Persimmon Pudding Cake

After the success of the persimmon bread I made I decided to try out a persimmon dessert recipe: persimmon pudding cake. It's as easy to mix up as the bread was-easier in fact as there are no dates to pit and chop!

Sherlock wanted in on the baking action

I do love persimmons but they are a bit of a pain to work with. Often if I can find persimmons with perfect skin I just chop them into quarters and give them a whir in the food processor. However this last trip to the market didn't result in the nicest of persimmons; they were all fairly heavily damaged so I had to skin them before tossing them in the food processor.

Despite my annoyance with the state of the persimmons; I love the cozy feeling I get from baking in the autumn and winter. Part of it is that the window in my apartment doesn't seal so it's freezing in my kitchen. Strong wind often forces it open, knocking over my electric kettle and making a mess of my (admittedly only sometimes) clean counter. So keeping the oven working, especially when it emanates the rich, warm aromas of cinnamon and clove not only heats up the kitchen but makes the entire apartment feel that much warmer.

Using fleur de sal, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove

This recipe by Simply Recipes is a nice, quick little bake that results in a really moist, slightly spongy cake that I enjoyed not only as dessert but for breakfast. Aside from anything involving bacon, dessert for breakfast is one of my favorite things. I had to use a few short cuts from the original recipe skipping spices that I don't have but it still turned out pretty well, especially when highlighted with fresh whipped cream. Although what doesn't fresh whipped cream improve?

Persimmon Pudding Cake (adapted from Simply Recipes)

• 2 cups Hachiya persimmon pulp (about 4 persimmons)
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp fleur de sal (or 1/2 tsp regular salt)
• 2 tsps cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp clove
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)

1.  Preheat oven to 400F.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the persimmon pulp, eggs, melted butter, milk, and vanilla (I used Tahitian).
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients (expect the nuts).
4. In three additions, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet then fold in the nuts.
5. Bake in a square pan for about 50 minutes*.

*My cake ended up more cake than pudding so I think I let it bake a little too long. Maybe check it first at 40 minutes then keep an eye on it.

Turkish Breakfast Review - Cuma

I hate winter. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate.  It would take more hands than I have to count the number of reasons why I left Michigan nearly 15 years ago but winter would be counted a couple times. Istanbul winters are never predictable. Last February we got buried under what was really not all that much snow but enough to shut down the city for several days. This February was far more to my taste-warm enough to barely warrant wearing a sweater. A few weeks ago it was so nice that E and breakfasted outside in only our long-sleeve shirts. For this occasion we chose Cihangir's Cuma, a lovely little cafe tucked away on Çukurcuma, the street famous for its antique shops.

E trying to hide from the camera

To begin with, Cuma makes amazing bread. Amazing. And, local secret, if you pop in earlier in the day and ask to buy a loaf or two they'll make extra to sell to you. I imagine it's fantastic on the toasts and sandwiches. I'll need to go back sometime soon for lunch and find out! My neighbors have also vouched for the yumminess of the cakes and pastries that can be found inside the cafe.

For such a small place the breakfast menu is pretty extensive including the ubiquitous full breakfast and a compliment of eggs. We ordered the full breakfast and while the olives all went to E (I like them about as much as I like winter) we both dug enthusiastically into the tomato paste, rose hip preserves, something that tasted like Fruit Roll-Up spread, a variety of cheeses, and of course, the bal kaymak.

Cuma also does çıldır, the yogurt-smothered poached eggs I fell in love with at Kahve 6 which we had to order. Kahve 6's were a bit more garlicy I think but Cuma's were still gorgeous and E and I had a mini battle over who got to send the dish to the Clean Plate Club.

A warm February day and a gorgeous Turkish breakfast are both excellent reminders as to why I put up with this city!

Cuma
Firuzağa Mahallesi
Çukurucuma Caddesi, No 53/A 
Beyoğlu, İstanbul

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.

Turkish Breakfast Review - Gakkı

My breakfast adventures continue with Gakkı in Karaköy. The Karaköy neighborhood has quickly become one of the hippest neighborhoods in Beyoğlu and boasts seemingly limitless cafes and restaurants. It's narrow streets canopied with vines and fairy lights and street art decorated walls make this lively little area an inviting area to sip coffee or dine indoors and out.

However on this cold winter morning we took refuge inside the tiny space Gakkı occupies. Inside there are three tables reminiscent of the Three Bears' house-one that's big (6 people), one medium (4-5 people), and one small two-seater. They also have two tables outside but on a morning like this that was not only cold but on-and-off snowing we took over the big table.

The more people you have for Turkish breakfast the better because that means you can order more food. Sharing this adventure were E&M, a visiting friend of theirs, and my awesome neighbor, R. We split the Serpme Kahvaltı (Country Breakfast): five different kinds of cheese, tomatoes and cucumbers, tomato paste, two jams, the famous bal kaymak, sigara böreği, fried eggs, olives, smoked meat, and two cups of tea. To round it off we also ordered their kavurmalı sahanda to see how it stacked up against Çakmak's, and hıçın.

