Tomato-Carrot Soup (Domatesli Havuç Çorbası)

I have young and quite picky clientele at home for whom I have to cook and not disclose my ingredients. This, of course, is not easy with many dishes, but soups are great for food plotting. For years in our house soups were classified by their color; green soup (yayla soup), pink soup (beet soup), yellow soup (simply red lentil soup), etc. Tomato-carrot soup was known to them as orange soup and to me as "salvage-mushy-tomatoes" soup: whenever tomatoes get too soft to enjoy at breakfast or in salads, I throw them in the freezer and when I have approximately 2 cups worth of tomatoes I make this soup. This simple soup is one of our family favorites. I made this for my mom and some of my Turkish aunties back in Turkey and they all asked for the recipe and that's when you know it is a damn good soup!

serves 4-5 people

2 cups of fresh tomatoes (roughly chopped-if you're using cherry tomatoes leave them as is) or 1 can diced tomatoes

2 medium orange carrots

1 whole red bell pepper, roughly chopped or 6-7 red or orange sweet Italian peppers, seeded

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves

1 bay leaf

3-4 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

optional

1 cup milk or heavy cream or coconut milk

or chicken broth

-Heat a heavy bottom pot or you soup pot and add oil.

-When oil is hot add onions and red peppers with the bay leaf. Stir on medium (if it's a cast iron pot) or high (if you're using a stainless steel pot) until soft, ~5 minutes.

-Add carrots and garlic. Stir until vegetables start to brown on the edges and caramalize, ~10 minutes.

-Add tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes, until fresh tomatoes change color. 

-Add 5 cups of water or broth of your choice. 

-Salt to your taste and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes, until carrots are cooked. 

-Take the bay leaf out and with a hand blender smoothen the soup. 

-Enjoy with a slice of toast on the side and crumbled feta on top. 

    If you want to twist it around, add just 4 cups of water or stock and after blending the soup add a cup of milk, heavy cream or coconut cream, whichever flavor you fancy. 

 

 

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Turkish Breakfast on a Toast (Fırında Domates ve Peynirli Ekmek)

When I was a kid I loved having freshly baked steaming hot bread, but then who wouldn't. Also, having hot bread every morning in Turkey was and still is possible. People usually know when their neighborhood bakery takes out the new batch of bread. We went to the bakery around that time and they used to wrap the really hot bread in old newspapers. We would and still do cut the bread lengthwise and spread as much butter as it could hold and eat it. But then for mom the biggest challenge was to come up with creative ways to use stale bread. This recipe was my mom's way of making us consume stale bread. It was family favorite for breakfasts, brunches, or afternoon tea-times. Everything you expect from a Turkish breakfast is here on a slice of bread: tomatoes, feta cheese, olives, parsley, banana peppers, and eggs.

Must-haves of this recipe are stale "real" bread (never ever use any kind of wanna-be breads such as sliced toast bread variety or freshly baked "real" bread, since they both get really soggy with tomato juice. I prefer baguettes), fresh tomatoes, banana peppers, feta cheese, parsley, and an egg. The rest is up to you; you can add, remove, or modify the ingredients.

1 French baguette, sliced any way you want (I use French bread, because it tastes more Turkish to me than any other bread; however, you can also use sourdough, whole wheat, whole grain, etc.)
2 medium fresh tomatoes, petite diced
1 banana peppers or sweet Italian peppers, chopped (never use bell peppers)
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/3 cup black olives, pitted and chopped (Turkish olives would be great but Kalamata would work just fine. No canned olives)
1 egg
1/3 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed pepper (optional)
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tbsp olive oil
salt (how much salt you will use depends on what kind of feta cheese you have; if it's a really salty one you may not even need salt)

-Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Place the tomato mixture on bread slices with a spoon. If the bread is "really" stale, use the juice from the bottom of the bowl to wet the top of the bread slice. Place the bread slices on a broiler tray
-There will be some juice left in the bowl. Put some on top of each slice
-Broil 6-7 inches below heat until slightly brown. Approximately 8-10 minutes

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Tomato Pilaf (Domatesli Pilav)

One of the indispensable dishes of summer time dinner tables. It goes well with any kind of grilled meat and olive oil dishes. And as a bonus, it's one of the all time kid-favorite Turkish recipes. It was MY favorite as a kid. I could live on tomato rice, meatballs, and yogurt all summer. Last night I got the best compliment for my cooking ever: A five-year old, unfortunately not mine, told me my red rice was better than ice cream. Yes, that level of compliment!

