Etli Bamya (Okra and Lamb) - More Memories of Turkey

I really miss Turkish cuisine. And one of the dishes I have particularly been yearning for is Etli Bamya. Nearly impossible to get here in Spain, okra is the main star of this dish.

This past weekend, we spent two nights in Valencia for my birthday where I located, quite by accident a large Indian supermarket next to a nothing-to-get-excited-about Indian restaurant. And there was fresh okra...already in its future incarnation as Okra and Lamb, to my mind.

Turkish cooking is fabulous in its simplicity of flavouring/seasoning of its dishes, yet it is a cuisine known for its rich flavours. It is afterall, one of the three great world cuisines (Chinese, Ottoman Turkish and French).

Few and rather selectively are herbs or spices used. It is the quality of the ingredients of the dishes that are highlighted and appreciated. Butter is used for cooking and olive oil for the cold 'salad' dishes. Lemon, tomato or small pieces of meat - almost always lamb, seldom chicken unless it is featured on its own - may be but a few of the common 'seasoning'.

The 'seasoning' in this dish is the fresh tomato and the lemon juice it is cooked with. And I add just a sprinkle of salt near the end. I made mine with more lamb than is normally used. Usually it is considered a vegetable dish flavoured with some lamb. It is eaten - as are many dishes - with bread only.

I was slightly amazed as my usually suspicious husband - who will use any excuse to avoid eating much vegetables at all - ate everything. Appetizer to main dish. And wiped the dish clean with the bread. Check back here in a fews days for links to the recipe.

I'll be visiting Valencia again soon for more okra. This time I plan to string up a quantity and dry them. When I couldn't get okra fresh, that is how I bought them from the Turkish food markets in Germany. One just cooked them longer in the broth before adding to the rest.

Life is grand. I now can get okra in Spain. :>D

Lunch with Stuffed Tomato et al

Stuffed tomato...another one of those ubiquitious entities that can be banally boring or deliciously delectable. In my case, I suddenly had to have one. Spinach Florintine was to be the first course to another Turkish dish of okra and lamb (Etli Bamya) I had been yearning for since years (literally) ...although, not the ideal choice. But not having all the other goodies on hand for a decent Turkish first course of appetizers...I made do.

"Right. Ok, toss the rest of that bit of rice into the lamb broth (that was for the okra dish) , hull out two tomaotes, get them going under the grill. Get the spinach going. Sautéed with onion in butter." Humm, humm, humm all the while the okra and lamb dish is going.

Some of the rice I seasoned a little with dried dill and the usual and the rest went into the spinach. Just the yolk was topped with a little butter and the grill did the rest. Eggwhite was rescued for another event. Who knows?

So how did it do as a first course to the Etli Bamya? It did do well!

Check back here in a few days for the link to the recipe.

Garlic Soup - Opening the Season

Today was another perfect day - not too warm, yet with an intermittant breeze to hint at cooler-to-come Autumn weather. But when summer is past tense and I have the sudden inspiration for my Toasted Garlic Soup Provençal , then for me that signifies an official seasonal change. I just don't feel like it in summer. Nope, that's gazpacho time. You will note that my last entry about my garlic soup was in May. That was 'end of the past season time'. From then on it slipped over to summer fare. And different things to do with garlic. Like ailioli.

Reggie and I always have two bowls of garlic soup before on to the main. It is definately a two bowl soup, although one IS enough. Second course today was sole cooked in a little butter and olive oil served with millet and also a side of broad green beans with fine half rings of sweet onion and a little winter savoury.

Made for a fine meal. Flies thought so too. Unfortunetly, now is the fly season and if you just THINK seafood out on the terrace, it seems swarms of them start gathering for the feast. But I outfoxed them. I deboned the fish, left those bits in the pan as bait at the far end of the table and we were more or less left alone. The few clever ones not interested in fish head et al were deterred by my home made repellant I made up with essential oils.

It worked. But we decided next time we have fish or seafood, we are definately dining inside where we are hardly bothered and don't have to fox the flies.

Autumn Fare

I love Autumn. I love the colours, the change in the air and the change on the table. I look forward to the dishes made of pumpkin, I anticipate the porcini season and cuddling into a warm bed. Days are still warmish here and the nights just right. I sit here now almost at midnight in short sleeves and shorts, window open. But you can feel the season has changed. Sun comes up later, goes down earlier...I go barefooted less. There may be one more fling of a warm period, a week or so then....boom! Its sweaters, socks, blankets! A welcome change from our very hot summer.

The October menu is up. Here's a hint: first course is Spicy Pumpkin-Coriander Soup, garanteed to put a smile on your face.

And me...what happened that I neglected this blog and the site since beginning of summer? Well, a computer glitch at first. Then just not having it back! The only fellow I trust to work on it picked it up, as usual and took it home over the weekend. But then he has an accident on the way back from Barcelona from visiting his girl friend. Hospital - 6 weeks, then several more at home before he can even think about working. And so the summer went.

Then two unexpected visits long over due - 6 years since the last time for either. That always throws things off, but it was a lovely time together.

Well, as you see I have my beast back...and I am still catching up on lost time and work.

I need a secretary/clone to do my work for me. And keep my desk cleared. I must be dreaming.

Sigh. One day I will figure out why I am doing all this :>D