Oklava
Page 6
To make the brine, bring 200ml (7fl oz) of the water to the boil with the salt and paprika. Tip it into a bowl and add the remaining cold water. Place the chicken pieces in a bowl, pour the brine over them and refrigerate for 3 hours. Rinse the chicken under cold water and pat dry.
To make the glaze, roughly chop the chillies and garlic. Put them in a food processor and blend to a coarse purée. Put the palm sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat and leave to caramelize. As soon as that happens, add the chilli and garlic purée and hot pepper paste. Cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes. Finally, add the cider vinegar and continue to cook for 15–20 minutes, or until the glaze has a syrupy consistency.
To make the crumbs, combine the ingredients in a bowl and stir in the crispy chicken skin. Tip the mixture onto a large tray.
Put the chicken pieces on a large baking tray, well spaced, and drizzle with a little olive oil. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until two-thirds cooked. Remove from the oven and generously ladle the glaze over all the pieces. Return to the oven for 5 minutes, then remove and repeat the glazing process. Once the chicken is cooked through and well glazed, remove from the oven and put the pieces straight into the tray of za’atar crumbs. Coat them well and serve with the lime mayonnaise and wedges of lime on the side.
BEEF MEATBALLS IN SOUR CHERRY SAUCE WITH BULGUR WHEAT PILAV
I first had this dish at Ciya Sofrasi in Istanbul, where the chef is known for recreating Ottoman dishes and incorporating wild ingredients into his food. This is my version of a classic. If you can’t find fresh cherries, frozen will work well too. And if you can’t find tatli biber salçasi, a type of Turkish sweet pepper paste, use tomato purée instead.
SERVES 6
750g (1lb 10oz) minced beef
1 tablespoon baharat (available in Turkish supermarkets)
1 tablespoon Turkish chilli flakes (pul biber)
100ml (3½fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil
3 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons thyme, leaves removed
1 heaped teaspoon sweet pepper paste (tatli biber salçasi)
1kg (2lb 4oz) red cherries, pitted
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
40g (1½oz) cold unsalted butter, diced
small bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
fine salt
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
FOR THE BULGUR PILAV
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon sweet pepper paste (tatli biber salçasi)
400g (14oz) tinned tomatoes or 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
300ml (10fl oz) stock or water
200g (7oz) coarse bulgur wheat
fine salt
FOR THE FENNEL YOGURT
6 heaped tablespoons Turkish or Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon ground fennel
Start by mixing the minced beef with the baharat and chilli flakes and season with fine salt. Cook a little in a frying pan to check the seasoning, then adjust the mixture as necessary. Knead the mixture very well, then shape it into small meatballs about 2cm (¾in) in diameter. Chill until needed.
Heat the olive oil in a large shallow saucepan over a medium heat and add the onions. Gently cook until soft, about 15 minutes. Add the thyme leaves and sweet pepper paste and continue to cook for 2 minutes. Now add the meatballs, half the cherries and enough water to come halfway up the meatballs. Season with salt and pepper, give it a gentle stir, then cover and turn the heat right down. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Meanwhile, make the bulgur pilav. Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan, add the onion and cook gently over a medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the sweet pepper paste and cook for 1 more minute. Add the tomatoes, stock or water and bulgur wheat and a little fine salt. Stir well, increase the heat and bring to the boil. Turn the heat right down, then cover and cook for 8–10 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat, place a piece of kitchen paper directly on the bulgur wheat, and put the lid on again. Set aside.
Mix together the yogurt and ground fennel. Season with flaky salt.
To finish the meatballs, add the remaining cherries, the lemon juice and butter. Cook for 5–10 minutes, or until you have a nice sauce consistency. Turn the heat off and add the parsley. Check the seasoning and serve with the pilav and fennel yogurt.
VEAL SHISH & ONION SALAD FLATBREAD WITH CHARRED SIVRI BIBER RELISH & YOGURT
For many people, veal remains a dirty word. British rose veal from dairy farm bull calves is, however, an ethically sourced, high-welfare product with a delicate flavour. It’s perfect in this flatbread recipe. I like to cook everything on a barbecue, but you can use a hot griddle pan if you prefer. The breads could even be cooked in an oven preheated too 240°C (475°F), Gas Mark 9.
SERVES 6
750g (1lb 10oz) rose veal shoulder, leg or sirloin, cut into 3cm (1¼in) cubes
1 tablespoon urfa chilli flakes (isot biber)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
100ml (3½fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil
1 quantity Pide dough or 4 good-quality flatbreads
flour, for dusting
4 tablespoons Turkish or Greek yogurt
FOR THE SIVRI BIBER RELISH
8 hot Turkish peppers (sivri biber; use green chillies if you can’t find them)
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
small bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks, chopped
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
50ml (2fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil
flaky sea salt and freshly ground pepper
FOR THE ONION SALAD
2 onions, quartered
2 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
4 teaspoons turnip juice (salgam)
50ml (2fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil
small bunch of flat leaf parsley, leaves only
1 tablespoon sumac
Heat a barbecue until the coals turn grey.
