medium heat until the beans are tender, about 30 minutes. Drain

Soak beans overnight

Boiled black eyed peas

Cut the tops of the peppers, remove seeds and wash. Cut them into ¼ in thick slices.

In a pot, sauté onions in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add black eyed peas, peppers, paprika, salt and pepper, mix all with a spoon. Add boiling water, bring to a boil, reduce heat. Let it simmer until peas and peppers are tender. You can serve this hot or at room temperature. I usually serve it with some sort of pilaf like bulgur, rice or quinoa.

 

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Cauliflower Au Gratin - Firinda Karnibahar

Ingredients:

• 1 medium cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
• 2 cups boiling water
• ½ lb lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 table spoons olive oil
• 1+1 teaspoons paprika
• 2 table spoons flour
• ½ stick of butter
• 2 cups milk
• 3 cups grated jack cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a pot, combine boiling water and cauliflower florets. Boil until tender,  but firm, about 8-10 minutes. Transfer to a colander, rinse under cold water and drain well. Place the florets evenly in an oven safe dish (14”x10”).

In a medium sauce pan sauté onions and ground beef about 4-5 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon of paprika, salt and pepper to taste. Evenly distribute the mixture over the cauliflowers.

Ground beef mixture over the cauliflower florets

In a pot melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the flour, whisking constantly over medium heat about 4-5 minutes. Add the cold milk, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens, about 4 minutes. Bring to a simmer , remove from heat.

Pour the sauce over the cauliflowers. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the sauce & cauliflower mixture. Evenly distribute grated cheese over the dish. Sprinkle paprika over the cheese.  Cover the dish with an aluminum or wax paper.

cheese sprinkled over the dish

Bake until the cheese melts. Then remove the cover and bake until the top is golden brown.

Cut into pieces and serve hot.

Ready to be served

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Family, Friends, Surprise Hat & the Mystery Cake

I have been having fun with my blog and have been sharing it with family and friends.
My beautiful niece Ece is working on her PhD and her first baby who is coming soon...

Imagine, I'll be a great aunt in May! We all are so excited about the baby.
The blue blanket I made is ready to go to Turkey. Ece recently sent me a note about a surprise package that was on its way. It was a surprise indeed. A real chef's hat that reads "Yasemin's Kitchen".
This officially makes me a chef, I guess, and now I really need to know what I'm doing in the kitchen.

I go to an art class every week. I have the coolest teacher and BFF Lynne. I met some of the most wonderful friends through art over the last few years. Needless to say, it is a lot more than learning to paint, it is like therapy. We are women of all different backgrounds and ages, yet we have a lot in common. I truly enjoy being with my them. On Monday we met in a cozy coffee shop for my birthday. Good coffee, great pastries and priceless conversations. We had a great time. Just when we were about to leave, the waiter shows up with a beautiful birthday cake. We all looked at each other trying to figure out who asked for it.
"Someone reserved it for you this morning" said the waiter.

That was enough to get us all excited. We raced asking “who, who?”
“No name!”. Then we got more excited...
Our imaginations started to work. There were suggestions of a “secret admirer”. 
We all giggled and laughed and sampled the delicious cake with our fingers.
Ten minutes later Lynne got a call from Gali. We found out that she could not make it to the party, but wanted to make sure we had a cake. So sweet, so special!

Life is good...with good friends...and good food...
Today's recipe?  Call a good friend, chat a little, chat a lot, in my opinion, best food for the soul.

Have a great day!

Pink Sultan – Beet Dip with Garlic Yogurt

Pink Sultan - Pembe Sultan

Here’s a meze bursting with color and flavor. Its almost florescent pink color comes from the beets. When one day, my childhood friend and college roommate Uslu prepared this for us, we, the other two roommates, whose kitchen talents were limited to macaroni and cheese, thought she used some ridiculous food dye to get the bright color. We were pleasantly surprised to find out it was all natural.

