Cookaholics Bulletin Board

This year our annual Cooking Club long weekend (and they keep getting longer) was in Istanbul and, per Fuzzy's request, here is my report:

The city is amazing. Huge (the population rose from 1 million in 1950 to over 17 million today) but very easy to manage once you get used to the crazy traffic. The first thing that struck me was all the mosques rising above the city instead of the church spires, it made it all so much more exotic. As there were 10 of us splitting the cost it was affordable to get a private guide for a day. He was fantastic. We also rented a private yacht for a 2 hour tour on the Bosporus. I think this was our 8th or 9th trip together so we have gotten pretty good at organizing these things.

The food was much better than I expected. I was assuming it would be the same as Greek food but it was like Greek food reloaded. Much more variety. We had some shrimp that tasted almost like lobster, huge things. Fantastic beef and lamb. I think what I liked best was the use of fresh herbs on everything. Made me decide I need more dill in my life.

Mezze's and more


This woman made and cooked flat bread the whole time we were there. Also a filled variety that was fantastic (think cross between crepe and calzone)


Shops where they only sell baklava... heaven


More to follow...

This is from the spice market, an amazing place. I really need to get back there even if just for the pistachios:



More spice market, we didn't even get through the whole thing:


Interesting way to serve beer and interesting server (his name was Adam and he worked at our local watering hole):



The blue mosque, just to prove we weren't just eating 24/7:



Mary

Drooling! Fabulous!Thanks for posting your pictures. Now, I want to go......

You are very welcome.
It is a trip well worth saving for. I really want to go back.
In the mean time, anyone have any good Turkish recipes they want to share?

Mary

The April 19th issue of the New Yorker had a great article on cooking in Istanbul. I would link, but it's behind a paywall. Worth checking out at the library though.

Mary, your pic's and trip look fabulous! I was drooling over that first picture. The food looks amazing. I have never considered visiting Istanbul, but now......maybe.

Thanks for sharing.
Laurie

Hmmmm ... I know people in Istanbul ...

You can sign me up today.

Mary

Mary
The only Turkish recipe I have is for "Turkish meat Pies" I haven't made it in years, but I remember it tasting great.

1 package Pilsbury Hot Roll Mix ( make according to Pizza directions) or I guess you could just use pizza dough
1 lb ground lamb
1 small onion finely chopped
1or 2 lemons, juiced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
pinch allspice
salt & pepper to tast.
pine nuts
melted butter

roll out dough and cut into 25 circles. Mix filling ingrediants together (without pine nuts and butter) and top each circle with the filling leaving them open faced. Top with a sprinkle of pine nuts and melted butter.

Bake on buttered sheet pan at 350 until brown and cooked through.



Like I said.....I haven't made these in years, but they were a hit in the 70's

ilene