It's amazing how quickly time here is passing me by and the fact that I already have to think about this is shocking! But, come Sunday, I'm outta here...
Sunday May 20: Ankara to Cyprus
Thursday May 24: Cyprus to Antalya [S. Turkey]
Sunday May 27: Antalya to Ankara
Friday June 1: Ankara to Kerkenes
July ??: Kerkenes to Ankara?
Wow, I'm basically not going to be "home" for 1.5 months...and then, who knows what?! July and August look to be fine fine travelin' times/staring down a microscope and getting migranes while looking at thin sections times. But, one step at a time...
and Step #1: Clean Out The Fridge
This is actually a somewhat exciting task for me as it gets my culinary juices flowing. After a bad dry spell, I've had to be pretty creative to figure out tasty ways to get rid of everything. I've had both successful and unsuccessful food purges in the past. So far, this one has resulted in some incredibly tasty creations that I think will become part of my normal food repertoire. [warning: this is about to turn into a foody post because i want to remember these recipes--i'm sorry!, for those who hate my fooding I promise Cyprus and Antalya will give me enough travel fodder to make up for this patheticness!]
Here's what I was dealing with:
1. 1 kilo potatoes
2. 1 kilo onions
3. 1/2 kilo carrots
4. 1/4 kilo cucumbers
5. ~15 small radishes
6. ~10 hot peppers
7. 1/4 kilo olives, various varieites
8. 1/4 kilo cheese, beyaz peynir + izmir tulum
9. 1 small-medium tomato
10. 1/4 kilo sucuk, spicy turkish sausage reminiscent of merguez or chorizo
11. 5 lemons
12. 3 heads fresh garlic
13. 1/2 head purple cabbage
14. 1 ear corn
15. 5 green peppers
16. 8 eggs
17. 7 tortillas
18. fresh ginger
19. 1 kiwi
20. 2 avocados
21. fresh mint
22. my first parsley harvest!!!!!
Sigh. Look at that absolutely perfect parsley! I can't believe I succeeded at making something grow. It's a very special moment in the ASP's home.So, yeah, that's kind of an eclectic bunch of items which don't immediately lend themselves to sudden inspiration. However, I think I've done a good job.
The first task was to get rid of the potatoes as they were already at the edge of nastiness. So, I decided to make some homemade gnocchi. This was the first time I ever attempted the pasta and, though the actual recipe is a cinch, getting the proportions of flour right [more flour = heavier gnocchi] is tough.
If I may brag a bit, the result was, I gotta say, not bad! Especially for a first try with limited time and resources--I'm actually kind of proud of myself. They were pretty light and did float when they were cooked.
I froze some of the gnocchi and used the rest to get rid of some other stuff. This was done in a baked gnocchi dish I made up. It turned out surprisingly well. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, but here's the recipe at least [it's quick, easy, and tasty!].
Warning: this can be quite salty, depending on the type of sausage you use. to balance it out, avoid using a very salty cheese like parmesan.
Baked Gnocchi with Tomato-Sausage Sauce and Caramelized Onions
1 lb gnocchi
1 28-oz can whole plum tomatoes
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 - 1 lb raw or precooked spicy sausage, like sucuk, merguez, or chorizo garlic or bacon
8 fresh basil leaves or 1 tsp dried basil
1/2 bunch fresh parsley or 1 tsp dried parsley
1 purple onion, cut into rings
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
cheese, preferably something not particularly salty
Tomato-Sausage Sauce [can be made ahead]
1. remove the casing on the sausage and brown it in a saucepan. if you are using raw sausage, break up the clumps. if you are using precooked sausage, dice it into 1/4-inch cubes and saute until it starts getting crispy, like bacon. if using bacon, cook until crispy, then crumble into large pieces.
2. remove meat and drain on a papertowel. add garlic to the pan and saute until brown.
3. add drained meat, tomatoes, basil, and parsley. bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer 30-35 minutes. add more water if it gets to be really thick. simmer longer if it's too thin. it's really about how you like your sauce.
Balsamic Caramelized Onions [can be made ahead]
1. heat olive oil in a saucepan. when oil is hot, add onions.
2. reduce heat and cover. let onions cook, stirring occasionally, until onions start sticking to the bottom of the pan and are getting brown. you don't want them to be crunchy.
3. remove from heat and immediately add balsamic vinegar. stir. if the residual heat does not cause the vinegar to boil off, return to heat and boil off the remaining vinegar.
Assembly
1. bring pot of salted water to a boil. add gnocchi, a dozen or so at a time, and cook until they float.
2. remove gnocchi from the water using a slotted spoon and immediately put into 8x8-inch square glass baking dish.
3. pour tomato sauce over top of gnocchi. it should fill up to the top. if you have too much tomato sauce, save the rest and freeze it for a quick pasta or pizza sauce.
4. bake in 350-degree oven for 20-30 minutes, or until juices start to bubble.
