The colours and flavours of Turkey

Breaking Bread

Summer…  And this one has been an amazing one so far.  We have had some heat, but it’s been breezy and nice, and it has been so wonderful to be able to eat outside, in Steph’s yard. Since our new tablecloths are bright and colourful, we wanted a meal that would equal their vibrancy, so Turkish it is.

We had a pretty special mix of guests this week. Joining our trio was Mary, Alessandra and Kathy. We had some time on the deck, to catch up and brought out the nibbleys. we had Tomato and red pepper dip, cacik, taramasalata, whipped feta dip, stuffed grape leaves, and pita.  Ok, that may have been a bit more than nibbleys…  it was however very tasty.

I think each of us had our favorite dip, mine was the whipped feta. It was nice to have time, since there was lots of catching up, and reminiscing to do. This group of friends has a lot of history together.

The next course was a revelation to me, a Turkish pasta.  I had not thought of pastas as being Turkish, but this is a great summer dish, Manti in yogurt, with sizzling paprika butter.

With minced lamb, wrapped in tiny pyramids of fresh pasta, and served with yogurt, garlic and the paprika butter, the flavours of this dish are subtle, yet creamy and delicious. This was also the perfect opportunity to bring out the blue tableware, for its inaugural run, which I think enhanced the beautiful colours of the food.

The theme here is Turkish, but also colours, I think the main for this week was one of the most colourful we have done. Turkish-spiced chicken kebabs with pomegranate relish and tahini yogurt, alongside braised Turkish beans, and mushrooms baked with tomato and smokey chile. This was all served on grilled lavash flatbread.

Colourful, yes… but more importantly flavourful.  the pomegranate relish if fast becoming a favorite of ours, and it’s fun to beat the seeds out of the pomegranates. It adds a freshness and crunch to the meal, that goes nicely with the silkiness of the braised mushrooms. BBQing the kebabs also added a smokiness, that accompanied the subtle spices nicely. Now if you look at the pictures, the backdrop was the lovely shepherd salad.  Hold on, where’s the salad???  Yes in all the excitement we forgot to bring it down. So in honour of Alessandra, we will serve it Italian style, after the main.

Another riot of colour.  For our dessert, there was no question that we needed to bring back a favorite of ours from the region, the Turkish Love Cake.

This cake has a saffron cream frosting, over a light cake, flavoured with delicate spices and once in a while you get a little burst of flavour from a cardamom seed. The top is scattered with candied rose petals and pistachios.  I could make this every week.  I would like to note that the frosting took 3 tries to get right. i think I was a little over-confident.

As the night cooled into dusk, we gathered inside, to sing a few ditties, for old times sake.  A colourful evening, with lovely food, companionship and song.  Summer…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

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