When you’re a city of 20 million, you have to feed the citizens and tourists alike. There’s street vendors for those in a rush, high end restos catering to the rich with haute Ottoman and European dishes and then there’s the open kitchens which are found throughout the city. Much like in Greece, these open kitchens offer seasonal, fresh dishes that are presented in the front windows or counters of the store.  One walks through Istanbul enticed by the aroma and sight of these dishes, presented with panache yet still very rustic.

One of the dishes that drew me in was Islim Kebabi, the recipe I’m sharing  today. Essentially its a dish made of an eggplant-wrapped meatball topped by tomato and pepper. There’s a few techniques used here but nothing overly tasking and this a great presentation dish for family and friends.

Essentially, Islim Kebabi requires some lightly fried eggplant to wrap the meatballs in, fried meatballs, a quick tomato sauce and finally the dish comes together in the oven.

Islim Kebabi

(serves 4-6)

1 recipe of Keftedes

3 eggplants, 1/2 in. sliced lengthwise

oil for frying

Sauce 

1 cup tomato purée

1/4 cup olive oil

1 med. onion, finely diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

1 tsp. dried Greek oregano

pinch of cinnamon

2 tomatoes, pulp removed & quartered

1-2 banana peppers, halved & cut into 1 inch pieces.

toothpicks

Pre-heated 350F oven

1. Slice your eggplants lengthwise to about 1/2 in. slices and sprinkle with salt and place upright in a strainer to allow the bitter liquid to drain for 30 minutes. Pat-dry with paper towels and add about 1 cm. of vegetable oil in a skillet and fry the eggplant slices over medium heat until just soft and pliable (about 2 minutes). Reserve on paper towels and drain off/discard oil.
2. In the meantime, mix your ground beef (or lamb) with the remaining ingredients then fry-off a small meatball to taste-test then, form into palm-sized meatballs. Lightly dredge in flour and add about 1 cm. of olive oil in a skillet and brown on both sides, reserve on paper-lined platter.
3. In the same skillet, add some more olive (if needed) and add your onions, garlic, tomato purée and bring up to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper and reduce until the sauce is thick. Add the dried oregano, a pinch of cinnamon and set aside. Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
4. Place three slices of fried eggplant into a medium-sized ramekin (or like-sized bowl) with . Now place a meatball inside and bring the eggplant up toward the top of the meatball and affix with one or two toothpicks and top with a tomato quarter and green pepper.
5. Place the sauce in a baking dish that with snugly hold the eggplant and meatball bundles. Drizzle with some olive oil and place in your pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until just golden on top.
6. Serve with a rice pilaf and place the Islim Kebabi to the side with a spoon or two of sauce. Serve with an Amydeon Oenos red from the Amyntaio Wine Co-Op.

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© 2012, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

super-crowded but fun Istiklal Street in Istanbul

It was pleasing to see some of same restaurants mentioned by my Turkish friends and one standout was Haci Abdullah, in the Beyoglu/Perama district of Istanbul, on a small street around the corner from the Greek Consulate. This restaurant is very old school (original operating licence gratned by Sultan Abduhamid II) and it boasts being in business for over 100 years!

Walking into Abdullah takes you back in time with the ornate wallpaper and traditional Ottoman decor. Westerners should note that no alcohol is served here but that shouldn’t deter you from tasting an array of Turkish dishes for an affordable price. The other tradition kept here is the presentation of the food in an “open kitchen” format – a way of displaying food that is still prevalent in Greece as well.

The first thing I did was pre-order my dessert of Kunefe…a prerequisite since it’s made to-order and requires about 20 minutes. With dessert already out-of-the-way, I scanned over the day’s offerings on display and opted for the classic – Hunkar Begendi. The dish’s name focuses on the smoked eggplant purée that acts as a bedding for whatever protein is placed on top. I’ve made it with beef, served it with octopus but traditionally stewed lamb in a reddened sauce is the accompaniment.

The taste of this smoked eggplant purée is creamy, it’s thick, it’s cheesy and it’s wonderful when paired with a mouthful of this stewed lamb. Hunkar Begendi’s flavour is so delicious that it’s even evoked a few stories surrounding it’s origins: one story is that the famed kitchens of Ottoman Sultan Murad IV created this dish and that it easily became his favourite, “Sultan’s Favourite”. Another story surrounded around famous Ottoman concubine Hunkar, a notoriously hard-to-please gourmand who loved this combo (perhaps the Sultan loved the dish as much as the concubine?)

