Chocolate Covered Chestnuts

Lezzetin Izinde

Tis the season to roast some chestnuts on an open fire. Have you ever done it though? I had to go clear across the world to try some. It might have something to do with the fact that American chestnut trees were devastated by chestnut blight, or maybe chestnuts are just a European thing. The ones I usually find at the grocery store are from Italy.

Perhaps you've tried marron glacé? I adore them, whenever I can find some. It's probably a good thing they're hard to come by, though. The calorie count for chestnuts soaked in sugar syrup is insane. Some shops make them in Turkey, but as you can tell from the name, it's the French who really get credit for the idea - sorry Italy.

As far as Istanbul is concerned, there are other interesting ways to prepare a chestnut or kestane. Example: Chocolate coated chestnuts. From what I understand, the chestnuts are:

1) roasted to remove the shells
2) boiled in milk, vanilla and sugar
3) coated in (dark?) chocolate, and
4) dusted with pistachios

According to Hurriyet newspaper's 100 Tastes of Istanbul - Istanbul'un 100 Lezzeti, #49 is the chocolate covered chestnut from Bahar Pastanesi in Teşvikiye.

Best4 Pastry Shops in Istanbul
Bursa retaining sweet chestnut taste, tradition

Yogurt Soup - Yayla Çorbası

image via tulumba.com

It's officially NaNoWriMo for me, so I'm cheating on my blog and posting recipes.

An easy one that I like to make is Yayla Çorbası, which means peasant soup, or technically mountain village soup - aka yogurt soup.

For this you'll need:

One 32 oz package (4 c) of PLAIN yogurt.
Not Greek yogurt. Not vanilla yogurt. Plain. Preferably low fat, as opposed to nonfat. I use Dannon. A full cream organic like Stoneyfield Farms would be a waste of calories, IMHO. I'm picky about my yogurt.

1/4 cup flour
1 egg
1/4 cup of dried mint
1/2 of medium grain rice, rinsed
Two 32 oz cartons (8 c) chicken stock

To prepare:

Empty the yogurt into at least a 4 quart pot. Whisk in flour, egg, and dried mint. Add stock and rice. Stir frequently over medium-high heat, until the mixture almost comes to a boil. Bubbles look like they want to come through at the edges. Don't let it boil! The soup separates if it boils. Reduce heat to a simmer for about 15 more minutes, so the rice can cook through.

Serve with red pepper flakes.

I've eaten this cold. I've eaten it without red pepper flakes. I've eaten it with a splash of tabasco. Sometimes the yogurt isn't sour enough and I'll squeeze in a little lemon. Actually, this is a perfect dish to use up that container of yogurt you forgot about in the back of your fridge.

Or, if you're rushed and NaNoWriMoing like me, you can buy the mix.

Breakfast, Turkish Style

via Istanbul-pedia.com

In Turkish, kahvaltı (kahvaltuh) literally means "under the coffee", but it usually translates to "breakfast". A typical menu includes, but is not limited to olives, feta cheese, bread and soft-boiled eggs. As far as I know, kahvaltı always includes hot tea. (I guess this is what you're supposed to eat before you get to the coffee? It's a good idea, since the Turkish coffee is quite strong.) Sometimes we have kahvaltı for a quick dinner. Then I add things like menemen or a potato fritata, some smoked salmon or whatever else tickles my fancy.

A little anecdote:

I got off the plane in Adana in early August, which is the height of hazy, hot and humid season. I'm not talking uncomfortable, it's almost unbearable. And our condo didn't have air conditioning. Hot tea? Not the first thing on my most wanted list. Olives? For breakfast???

Yeah... hot tea AND olives. That's better!

Lucky for me, my mother-in-law had a giant jar of homemade apricot jam and Turkish bread is delicious. I survived on that for about a month before I started to branch out into some cheeses and a few select other things on the table. The hot tea was unavoidable though. (Boxed UHT milk is not yummy.) Fast forward a few months and I was eating some of everything, even the olives.

via Tulumba.com

You might think it's a pain to set out all different sorts of cheeses, olives, etc. every morning, but it isn't. The Turkish have an easy solution. A divided dish that you load up with goodies and cover to refrigerate!

Kahvaltı is reserved for weekends now though. No time to sit around eating the stuff!

Related Articles:

Kahvaltı, Turkish Breakfast

Recipe Heretic

As a pomegranate, I reserve the right to take what I like and leave the rest, wherever possible. Food seems to be the highest contender in this category. My menemen recipe is probably the best example I have of an adulterated Turkish recipe. My inlaws just can't get past the changes I make.

First, instead of hot green pepper, I use a sweet, red variety. Actually, it's the same kind of pepper that's dried into paprika and I've found plants in the garden centers with the "pimiento" label. A red bell pepper works almost as well. You'd think this substitution isn't a big deal, but apparently, it is.

My second act of recipe heresy: Although the dish has eggs, it is, in fact, a rustic peasant lunch or dinner. (OK, so I'll eat it cold the next day. IF there's any left! Also, I've read that it is a breakfast dish in some parts...just not at my inlaw's. Part of this misunderstanding might stem from the definition of  "Kahvaltı", which is next week's post.) Anyway, my key alteration to this classic dish is serving it over spaghetti. Tomatoes, peppers, onions, herbs...only the eggs make menemen different from a good sauce in my eyes. However, you're supposed to serve it with crusty bread (which is tasty too). Some people add feta cheese or Sucuk (a spicy Turkish sausage), but the straight version is as follows:

4 T Olive Oil
1 large Onion, diced
4 small, red bell peppers, diced
1 long, green chile, diced (Omit if you like.)
1 clove of garlic - chopped. (Optional)
4 large, FRESH tomatoes, peeled and diced - This is the only thing that's irreplaceable. Make it with canned tomatoes at your own risk!
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 T Parsley, chopped.
4 Eggs

Sauté the onion in the olive oil until translucent, then add garlic, peppers, chile and sauté them until soft. Add tomatoes, salt and pepper. Simmer to reduce liquid until the mixture has a sauce-like consistency. Add parsley, eggs and cover until eggs are firm, but not dry. My inlaws swirl the eggs into the sauce. (I like mine "kayısı gibi" - like an apricot...a little undercooked in the center. The travesty!)

If you like cheese, add some crumbled feta at the end. If you have sucuk, fry it first and use the pan drippings to fry the onions, etc. If you eat pork, pancetta might be nice instead.

Any other creative suggestions from my foodie followers? Alesa? Rayna?

Interesting Aside: Menemen is a town near Izmir.
Menemen