Each time I cook beets, I think about the centuries old Turkish kilim rugs and the fact that they use root dyes to color the wool they use. When a see a rug with bright pink or deep magenta patterns on it, I wonder if they used beets in getting those colors.

This is a very simple recipe with only 4 ingredients including salt. Garlic yogurt added to boiled beets, that’s all! No problem for those who want to skip garlic. This makes a great dip with chips or wedges of pita bread. You can also serve it as meze, a side dish. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 4 beets, about 2 cups
• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
• Salt to taste
• Fresh mint or parsley (optional as garnish)

Directions:

Cut the stems and the long skinny root part of the beets, wash them. Place in a pan with about 2 cups of water. Boil until tender, about 30 minutes. You can check tenderness by inserting a thin knife into it. If the knife goes thru with ease, it is cooked. Remove from heat, drain. Let it cool, peel outer layer. When you rub your fingers over the skin, it easily peels off. Grate the beets, place in a large bowl. Add yogurt and crushed garlic and salt. Mix well with a spoon. Taste it, if you like it more tangy, feel free to add more yogurt. Place it in a serving dish. Garnish with a few leaves of fresh mint or parsley.

Use fresh beets if possible

Uncooked, trimmed beets

Beets cooked and peeled

Grated beets

Pink Sultan with Pita Wedges

 Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!

Helva – Farina Dessert with Pine Nuts – Fistikli Irmik Helvasi

We spend our summers in Bodrum, a popular coastal town on the Southwestern Coast of the Aegean Sea in Turkey. We are very lucky with our neighbors. Though we all are from different age groups and backgrounds, we do share a lot, including food. Whoever cooks something special, brings a plate to the neighbors for sampling. 

Ayten hanim, Ayse and Cenk’s mother is a great cook. She was on a cooking show on TV as a contestant and made it to the finals. She is that good! When her son came  from the U.S. for his vacation, as a good Turkish mother, she was cooking all his favorite dishes and then some. Needless to say, we got a chance to enjoy some of her delicious specialties since they were kind to bring samples to us. 

Helva was one of them. Helva is a fairly common dessert in Turkey. Traditionally it is served at special occasions like weddings, after funerals, circumcision dinners, etc. Ayten hanim’s helva was so delicious that I took my pen and a piece of paper the next morning and went over to their house. I wrote the recipe down as we sipped our teas on their balcony. As she was listing the ingredients, like many Turkish women’s recipes, quantities of ingredients were not always measured with a cup or a spoon, typically listed “as appropriate”. She would say, for example “add butter... the size of an egg”, “add pine nuts... to your taste”(how much is up to you). When I tried it the first time, I measured everything, then, the next time I cooked helva, I decided to put less sugar. Thus, the recipe is slightly modified. Here it is, hope you like it!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups farina (semolina)
• ½ stick (4 table spoons) butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 cups milk
• ¾ cup water
• ½ cup pine nuts (pignolias)
• Ground cinnamon (optional)
• Vanilla ice cream (optional)

Directions:

Combine butter, pine nuts and farina (semolina) in a large pot. Stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula, roast the mixture until pine nuts turn golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Add milk, water and sugar, mix with a spoon. It will be a very watery mixture at first with pine nuts floating on top. Bring to a boil on medium heat, reduce heat and let it simmer, stirring occasionally. Do not cover. As the mixture thickens, it will start to look like porridge. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon to avoid sticking on the bottom. In about 10 more minutes, it will thicken resembling mashed potatoes, but stickier. 

Start roasting pine nuts and farina (semolina) in butter

Helva roasted until pine nuts turn golden brown

Milk, water and sugar added

It gets thicker as it simmers

Cooked, ready to be served

Remove from heat, let it cool for about 5 minutes.  When it is lukewarm, using an ice cream scoop or a melon baller, shape them into balls and place the balls on a serving dish.  You can sprinkle cinnamon over them when you serve. Goes well with vanilla ice cream. 

 

Afiyet Olsun! Bon Appetit!