The thid “Hunkar” story goes like this: the dish was served to Empress Eugenie, wife of Napolean II, on a visit to Istanbul in the 1860′s. Sultan Abdul Aziz I was eager to please and he ordered the kitchen staff to prepare the best of Ottoman cuisine to the Empress. Eugenie was delighted!  She sent one of her own French chefs into the kitchen to retrieve the recipe. The Sultan’s chef through out the Frenchman with the words, “an imperial chef cooks with his feelings, his eyes and his nose. Somebody must have “sung” as the recipe is now a Turkish fave found in restaurants throughout Turkey!

Key points to remember for this dish is to char/blacken your eggplants on a gas or charcoal grill or open flame on a gas stove. It’s imperative to get that smoky flavour in the eggplant. Second, in-season ripe tomatoes work best but canned or jarred tomatoes will work well. Finally

Hunkar Begendi With Lamb

(serves 4)

Approx. 2lbs. of cubed lamb meat (preferably shoulder)

1/4 cup olive oil or butter

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1/2 cup diced green pepper

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

2-3 bay leaves

6-7 whole allspice berries

2 Tbsp. Turkish red pepper paste (Biber Salcasi)*

2 tsp. of fresh thyme leaves

2 Tbsp. chopped parsley

2 cups plum tomatoes, hand crushed (or  ripe tomatoes, passed though box grater)

2 cups hot water or stock

salt and pepper to taste

Smoked Eggplant Purée

2 large eggplants (or 4 Tsakonikes or long-slender Japanese)
1/2 cup grated Kefalotyri or Romano cheese
2 heaping Tbsp. of cream cheese
2 Tbsp. of butter
2 Tbsp. of all-purpose  flour
2 cups of milk
salt and pepper to taste
1 cup of chopped fresh chives or scallion greens

fresh ground pepper & salt to taste

Garnishes

roasted cherry tomatoes and fried hot green peppers

1. Season your cubes of lamb with salt and pepper and place a large skillet on your stovetop over medium-high heat. Saute the lamb and occasionally stir so that the meat browns on all sides. Now add the remaining oil, onions, diced peppers, bay leaves, allspice and reduce to medium, adding a bit of salt and pepper and simmer for 6-7 minutes.
2. Now add the red pepper paste* (or 1 roasted red pepper mashed with a fork), thyme, parsley, tomato sauce and hot stock and bring up to a boil. Season once again with some salt and pepper and reduce to a simmer, slightly cover and cook for 30-40 minutes. Uncover, adjust seasoning and continue to simmer uncovered until the sauce is thick. Take off the heat and reserve/keep warm.
3. The eggplant purée can be prepared while the lamb is stewing. Pierce the eggplant around a few times ( prevents it from exploding) all around and char/blacken over high heat in your gas or charcoal grill. Turn the eggplant every 10-15 minutes until all sides of the skin are charred.
4. When the eggplant has cooled enough to handle, cut the eggplant open with a knife and spoon out the meat of the eggplant. Discard the skin. Pound the eggplant using a mortar and pestle until it’s creamy yet chunky. Reserve.
5. In a medium saucepan, add your butter over medium heat and when it’s melted add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon until the colour turns to a light brown. Now slowly add your milk while stirring until the mixture starts to thicken (like the consistency of cream). Add your roasted eggplant puree, the cream cheese and grated cheese and stir to incorporate. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper and stir in your chopped chives. Reserve and keep warm.
6. Spoon about a generous ladel into each plate and make a whole in the middle then divide and place the stewed lamb in middle of each plate, surrounded by the eggplant puree. Garnish with some roasted cherry tomatoes and a fried green pepper. Serve with a Domaine Vourvoukelis Avdiros Red from Xanthi (Thrace).

*Checkout Hunkar with Beef, Hunkar with Octopus and Hunkar with Quail and Ioanna’s take on Hunkar Begendi.

Old Greek agora on Istiklal St., Istanbul

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

a coffee roaster

I’m writing this post to share my passion for this “way” of making coffee which is simmered/brewed, unfiltered and if made properly, you may may indeed begin to make it for yourself or friends. Some good times have been had around the table with Greek coffee…sipping and chatting with my Papou (grandfather), enjoyed some sunrises and sunsets with Greek coffee and I’ve had my fortune told by aunts who tip the cups and read the coffee grounds! In Greece, the ritual of drinking Greek coffee usually occurs twice a day. The first Greek coffee is sipped in the morning as a jolt to wake up the morning and the second jolt comes after waking up from the afternoon siesta.

dark and light roast Greek coffee

Greek coffee can be strong in flavour but not necessarily in caffeine. Much like any other coffee – it all depends on your blend and or type of coffee used. In the coffee world there is light roast and dark roast. Light roast actually will give you a milder tasting coffee but there will also be more caffeine present. A dark roast (my preference) means the flavour of your coffee will be bolder but there the roasting reduces the caffeine in the coffee.

a "gazaki"

To make Greek coffee, you’ll need a briki (vessel to boil the coffee), demi-tasse cups,  cold water, sugar and of course, the coffee. Greek coffee can be made in four different ways. It can be sketos (without sugar, strong and bitter), metrios (medium, usually with half teaspoonful of sugar), glykys or vari glykos (almost honey-sweet) and glykys vrastos – sweet but boiled more then once so it loses most of its froth.