serves 6-8

2 cups of rice (I find jasmine rice the closest to Turkish rice)
1 small onion, finely chopped, ~1/2 to 1 cup
3 tbsp olive oil or butter (if you use olive oil, you can have the rice cold the next day)
3-4 juicy medium to big size tomatoes, diced (hard to believe but in Turkey most people skin the tomatoes) or 1 can of petite diced tomato (when using canned tomatoes, I always put them in the processor for 5-10 seconds to make it smoother for my picky eaters)
1 tsp salt
a pinch of sugar (1/4 tsp or a little more)
1 tsp black pepper (optional)
3 3/4 cups of water or stock (vegetable or chicken)
finely chopped parsley to garnish

-According to the traditional Turkish style of making rice pilaf, rice is soaked in warm water for at least 20 minutes and then rinsed well to wash off the starchiness. Although I have been scolded by mom and various aunts over this issue, I do not soak or wash rice for no good reason other than laziness and lack of time.
-Saute onions in a steel pot with your preferred oil until soft. Don't let them brown.
-Add the tomatoes and sugar, and cook for 4-5 minutes until they acquire that dark cooked-tomato color.
-Add rice and stir for a couple of minutes.
-Add water or stock, salt, and pepper, if you're using any. Stir once. Turn the heat down to low to medium once it starts boiling.
-Cover and simmer on low heat for 15-20 minutes, until it absorbs the water or stock. You might want to stir it once after 10 minutes if the water stays on top and the bottom is getting cooked.
-Once it's cooked. Take the pot off the stove and cover the top with a paper towel or a clean kitchen cloth. Do not stir it. Replace the lid. Let sit covered for at least 10 minutes.
-Now you can stir or fluff it up to distribute the oil evenly that sat on the bottom. Sprinkle chopped parsley and serve hot.

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Vegetarian Stuffed Tomatoes (Zeytinyağlı Domates Dolması)

In Turkey end-of-summer tomato bounty usually means time to can or jar tomato sauces or to make tomato paste. Unfortunately I am too lazy for any of those. I decided to say good bye to the summer and to the dearest tomatoes that I tremendously enjoyed all summer long with a nice dish. Stuffing tomatoes with rice or ground meat, although not as common as peppers or zucchinis, is common. Using bulgur rather than rice for stuffing is more popular in the central and eastern Turkey. Inspired by dolmas stuffed with bulgur, I tried using quinoa for my tomatoes which makes this recipe an authentic "almost" Turkish one.

For dolma it is important to pick firmer tomatoes. I prefer roma tomatoes for stuffing.


~15 medium size firm tomatoes
1 cup quinoa
3 medium size onions, finely chopped
1/2 to 3/4 cup olive oil (I never hold back olive oil)
1/4 cup currants
1/4 cup pine nuts
1 tsp white granulated sugar
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
2-3 sweet peppers (any color), finely chopped
juice of half lemon
salt


-Wash the tomatoes and remove the tops to use later as a lid. Use a spoon or a melon scoop to remove the seeds and inside flesh. Save the flesh. Put the flesh in a food processor or dice them really small.
-In a big frying pan heat half of the olive oil.
-Add sugar, onion, pine nuts, and peppers, and saute until onions are tender.
-Add quinoa, stir for a couple of minutes.
-Add 1 cup of pureed tomato from the inside flesh. Cook stirring for 2-3 minutes.
-Add 1 cup of hot water. Cover and simmer until the water is soaked. Turn the heat off.
-Add the remaining ingredients: black pepper, all spice, basil, parsley, lemon juice, and salt. Mix well.
-Once it cools down start stuffing tomatoes with this mix. Do not over stuff them. Leave a little bit of room for quinoa to grow :) Place the tops that you cut earlier on top. That top will keep your dolmas moist. (If you are out of tomatoes and still have more stuffing try zucchinis or potatoes, or just eat the stuffing it's delicious.)
-Place the tomato dolmas in a somewhat deep (to prevent mess) oven proof pot or dish facing up.
-Pour the remaining olive oil and 1 cup or a little more hot water to cover almost half way up the tomatoes.

Now you can either cook them on the stove or bake them in the oven. I honestly think baked dolmas beat the stove cooked ones but it's up to you.

For cooking on the stove:
-Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

For baking:
-First bring to a boil on the stove and then bake for 40-50 minutes at  400 F. Do not cover.

Reminders: It's always a good idea to check the amount of water while cooking/baking. If the water is gone before the cooking is over, add hot water.

Let dolmas cool in their pots. Wait until they are luke warm before serving. This is an olive oil dish and like other olive oil dishes it's best when it's cold and even better the next day.

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