Put the veal in a bowl with the chilli flakes, cumin, oregano and half the olive oil. Leave it to marinate in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours, preferably overnight.
If you are making your own flatbreads, punch down the dough and and divide it into 8–10 equal pieces, depending on how big you want to make them. Lightly flour a work surface and roll out one piece at a time into a long oval shape about 4mm (⅛in) thick. As you roll them, place directly on the hot barbecue rack, griddle pan or oven shelf (make sure the bars aren’t too wide apart) and cook for about 1 minute on each side, or until a little puffed up and charred. Set aside and keep warm.
To make the relish, put the peppers on the barbecue (or in the griddle pan) and cook, turning them occasionally, until blackened all over. Remove and leave to cool. Once cool enough to handle, tear the tops off and strip away most of the skin, but don’t remove all the charred bits. Chop the flesh into small pieces. Place in a bowl and mix with the spring onions, coriander, lemon juice and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
To make the onion salad, separate the onion layers, push them onto metal skewers and place on the barbecue. Cook for 2–3 minutes, turning now and then, until charred on both sides. Remove from the skewer and put them in a bowl with the pomegranate molasses, turnip juice, olive oil, parsley and sumac. Season with salt and pepper and give it a good mix.
Finally, thread the veal pieces onto metal skewers and grill for about 3 minutes on each side, or until golden brown. Season them with fine salt during cooking. Place the skewers straight on the flatbreads to rest and release their juices for 5 minutes. To serve, spread some yogurt on a flatbread and top with the veal, onion salad and pepper relish.
RUMP STEAK TANTUNI WITH RED ONION, PEPPER & PARSLEY SALAD
I came up with this recipe for Soho Food Feast, a fundraising fête held every year at Soho Parish Primary School in central London. A number of London restaurants set up food stalls at this amazing event, which also
features live music, a raffle and the always-hilarious children’s vegetable sculpture competition. Tantuni, from the port city of Mersin in southeast Turkey, is traditionally made with boiled beef or chicken but I prefer to use fried steak as a Turkish take on the classic British steak sandwich.
SERVES 2
2 tablespoons Turkish or Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon Turkish hot pepper paste (açi biber salçasi)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 rump steaks, about 250g (9oz) each
2–3 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 Turkish loaf (somun) or a baguette
1–2 teaspoons urfa chilli flakes (isot biber)
1–2 teaspoons sweet smoked paprika
2 plum tomatoes, peeled and diced
2 long green Turkish peppers (Charleston peppers; use ordinary peppers if you can’t find them), sliced
flaky sea salt
FOR THE SALAD
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons sumac
small bunch of flat leaf parsley, leaves only, shredded
Mix the yogurt with the hot pepper paste and olive oil. Smear this all over the steaks and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for 2 hours (remove them 30 minutes before cooking).
Heat 1½ tablespoons of the sunflower oil in a large frying pan. Season the steaks with salt and fry for 2–3 minutes on each side, until a caramelized crust forms. Remove from the pan and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Clean the pan with kitchen paper and set aside.
Meanwhile, make the salad. Mix the onion with the sumac and parsley. Season with flaky sea salt and set aside until needed.
Dice the steaks into roughly 1cm (½in) pieces. Split the bread lengthways, not quite cutting all the way through, and trim it so that it will eventually fit into the frying pan. Heat the remaining oil in the empty pan until it is very hot. Add the diced meat, chilli flakes and paprika, and fry for 2 minutes, then add about 3 tablespoons water and a little more salt. Scrape any sticky bits off the bottom of the pan, then put the bread cut-side down on top of the meat and push it right down so it soaks up all the juices from the pan.
To serve, put the bread on a chopping board and scoop all the meat onto it. Top with the onion salad, tomatoes and peppers. Season with a little extra salt, then cut in half and serve.
ARTICHOKE & BEEF DOLMA
This is another of my mum’s recipes, and a regular feature on our Sunday dinner table. While writing this book, I’ve often called my mum to check the ingredients and techniques of some of her favourite dishes. At times this has been difficult – the recipes are second nature to her, so she’d tell me to put ‘some’ of this, ‘a bit’ of that and ‘not too much’ of the other. Mum doesn’t use measurements, so getting to the end result you see in this book hasn’t always been straightforward. With this dish, though, it can be particularly difficult to get the quantities right, as each artichoke will be a different size, making it tricky to know exactly how much filling you’ll need. I always make extra, as this mixture also works well stuffed into potatoes, peppers, courgettes or just about any vegetable you fancy.
SERVES 8
8 globe artichokes
freshly squeezed juice of 2–3 lemons
50ml (2fl oz) extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, diced
1kg (2lb 4oz) minced beef
1 tablespoon tomato purée
400g (14oz) tinned tomatoes, or 4 fresh tomatoes, chopped
250g (9oz) long-grain rice, rinsed
large bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped (a little stalk is good)
8 large slices tomato
flaky sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Cut the stalks off the artichokes and remove the chokes, using a small knife and a spoon as shown in the photographs. Put in a bowl of water with the juice of 1 lemon.
Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onions and cook gently for about 15 minutes, or until translucent. Add the minced beef and cook until it takes on a little colour, about 15 minutes. Break up the mince thoroughly as it cooks. Add the tomato purée and tomatoes and cook the mixture over a medium heat for a further 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the rice and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn the heat off, add the parsley and the juice of 1 lemon (or more if you like it very lemony) and leave to cool. Meanwhile. preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F), Gas Mark 5.
Once the filling has cooled, drain the artichokes and pat dry with kitchen paper. Spoon the filling into the hollows, then place the artichokes on a baking tray that holds them snugly. Top each one with a slice of tomato. Fill the tray halfway up with water, cover tightly with kitchen foil and bake for about 1 hour, or until the rice is cooked through. Remove the foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool a little before serving.
ÇEMEN-BRAISED SHORT RIBS WITH BROWN BUTTER BREAD SAUCE
Çemen is a Turkish spice paste used to make Kayseri pastirma, but it is also served as a meze to be spread onto bread. If you don’t want to make your own Çemen, you can buy it from a Turkish supermarket. This dish is delicious served with Tomato-Pomegranate Salad to cut through the richness of the sauce. I also recommend serving it with melted Chilli Butter, as shown here.
SERVES 4
4 beef short ribs on the bone, about 12cm (4½in) long
1 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons çemen
½ quantity Chilli Butter, to serve (optional)
FOR THE BREAD SAUCE
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, grated
100g (3½oz) unsalted butter
100g (3½oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
500ml (18fl oz) milk
80ml (2¾oz) double cream
flaky sea salt
Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F), Gas Mark 4. Put the short ribs in a roasting tin that fits them snugly and tuck the onion around them. Whisk the çemen with a little water to form a loose paste. Pour it into the tin and top up with just enough water to submerge the ribs. Cover with foil and bake for 3–4 hours, or until the meat is just coming away from the bone.
Meanwhile, make the bread sauce. Heat half the oil in a pan over a low heat, add the shallot and garlic and cook for about 5 minutes, or until softened. In a separate pan, melt the butter over a medium heat and keep cooking until it turns a nut-brown colour. Strain it through a fine sieve lined with kitchen paper. Add the breadcrumbs to the shallots, followed by the milk. Gently cook over a low heat, stirring until thickened. Add the double cream and season with salt. Finally, whisk in the browned butter. If you prefer, you could blend the sauce until completely smooth.
Once the ribs are cooked, pour the cooking liquid into a pan and reduce over a high heat until it reaches a gravy-like consistency. This might take a while, depending how much liquid you have. Remove and discard any bones or gristle from the meat. Wrap each rib tightly in clingfilm and leave to cool in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, melt the chilli butter, if using, and keep warm.
Once cool, cut each rib into 5 slices. Heat the remaining sunflower oil in a large frying pan. Add the rib slices and fry on each side until browned. Add some of the reduced meat sauce and turn the heat down. Cook the slices in the sauce until glazed (you might need to do this in a few batches).
To serve, reheat the bread sauce if necessary. Spoon it onto plates, place the beef on the sauce and add a little drizzle of extra sauce over the top. Pour over some warm chilli butter, if using.
FRIED BEEF KÖFTE
This is a classic Cypriot köfte, just like my mum makes them. The addition of potato keeps them really moist in the middle and crispy on the outside. At home we would always have them with Turkish-style rice or Cyprus potato chips and a big bowl of chopped salad. When we have these on the menu in the restaurant I always serve them with Tomato Relish as a dip on the side. For best results, cook one köfte to check the seasoning before shaping and frying the rest.
SERVES 4 – 6
&
nbsp; 4 potatoes, finely grated (any white potato is fine, but I like Cyprus potatoes)
600g (1lb 5oz) minced beef
2 small or 1 large onion, finely chopped
small bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
1 large egg
150–200g (5½–7oz) fresh white breadcrumbs (from a white crusty loaf, crusts removed)
vegetable oil, for frying
fine salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put the grated potatoes in a clean tea towel and squeeze with your hands to get rid of any excess liquid. Transfer to a large bowl and add all the remaining ingredients, except the oil, and season with salt and pepper. Knead the mixture for about 1 minute.
Pour enough oil into a frying pan to fill it no more than one-third full and place over a medium heat. When hot enough, a small cube of bread added to the oil should sizzle immediately. Alternatively, heat the oil in a deep-fat fryer.
Shape the beef mixture into köftes – either short, stumpy oval sausages (as is traditional) or small balls. It’s easier to do this with damp hands. When the oil reaches 180°C (350°F), you can start frying.
Add as many köftes as your pan can hold, leaving a 2cm (¾in) gap between them. Cook until they have taken on a nice dark brown colour, then flip them over and cook the other side. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
Continue to cook in batches until the mixture is used up. If you want to eat the köftes all at the same time, earlier batches can be reheated in a low oven. They can also be eaten warm or even cold.