5. shave cheese in strips and place on top of baked gnocchi. sprinkle onions over top. bake a little longer, until cheese has melted.
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Well, that was great! But, unfortunately, it didn't get rid of all that much. No surprise, the big problem is fruits and vegetables. Consequently, I've ended up making three interesting and delicious salads over the past week.
The first, Fiesta Salad, was inspired by Cinco de Mayo and used up a lot of stuff. For the tortilla chips, I made my own by cutting up some tortillas into triangles and baking them--it's a great way to use up extra tortillas and is much healthier/faster/cleaner than frying them.
Fiesta Salad
Dressing
juice of 1/2 lemon
a swig or so of olive oil
+- 1 tsp cumin
+- 1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp sugar
Salsa
1 ear corn
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 avocado, diced
a few radishes, chopped into thin circles
1/2 green pepper, diced
1 hot pepper, chopped fine
1-2 garlic cloves, chopped fine
1/4 onion or 3 scallions, chopped fine
1/4 head purple cabbage
1 small cucumber, sliced into rounds
1 small carrot, grated
tortilla chips, coarsely crushed
shredded chicken [optional; leftovers work great]
shredded cheese
chopped olives [i've been making my own marinade for olives which adds a nice bit of umph to the flavor: olive oil, red wine vinegar, orange zest, rosemary, red pepper flakes]
Dressing
1. put all the ingredients together in a jar. shake.
Salsa
1. boil some water in a pot. cut corn off the ear and put in the water. boil 2 minutes or until corn is soft but not mushy.
2. while corn cooks, cut up the other ingredients and put in a bowl. drizzle with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.
3. drain corn. add to the other ingredients and mix.
Assembly
1. slice cabbage into strips and put in a big bowl.
2. add crushed tortilla chips, cucumber, carrot, salsa, chicken, cheese, and olives.
3. add dressing. if the olives have been marinated, you can add some of the marinade oil as well.
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The fiesta salad was undeniably good and fulfilling. However, I wanted to extend outside of the realm of lettuce salads...
Actually, I ran out of cabbage and other vegetables, but still had a lot of carrots and onions. So, yesterday and today I concocted a couple of great carrot salads. These salads make for a good meal on their own because they include legumes and pulses, but they are also great as sides.
Carrot and Chickpea Salad
Dressing
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
pepper
salt
a swig or two of pomegranate molasses [optional]
a swig or two of olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 cloves garlic, chopped
4 carrots, grated
2 handfuls of small radishes, grated
olives, chopped
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
handful of parsley, coursely chopped
1/2 c dried chickpeas, rehydrated and cooked or 8oz canned chickpeas
Dressing
1. put it all together and shake. the dressing is to taste, so add or subtract spices as necessary.
Assembly
1. put olives in a bowl and sprinkle salt on them. knead them with your hands until they soften and become somewhat translucent. rinse off residual salt with water. put in a large bowl.
2. add the remaining ingredients.
3. add dressing to taste and mix. chill for 30 minutes - 1 hour.
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That salad is very hearty and made for a great meal. This next one is wonderful paired with a bit of plain yogurt. I had it as a side dish with some leftover icli kofte from my aunt and some chocolate rice pudding I made on a whim. The flavor of the salad was really outstanding and it's definitely going to become a staple salad in my life.
Carrot and Green Lentil Salad
1/4 cup green lentils
2 carrots, grated
1/2 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
sumac
pomegranate molasses
1. boil lentils in 2 cups of water until they are tender but not mushy, approximately 15 minutes.
2. in a saucepan, heat some olive oil. when oil is very hot, add the onions and garlic and cook/fry until onions are tender-crispy. turn off heat and transfer onions and garlic to a bowl using a slotted spoon.
3. in a bowl, mix together the carrots, onions, garlic, and lentils. sprinkle with sumac and a few swigs of pomegranate molasses. the onions should provide enough, but if you need to you can add some more olive oil.
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Overall, I've managed to get rid of almost everything in my fridge. The fruits and herbs were a bit of a challenge. With the mint, I made a melon and mint sorbet. Additionally, I've made two batches of iced tea: ginger+mint and kiwi, which did well to get rid of those items. So, all I have left now are some green peppers, olives, lemons, hot peppers, tortillas, eggs and cheese. Those will last a week and in the four days I'm back before going to Kerkenes I should be able to use the remainder up.
The whole exercise of cleaning out the fridge has been wonderful, actually. This is just a smattering of the things I've been making and the process has given me a renewed excitement in cooking and food experimentation. I've been in a serious funk with cooking since I arrived here, very uncreative and boring...sticking to the old standards. But, in this week I've taken a greater command of grains, legumes, and pulses than before. Additionally, I've experimented with lots of spices and flavors, creating some unexpected combinations that have turned out well above and beyond what I would have expected.
I can't even tell you, it's a great feeling to love food again.
