Persimmon Date Walnut Bread

It's fall! Today it really feels like it; the temperature in Istanbul dropped about 10 (Celsius) degrees overnight. So now it's cold and grey but cold fall weather means fall baking! Fall also means persimmons which I love.

Homemade orange blossom water from Lebanon!

We only get one kind of persimmon here, the hachiya persimmon. For me the trickiest part about working with these persimmons is making sure to not smash them while getting them home! Hachiya persimmons aren't at their full ripeness until they're so soft they feel like they've rotted.

Thank goodness this recipe calls for persimmon puree because there's no way a fruit this soft and delicate is getting sliced nicely! Other than chopping the dates this was a super fast and easy recipe. I ended up using mini loaf pans to bake it and shared it around with my friends-I think this is the most popular thing I've ever made! Everyone went nuts for it. It is really good; it tastes like autumn.

 

Pitting and chopping the dates takes forever, they're so blasted sticky. Between that and the molasses I'm not sure I'll ever de-stick my counter. Brown sugar as we know it in America doesn't exist here so I have to make my own; which I can do thanks to the gift of molasses from a friend in Germany (as regular molasses also doesn't exist here) and the food processor E&M lent me that I kind of never returned. Oops.

The other great thing about fall baking? It warms up the apartment! My building has central heat which is annoying on several levels but it only works in two rooms and the window in my kitchen doesn't quite close so it's always cold in there.

Between the bread's resounding popularity, how blasted easy it is to make, and the warm and cozy feeling I get with the baking aromas wafting out of the oven...yeah I'll be making this again!

Persimmon Date Walnut Bread (adapted from The Little Epicurean)
Makes one 9 inch loaf pan or five mini loaves

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fleur de sal*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
several dashes of ground clove
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 cup melted butter
1 tsp vanilla (I used Tahitian)
4 eggs, room temp and slightly beaten
1/4 cup orange blossom water*
2 cups persimmon puree (about 4 hachiya persimmons)
2 cups toasted, chopped walnuts
2 cups chopped dates

*optional

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour, salts, baking powder, cinnamon, clove, and sugars).
3. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the melted butter, beaten eggs, and persimmon puree. Whisk until combined. Fold in the walnuts and dates.
4. Pour into greased loaf pan(s) and bake for about 45-50 minutes.

Orange Cake with Mascarpone Frosting, Pomegranate Seeds, and Candied Orange Peel

Last week I was blown away by the revelation that you can whip ganache. I don't know how I didn't know that but it changes everything. This week's revelation is mascarpone frosting.

I love baking under just about any circumstances, but I love being challenged with an ingredient. I visiting friend requested something with pomegranate and after some puzzling we decided on an orange-pomegranate combination. As an added bonus they're both winter fruits so I was able to get fresh, seasonal produce from my favorite local market.

I dream of one day having my own house built. the kitchen will take up a good chunk of the floor plan and will include double ovens built into the wall and simply acres and acres of counter space. In the meantime I made do here with a mini oven borrowed from my neighbor and only enough counter to put the cutting board. Baking usually requires a fair amount of shifting as everything that normally lives on top of the mini oven has to be taken off and put on the range or the small space between the sink and the counter. However for this recipe I needed not only the oven but also the range and the number of steps it involved outnumbered my mixing bowls requiring me to do a complicated dance of rearranging, mixing, washing, cooking, and baking.

A complicated dance that takes place in a space as small as my counter allowance and that usually also involves dodging Sherlock who, if not monitoring my actions from her perch atop the microwave is usually trying to climb up my legs.

Aside from the flavor, which was rather marvelous, one of the best things about this cake is the bright colors! Like many of my past cakes it wasn't the most well decorated creation ever but the intense colors of the pomegranate seeds and candied orange peels made up for it.

Recipe (adapted from BBC Food):

To decorate:

• 1 orange
• seeds from 1 pomegranate
• 50 g/1 3/4 oz sugar

For cake:

• 1 orange
• 275g/9 3/4oz self-rising flour*
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 275g/9 3/4oz sugar
• 275g/9 3/4oz butter, softened
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon

For frosting:

• 50g/1 3/4oz butter, softened
• 175g/6oz powdered sugar
• 250g/9oz full-fat mascarpone cheese

Instructions:

1.  Zest the orange (I use a plain old vegetable peeler and chop the resulting strips small). Place in a small pan and pour boiling water over the zest. Add half the sugar and let boil for just a couple minutes. Strain out the zest, arrange in a single layer as much as possible on non-stick paper, sprinkle remaining sugar over it, and set aside. To seed the pomegranate, I prefer the water method but do whatever works best for you. Set aside the seeds.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Zest the second orange. Using a food processor, combine zest and sugar to make orange sugar. This isn't necessary but I think it's a nice touch.
4. Separate the fruit from what remains of the orange peel and chop up the fruit in a food processor (or if you don't have one mash it up however you like). Set aside.
5. Blend the orange sugar and butter with food processor, stand mixer, or hand mixer until fluffy and add eggs one at a time. Blend in the dry ingredients. Finally fold in the mashed up orange.
6. Separate the mixture between 2 8in baking pans and bake at 180C/350F for about 30 minutes. After the cakes are done, turn off the oven and put in the orange peels that you candied earlier. With the oven off they won't cook but the heat will help dry them out a lot faster than just leaving them lying about.
7. While the cakes cool put together the frosting. Blend the butter and powdered sugar. BBC Food says until "smooth"...I got no smooth, just powdered sugar that resembled damp sand. If that's what you get don't worry about it, you're fine. At wet sand stage blend in the mascarpone cheese. 
8. To assemble the cake: if your cakes rose/you have mad slicing skills halve the cakes to make four layers. Divide the frosting between however many layers you have, stacking them with frosting and pomegranate seeds between each layer. Top the cake with frosting (and frost the sides as well if you have enough) and decorate with pomegranate seeds and the candied orange peels.

*I don't have self-rising flour so I substituted with regular flour and some additives. For every 8oz of regular flour add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. It worked fine but my cakes didn't rise very much so I made a two, not four layer cake.

Graduation Fear and Spiced Orange Shrub

I have been in Turkey for almost three years now. I've studied Turkish on and off since shortly after I arrived. I did three levels at one school then stopped for over a year I think. Wow now that I am thinking about it that was a long time. Then I took two more classes at a different school and quit because I thought I was leaving. Then when I wasn't leaving I had to wait for there to be enough students to make a class for the level I was in. Since about February though I've been steadily taking courses and last week I, along with my class friends, graduated. 

So I guess that means I speak Turkish, right? I graduated. I've finished. There are no more courses. Ergo I speak Turkish. I am so not ready to graduate!!

Aslan & me-ready for our close up!

Deli Kedi-how I feel about graduation

Ugh, no! Not ready!

Like many establishments in Istanbul, street cats are pretty free to make themselves at home at Turkuaz (which I highly recommend if you're interested in learning Turkish!) and there are many familiar faces among them. There's the cat that's always dirty and slightly sick but who just lays about sleeping. There's the deli (crazy) cat who constantly meows, zips around, and demands attention. And there's Aslan (lion) who I named when she first started hanging out with us this summer. Her paws were just so much bigger than she was and I thought she looked like a lion cub. She crawls around all of us during class wanting pets and cuddles and disturbs our note taking by trying to play with our pens when we're writing. She has a purr that's about three times her size.

 

No scurvy happening here!

My clever segue into alcohol is that a) my Turkish is always a little better after a few drinks and b) the thought that I now have to function in Turkish (since I no longer have the excuse that I'm just learning!) really makes me want to drink. Frankly so does the Turkish language. It's fracking hard! Like really, really hard. I know hard languages. I took five years of Russian,  three years of Mandarin, one in Taiwan, and a year and a half of Arabic. Turkish falls somewhere in the middle of all of those for degree of difficulty. The words just don't end, especially the verbs. You can pile suffixes onto words - INCLUDING THE VERBS - pretty much forever. I'm a little horrified even talking about it.

Cheap Turkish wine, vinegar...same thing really

Shrub, which is basically fancy drinking vinegar and is often made out of overripe fruit can be drunk on it's own or mixed with liquor and/or soda. E got really into making shrub over the summer. I think she made one peach and one strawberry. She likes things rather less sweet than do I so hers...needed to be cut pretty significantly. The first one I tried was sooo vinegary that my face did that thing where it basically caved in on itself. You know what I'm talking about...like when you taste something super sour and your mouth tries to retreat into your face, you wrinkle your nose, and squeeze your eyes shut like if you can't see it you can also no longer taste it.

Most people view shrub as a summer thing but I found a great recipe for spiced orange shrub. Call me crazy but the combined scents of oranges, cinnamon, and clove have always smelled like Christmas! What better flavor for making Christmas and New Year cocktails?! It's a bit sticky in the making and I've had to sponge off my counters so many times they've probably never been this clean...

In the end, absolutely worth all the stickiness. I like to mix it with vodka and sparkling water. And after it's been strained the orange slices make nice garnish!