The most common way to boil your coffee is on your stove-top but the camping-style “gazaki” has become very popular and there are some fancy looking ones that come in brass and silver. Most are impatient to get that jolt of caffeine in your body but Greek coffee is best simmered over medium-low heat. If you’re lucky, some of the better cafes in Greece will make Greek coffee in a Hovoli. Some are more ornate than others but a Hovoli basically works like this: add your water, sugar and coffee into the brass briki then place it in the part of the hovoli filled with hot sand. The hot sand mimics hot ashes, the traditionally way to heat up some Greek coffee.

water container of a Hovoli

Depending on what kind of Greek Coffee you like, measure and add into the briki the coffee, a teaspoonful of coffee per cup, and the sugar. For a medium coffee the best balance is to add the same amount of sugar as coffee. For a medium coffee the best balance is to add the same amount of sugar as coffee.

An interesting anecdote on Greek coffee and its origins – is it Greek or Turkish? This was the question posed to the wife of the former Greek Ambassador to Canada, Apostolos Papsliotis. I was reunited with the Ambassador and his wife at a wedding reception this past Summer in Halkdiki, Greece. We were taking about food, Greek food and the city of Isatanbul creeped into the conversation. Mrs. Papasliotis told me about attending a dinner and being seated right beside the Turkish ambassador. The Turkish ambassador leaned over to the Greek Ambassador’s wife and asked about the origins of coffee…., “Greek or Turkish”?

The cunning and very diplomatic Ambassador’s wife replied, “It is not Turkish or Greek…but Eithiopian”!

Greek Coffee (Ελληνικός-καφές)

• Greek coffee
• Sugar (1 tsp for sweet, 1/2 tsp for medium/metrio)*
• A briki
• Demi-tasse cups
• Cold water
• side glass of water

1. Using the demi-tasse cup, measure the amount of cold water will need to make your serving of coffee and add into briki.
2. Add the a teaspoon of coffee in to the briki.
3. Now add the appropriate amount of sugar*.
4. Over medium heat, place the briki on the heat. Do not stir but swirl the briki until the coffee and sugar have dissolved.
5. As soon as the coffee foams, quickly remove from the heat and pour into the demi-tasse.
6. Allow the coffee grounds to settle to bottom of cup for about a minute before drinking. Sip until you detect a bit of coffee grounds in a sip. Coffee is done.
7. You want to serve Greek coffee with the foam (kai-maki) and as soon as you start to see the coffee rise and foam, quickly take the briki off the heat and pour into your guests’ demi-tasses. A well-made Greek coffee will have a solid layer of “kaimaki” or krema on top.
8. Serve with a glass of cold water and a cookie or a sweet.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

Istanbul is easy for me to reach from Greece as my homebase is Thessaloniki/Halkidiki, which is about 10 hours away by road and even closer if taking a plane. I go to Istanbul (Constantinople still for Greeks) for many reasons: the city belongs to everyone and yes, Greeks are most welcome there, the people are very kind and hospitable to tourists, it’s still an affordable city, I’m in awe of large Metropolises like Istanbul and the foods, be it on the street or in restaurants never cease to amaze me.

Last year I took a ferry boat ride to Prince’s Island, just an hour away from Istanbul and spent the day roaming the idyllic streets with the well-preserved wooden homes on streets lined with weeping willows and away from the busier tourist-lined streets. That day, breakfast was a Simit from a street vendor and a coffee and after a long day of walking, hunger pangs awoke and it would be fate that I would walk in front of a busy eatery that made Lahmacun and Pide out their brick oven.

Once again, the #1 travel rule was followed here – eat where the locals eat and this joint had benches in front crammed with Turks grabbing a quick bite for lunch – either a Lahmacun or Pide. Lahmacuns and Pide are often called Turkish pizzas: both are of a thin crust, made with fresh housemade dough and baked in brick ovens. The Lahmacun can be oval or round and the topping is usually made of a mixture of ground lamb, grated tomato, a red pepper paste, garlic, onions and peppers. The Pide is canoe shaped and the creativity in fillings/toppings is much more varied and deserving of another blog post or two.