R and I each took a tea and the other three ordered coffees. The coffee isn't made at Gakkı but comes from next door Coffeesapiens. The coffee was ok but like many places in Turkey still needs a little work.  There is a difference between a cappuccino and a latte and the difference is not the glass in which it's served.

Breakfast was lovely. The country breakfast was a good variety of things for us all to share. The sahanda (fried eggs) were nice but Çakmak's kavurmalı sahanda were undeniably better-and half the price. The hıçın were interesting-fried dough filled with a cottage cheese-like substance and potatoes served with a side of sour cherry jam and kaymak. Despite the involvement of potatoes, they weren't overly savory but the flavors all balanced very nicely. Turkey is really the king, or should I say sultan? of pairing sweet and savory well.

The hıçın

 

For me the real stand out was the orange jam (reçel). Turkish jams are not like anything we have in America; they're more like preserved fruits in syrup. Gakkı gave us orange and quince but for me the orange stole the show because it was more than just some candied orange peel in syrup...it was candied orange peel in cinnamon syrup. Genius. 

I liked Çakmak and Kahve 6 better but Gakkı is definitely worth another visit!

Gakkı

Kemankeş Karamustafa Paşa Mahallesi

Kılıç Ali Paşa Mescidi Sokak, No 10/B

Beyoğlu, İstanbul

The Camel Wrestling Festival That Wasn't

I've been curious about camel wrestling for ages. What is it? What does it involve? What's the appeal? What does camel meat taste like? After booking a trip to Selçuk over a month ago with E&M I was all set to find out.

People seem very split over both the merits of the sport and treatment of the animals. The camels don't seem to harm each other, just push and shove a bit. There are rumors that they're starved in advance of the fight but I've found no evidence of that. This would have been one of my questions to ask at the festival.

But the festival never happened.

All Saturday I was feeling tired and about the only thing to hold any appeal was the idea to cancel my trip. But no, I had to go because camel wrestling! This is how I find myself now in an impossibly narrow seat on a Turkish Airlines flight I had to pay extra for. Ayıptır, Türk Havayolları.

We arrived in İzmir late Saturday night, too late for a shuttle to Selçuk but at least there were four of us to split the 180 TL cab ride. We arrived at the Paris Hotel at about midnight, exhausted (especially our friend visiting from the States who had been traveling for 32 hrs) and just fell into bed.

E&M are far more budget conscious than I and M chose the hotel, but I don't think he expected stained and dirty sheets, plumbing problems, and wet bathroom floors. Tired as I was I had a difficult time falling asleep, convinced there were bed bugs (happily no). Also not helping me sleep was the screaming wind. I knew we were expecting rain despite all my crossed fingers and toes. But the wind...that was a portent of more than just a little rain.

We got up early the next morning hopeful of both clear weather and beating 10-20,000 other people to a good seat. I was down in the lobby earlier and spent my time having a rousing conversation about politics and animal rights. In Turkish, thank you very much.

Sadly that was the only successful part of the weekend. Shortly after E&M came down so did the word; cancelled. The only happens one day a year camel wrestling festival was cancelled. Sadly a poster was the closest I was getting to camels today.

After walking around in the rain trying to find a cafe open on a Sunday where we could get a coffee I called it quits and got the mini bus back to the airport. My return flight was at 10:30 pm and I was hoping I could get something earlier.

Getting to the airport was its own adventure. The mini bus between Selçuk and İzmir stops in a few places, including the airport, but not really the airport. The exit off the highway to the airport. Normally not a problem, I've walked it before and at night no less but never in rain so heavy I could barely see. Luckily there was a taxi waiting in the medium and another gentleman and I made the dash across the highway in the pouring rain to get the cab the rest of the way.

Unfortunately Turkish Airlines, which I usually enjoy, failed me today. After standing in a Turkish line for a while it was finally my turn. The very nice girl behind the counter told me I could go on a stand-by list for the 6:00 pm flight but everything else was full. Full how I asked showing her on my phone all the not full flights on Turkish Airlines' website. She just shrugged at me.

In the end I booked a brand new one-way flight for 300 TL. Annoying but money well spent as it saved me 7 hours of waiting. My flight was a little delayed, of course, but after 2 hours of sitting in one of the narrowest plane seats ever made I arrived back to more pouring rain in İstanbul.

And the worst part of the whole thing? Was not missing the festival, although yes that totally sucked, it was missing my favorite priest's last mass at my church. :(

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.

A Taste of Home - Chicken Pot Pie

Beginning this week I'm moving the Monday wine review to Wednesday. We are not without a post today though-and it even involves wine! Albeit both briefly and tangentially.