Recipe (adapted from Cooking Stoned):

• 1 pound oranges
• 1 cup sugar
• 1-1/12 cups champagne vinegar*
• 5 black pepper corns
• 3 cloves
• 3 cinnamon sticks

Special equipment:

• quart-sized jar of some sort 
• sieve
• mortal and pestle (or other poundy tool)
• another jar, bottle, something

Preparation: 

1. Wash and dry the oranges. Quarter them lengthwise then cut crosswise about 1/4 inch thick.
2. Alternate layers of orange slices and sugar in the jar. Close it up and shake until as many of the orange slices as possible are coated with the sugar. Set aside for FIVE hours.
3. While you're being patient, crush the bejesus out of the pepper corns, cloves, and cinnamon sticks. Enjoy the scent because it smells great-the addition of the black pepper is surprisingly nice.
4. ....Five hours later add the vinegar to the jar, seal it really well, and shake the crap out of it to dissolve remaining sugar. Then add the crushes spices. shake it up a bit more, and store in a dark space for day.
5. Strain  the liquid into another jar, a bottle, a whatever.
6. Enjoy!

*I can't get champagne vinegar at my Carrefour. Or white wine vinegar. Just regular white vinegar which is far too astringent for this. Instead I used Sava brand white wine (which let's face it is basically vinegar anyway) and a few tablespoons of white vinegar.

Orange-Scented Date Rice Pudding

Happy Christmas Eve Day!!!

I decided I wanted something a little special for breakfast this morning. I seem to always have rice on hand which must be a symptom of living in Turkey because there was never rice in my cupboard in the US. With the rice there it seemed only sensible to make rice pudding. So with one of my favorite Christmas movies (Elf) playing in the background I set to work.

More than any other day of the year, Christmas Eve is when I feel the most homesick. Although a 40 degree (F) temperature drop last night caused huge winds and massive power outages...

For as long as I can remember Christmas Eve has always been done at my parents with an assortment of family, friends, and neighbors coming. Mom would spend the day running around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to cook and clean while we lounged around watching movies and maybe moved around a few things to pretend we were helping with the cleaning.

 Then it was off to the children's Christmas Eve Mass! Which is seriously, the same exact thing year after year. My mom managed it once and tried to make it less bad but as bad as it is people go crazy if you try to change it. Today for me marks one year of singing the Psalms at my church here in Istanbul. I feel so much calmer about it this year than I did last! I was freaking out last year and I know it didn't go well but I think (knock on wood!) that I've got it this year. This is the only time of the year that more than a dozen people turn up to my church so hopefully being faced with packed pews and Turkish curiosity seekers standing in the back won't throw my game!

Even though I'm not in Michigan pretending to help get the house ready for tonight's party I still have plenty of prep of my own here. I've already cleaned and mopped, have to "work" for a few hours, try on all my red dresses, do my nails, practice the psalms for tonight and tomorrow morning, and watch the digital Christmas presents roll in! Oh and clean up the rice pudding mess...

I had a few wee problems with this recipe and it wasn't quite as good as I wanted it to be. I prefer the takes longer but also seems to taste better rice pudding methods. However aspects of this recipe still have merit.

Recipe (adapted from My Gourmet Connection)

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

• 1 3/4 cups (whole) milk
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup rice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• a few dashes of clove
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 8 ounces vanilla yogurt*
• 1/4 cup cream
• zest of one orange
• 1 1/2 cups chopped dates 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation:

1. Combine liquids and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and add the spices, honey, vanilla, and salt. Once combined add rice, cover, and let simmer until almost all the liquid has been absorbed (about 30 minutes).
2. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir in remaining ingredients. *I did not have vanilla flavored yogurt on hand so I used Turkish süzme style yogurt and a little additional vanilla extract.
3. Serve room temperature or cold.

Truffled Macaroni Cheese

I deeply and truly love cheese. I love it. A few years ago my doctor told me I should stop eating hard cheeses because of my cholesterol levels. I'd rather go happy than give up cheese. I've complained before about the lack of cheese variety (particularly the lack of not dyed or insanely expensive cheddar) so I won't do that again.

That's like 7 cups of cheese. It was beautiful.

I recently came back from the States and brought three suitcases full, largely, of groceries. There were about six pounds of pork products and probably eight or more of cheeses. I went to both Michigan and DC while I was in the US and on my DC leg Lauren took my to Trader Joe's.

Oh Trader Joe. I think I miss you the most.

I really only mean to buy the Italian truffle cheese. But then there was the raw milk cheddar, the port sault, the apricot Stilton, and something I've never seen there before...truffle cheddar. Those (some Manchego, roasted garlic cheddar, and several more pounds of extra sharp white cheddar) came home with me.