After having this delicious twist on pizza I found myself craving Lahamacun here in Toronto and when I feel like grabbing a bite when out doing errands, I head to Mr. Pide for my Lahmacun and Pide fix. Other times, I make my own dough, roll it out to make a thin base then spread on the ground lamb mixture and massage it into the dough with my fingers. Much like homemade pizza, having a pizza stone pre-heating in your oven and forming the pizza dough on a peel will reward you with best results.

You could use ground beef here but you must look for Biber salcasi (pepper paste) which can be found at Turkish grocers. The Lahmacun topping is easily concocted using a food processor and simply whizzing the ground meat, onions, garlic, chopped tomatoes, peppers and the Biber salcasi. If you can’t find the “Biber”, a roasted red pepper should do the trick.

Less is more when it comes to Lahmacun so you should resist temptation to spread lots of the topping on the dough. This dough bakes very quickly and therefore you want the topping to cook in the same amount of time. Garnishes on Lahmacun range from salad greens to chopped onions, peppers and tomatoes, sides of peppers (pickled or hot) and fresh parsley are the usual and a wedge of lemon is ever-present for those wanting a little lemon-squeezer.

Turkish Lahmacun

(will feed 4)

1/2 of  pizza dough recipe

Ground Lamb Topping

1/2lb. of ground lamb (or beef)

1/2 green bell pepper

1 medium red onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 Tbsp. red pepper paste

1 medium tomato, peeled/concasse

1 tsp. sea salt

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. chilli flakes

1 tsp. ground allspice

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/4 cup extra- virgin olive oil

1. Roughly chop all your vegetables and red pepper paste – place in the food processor and pulse into a coarse paste (vegetables should still be visible. Now add the ground lamb, some salt, black pepper, allspice, oregano and some olive oil and pulse until amalgamated. Fry off a piece of the mixture to taste then adjust seasonings, reserve.
2. Pre-heat your oven to 450F with your pizza stone set to the middle rack. Punch your  dough and squeeze out balls of dough out of your palm and place on your well-floured pizza peel. Stretch and roll out into a long oval shape and ensure the dough is thin. Carefully lift the dough up and sprinkle some cornmeal underneath so that the dough will slide off your peel and into your oven. You’ll have to bake your Lahmacuns in batches so try and fit two on your peel.
3. Take a small handle of the topping in your hands and spread it with your fingers, massaging it into the dough and getting as near to the edges as possible. Slide the Lahmacuns into your pre-heated oven for 7-8 minutes or until crust is just browned. Remove from the oven and serve with side garnishes of parsley, pickled hot peppers, fresh tomatoes, onions, lemon wedges (all nibbled on with Lahmacun).
4. Repeat making Lahmacuns and consider these other garnishes to top your Lacmacuns when they come out of the oven:

• a mixture of dice red & green peppers, tomatoes & onions
• top with Tzatziki or strained Greek yogurt

* Lahmacun are also made by Armenians, Lebanese and enjoyed throughout the Middle-East. My version of Lahmacun is inspired by my visits to Istanbul.

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

If the view didn’t already woo us, we were bound to enjoy the creative dishes from the chef who was one of the judges on Greece’s version of Master Chef. First up was a bowl filled with olive oil, olives, balls of yogurt, herbs and a basket of delicious bread. The olive oil begged to be dipped  into with the bread.

The first course was a braised cuttlefish with fennel, greens and a hint of petimezi. The cuttlefish simply melted in our mouths and the evening’s food simply got better!

The course was a warm salad of fava beans, chick peas and a broth that was so delicious, we had to ask our server to bring us spoons so that we could finish the entire dish.

In Greece, we call split peas “fava” and in the next course, the split peas were simmered then pureed and served as a bedding for a smoky, tender and delicious melange of Siglino (pork), olives and fennel.

Greek love their cheese and this crusted Graviera cheese that was pan-seared and served on a warm bed of salad was fantastic with the Tselepos Mantineia Moschofilero.

The main for the evening was a pork belly that was served in bite-sized pieces on a bed of smoked eggplant, fortified Greek wine (liasto) and marjoram.

Already full but anxious for dessert, we were treated to not just one but two desserts. The first was a glass of wheat berries served with pomegranate seeds and a side of Rakomelo from Crete.

The final touch for the evening was a dark chocolate pudding served with hazelnuts, orange spoon sweet and biscuits. Each bite was a surprise and so ended another super-cool evening at the Sani Gourmet Festival.

Off I go to get ready for an afternoon party where I’m sure to meet some of the wonderful sponsors, organizers and folks that simply adore Greek cuisine.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at  http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.

© 2007-2011 Peter Minakis

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© 2011, Peter Minakis. All rights reserved. If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://kalofagas.ca then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at truenorth67 AT gmail DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author.