Be it the winter weather, having familiar friends around, or just a bit of homesickness I have been craving American food lately. Not the new, fancy American food found in foodie restaurants but old-fashioned, home-cooked kinds of food. Although not my mom's food. She recently brought up that old Lenten stand-by; tuna noodle casserole. I am not craving that. Forty days in the desert with Jesus wouldn't entice me to crave, let alone eat that. I love my mom but there's a place in Purgatory reserved for people who make tuna noodle casserole. No, no. I wanted chicken pot pie. Could anything be better on a chilly winter's night?

Pot pies are fantastic comfort food. I don't mean to say that I was instantly transported (in my mind or otherwise) to my family home when I ate one. We weren't pot pie eaters growing up but many a Sunday dinner involved chicken and dumplings in gravy so...close enough. There is just something so homely about them though. I might not be able to eat them for the next month or so of Fridays but I can get a taste of home with them the other six days of the week!

Even Sherlock wanted a place at this table

I've now made this twice and enjoyed it deeply both times. One of the great things about pot pies is you can vary the recipe and change it up to fit your own taste. You don't have to use carrots, zucchini, and potatoes the way I did-you can use whichever vegetables you prefer. If it didn't cost an arm and a leg I would also have added Parmesan.

Add a nice dry white wine like Suvla's Kabatepe White, a side of vegetables (steamed broccoli in our case) and you really couldn't ask for more! Except maybe dessert!

Recipe:

• Phyllo dough 
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 large or 3 medium carrots
• 2 zucchini
• 2 large or 3 medium potatoes
• 1 large yellow onion
• 1/2 Cup cream
• garlic
• black peppercorns
• (fresh) thyme
• (fresh) oregano
• salt/pepper to taste
• flour

1. Put breasts in medium size pot and cover with water. Add salt and pepper and (optional) powdered garlic, paprika, and/or a Lawerys-like seasoning. Boil on medium heat until cooked through then remove breasts but reserve the liquid. Shred the chicken and set aside.
2. Smash and chop 3 cloves garlic and chop onion. Saute in large sauce pan or medium sized pot over medium heat until onions are soft. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons full flower over onions and stir to combine.
3. Add about 3 cups of the liquid from the chicken, stirring after each cup. The broth should start to thicken but if it doesn't you can add in more flour. 
4. While broth is thickening, prepare the pie shells and oven. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Spray the insides of small tins, or other individual baking dish, and line with a square of phyllo dough. Mine comes pre-cut into small squares and when defrosted is pliable and can be reshaped to fit.*
5. Back to the filling: add cream, diced carrots, potatoes, chopped zucchini, about 1/2 teaspoon of peppercorns, 2 sprigs of thyme, and oregano. Combine everything, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are just cooked.
6. Reduce temperature to low, add shredded chicken and additional salt/pepper as desired, and simmer until vegetables are cooked through.
7. Ladle mixture into prepared tins. Don't fill to the brim as it might spill over. Cover with second square of phyllo dough, pinching it around the edges to help avoid spill over.
8. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

Filling can be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator for a few days or frozen until wanted.
*You can skip the bottom shell to save calories if you don't mind eating out of the tin.

Not Quite My Neighborhood, but Close - Karaköy İskelesi

I haven't had a chance to get back out to take more neighborhood pictures because Istanbul has decided to have proper winter this year. The last few weeks have been dotted by cold temperatures, snowfall, accumulation, and even thunder snow. My building lost power for almost all of yesterday and while I took refuge during the day with some friends I insisted on sleeping in my uninsulated, cement and marble box of a freezing cold apartment. Couldn't leave Sherlock on her own, could I? And I reminded myself that, growing up in Michigan we lost power many a winter a day and slept in far colder conditions there. But I digress...

Recently I took advantage of an unseasonably beautiful and warm day to snap some pictures around Karaköy İskelesi.

Galata Bridge from Karakoy

Karaköy İskelesi

Galata Tower above Karaköy İskelesi

Karaköy is one of Istanbul's 'up and coming' neighborhoods. When I lived in DC that meant you could find some nice little restaurants/bars but that you might want to be out of the area by nightfall. Here it's a little less ominous and means more that the neighborhood looks dodgier than it really is. In fact, Karaköy's maze-like small streets, all leading to the water, are dotted with lovely boutique hotels, shops, an trendy cafes and restaurants. And you can walk around at night with little fear for your wallet. Aside that is from the bill at many of said trendy restaurants.

Pictures of the inside of the neighborhood are eventually forthcoming, but for the time being I have views of the waterfront area. I recently had an appointment in Kadiköy on the Asian side and, while not a devotee of schlepping over there for anything I really do love to ride the ferries. I did not expect such a beautiful day when I set out so I was sans my proper camera but happily did have my little Nikon point and click on me.

Topkapı Sarayı

Blue Mosque and Hagia Sofia

From the ferry

On clear sunny days such as this there is nothing finer than riding the ferries, chased by seagulls and watching beautiful Istanbul as you pass from Europe to Asia. Where else can you even take such an easy jaunt from one continent to another?!