As much as I would love to savor them slowly over time, cheese doesn't really freeze well. Technically it freezes just fine, its the thawing when things go wrong. So when you have a surplus of cheeses that don't have a long shelf life and need to be consumed pretty quickly what do you do? Make macaroni cheese.

Adding the pasta to the bechamel.

But not just any macaroni cheese. When you have Italian truffle cheese that's going bad fast you really just need to fully commit to truffle macaroni cheese. It's worth the extra effort and expense. The night I made this I was a béchamel genius. I was a hero.

Recipe

Ingredients
For the topping:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons truffle oil
• 2 cups panko flakes
• 3-4 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 Cup grated Parmesan 

For macaroni:

• 1 pound noodles (shells, elbow, etc)
• 1/2 Cup butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 4 cups whole milk
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• 6 cups grated cheddar*
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan
• Truffle salt
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F with rack in the middle of oven. Butter the baking dish**. Set a large, covered pot of salted water over high heat to boil.
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet over medium heat, heat butter and oil until butter foam subsides. Add panko and garlic; cook, stirring, until crumbs are golden brown, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer crumbs to a medium bowl, stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan and salt, and set aside.
3. Add macaroni to boiling salted water and cook until just al dente (avoid overcooking). Drain macaroni and set aside. 
4. In a large wide pot over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Sprinkle flour over butter, whisking to incorporate and make a roux. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until roux is light golden, about 4 minutes. Gradually pour in milk and cream, whisking constantly to incorporate and make a béchamel sauce. Raise heat to medium-high and bring sauce to a low boil, whisking constantly. Reduce to a simmer, whisking occasionally, and cook until béchamel sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon, about 3 minutes more. 
5. Add the salt, pepper, and truffle salt. Add the cheeses in three batches, whisking until each addition is completely melted before adding more. Remove from heat.
6. Add the drained macaroni to the pot with the cheese sauce and stir well to coat. Transfer macaroni mixture to the buttered baking dish and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle topping evenly over macaroni and bake until golden and bubbling, 18 to 23 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before serving.

*I used a combination of Turkish gruyere, Italian truffle cheese, and raw milk cheddar.

** Or go the extra step and use truffle oil!

Butterscotch Cheesecake

I've started doing a fair amount of baking now that I am both getting used to using substitutes and have had a few people coming from the US bring groceries for me. I've also struck an agreement with M that he hauls water up my five flights for me if I bake for him. I think I'm getting the better end of that bargain frankly.

Two of my recent baking obsessions have been cheesecakes and vegetable cakes (carrot and zucchini especially). Both of these require cream cheese-not an available ingredient here. If you go to the grocery store you will find cream cheese (krem peynir) but that far more resembles those jars of spreadable, bright orange "cheese" that always seem to be popular around Christmas? I have no idea what that stuff really is but I always kind of liked it. However that is not a suitable substitute for American cream cheese.

Your best bet is to use labne, which is a super strained yogurt. The downside of using labne is that if you play with it too much it loses its integrity and thins out again. I've largely had good luck with it but a couple weeks ago I was making cinnamon cream cheese frosting for zucchini cake and it fell apart. So we had zucchini cake with cream cheese drizzle instead. It's easier with cheesecake since it gets baked.

Of course I got so distracted while writing the blog that I forgot to check the cheesecake and the pecans got a wee...singed. Always remember to check the cheesecake.

It's a good thing I'm bellydancing again because dessert is now a one-two time a week thing now. At least I'm not eating them all myself now! I make sure that E&M take leftovers.


Recipe:

Crust:

• 1 Cup crushed Graham Crackers or cookies
• 2 Tbls Sugar
• 3 Tbls butter, melted

1. Combine crushed Graham Crackers, sugar, and butter and press into the bottom of a greased 8x8 pan.
2. Bake at 325F for 10-15 minutes.
3. Remove from oven, set aside, and increase oven temperature to 350F.

Cheesecake:

• 12 ounces cream cheese
• 1/4 Cup sugar
• 2 Tbls flour
• 2 eggs
• 10 ounces butterscotch chips
• 2 Tbls milk
• Flaked coconut
• Chopped pecans

1. Combine milk and butterscotch chips in melt, stirring fairly often, in a double boiler over low heat., When melted, remove from double boiler and set aside.
2. Whisk cream cheese, sugar, and flour.
3. Add butterscotch.
4. Once those are combined, whisk in eggs, one at a time.
5. Pour over crust an bake for 20-ish minutes. Until the top looks semi-set up.
6. Remove from oven and sprinkle coconut and pecans on top. Bake for an additional 20 minutes.