How come the year ends all of a sudden? Before you know it’s time to relief your house and your heart of all the useless belongings and hard feelings you’ve accumulated, consciously or not, over the past twelve months. Time to think where you want the 2016 to take you and what to fill your your house and heart with this time. For me 2015 was a turning point naturally as we moved from Istanbul to Alaçatı and opened Babushka restaurant, and yet the biggest changes showed up in the most subtle ways.
In 2015 we got license for Babushka and hosted a few thousand people at our restaurant. I felt humbled by all the kind words we heard from the guests, in person and in their online reviews. We got national press attention and a few glamorous features established restaurants hire PR agencies to score.
I got to pass my knowledge about cooking and share the kitchen with people who also taught me plenty. We also worked together with my husband, which appeared to be a serious test for the marriage. For the first time in my life I understood what “working on the relationships” means and so we keep working.
Many people traveled to Alaçatı to take my cooking class. I got lucky to cook, laugh and eat in our house and garden with so many beautiful souls from different parts of the world. We could not travel abroad this year, first time in the decade for me, but I felt we did not need to as the world was coming to Babushka.
We settled in the new house. After being married for three years we got a place for just two of us and both of us. We managed to turn the forty-year old house with creaking wooden floors into both a restaurant and our family nest. In its only spare room we hosted many friends and family that came to support us this year. We also became locals of Alaçatı greeting people while just walking on the street, knowing our way about and getting things done with ease.
It is the year I blogged least, but got most support from the people who have been following my adventures in Alaçatı, wondering about me when I did not show up the whole summer and sending me their blessings. I feel lucky to have gotten this generious support from the source I did not suspect I had access to.
Most importantly, I received important knowledge that I had been touching upon for at least two decades, but eventually it came to me full-fledged. As if all this time I was groping in the dark and now found a wide sun-lit path. At once I got a motivation and abundant tools to be a happier person - at the kitchen, in the family and generally in life.
I got to understand myself and my calling better. By accident, sort of. Three young guys who worked with us this summer all received a culinary degree; two of them were waiting. Indeed this year we had ace waiters who’d walk you throw the whole menu and say things like “Drunk sardines that Mrs. Olga marinades in the skins of bitter orange soaked in vodka for a few months”. They would know every single ingredient and preparation nuance for each dish in the menu. One day my young chefs slash waiters learned that I had no formal culinary training. They pulled my leg saying that I was not a cook, but a housewife, or a”homewoman” according to their English. I can’t thank them enough for pointing that out for me.
The other day I read an interview (in Russian) with Alain Passard who turned his 3 star Michelin restaurant into a mostly plant-based dining experience. That fact alone is captivating enough, but what fascinated me even more was his passion when he talked about cooking, learning by doing and working with your hands. Being an usta as you’d say in Turkish. It was obvious, that being a chef or usta is a calling for this man. But not for me, I have figured. I don’t get thrills from the rush of the dinner service. I get bored if I need to do plate a lot of the same dish. I don’t think working at the time you should be retiring to bed is fun.
I am pretty happy to work hard, but in the end I want to go out and share my recipes, knowledge and passion far and beyond. I had my doubts a year ago, but know it well now: I am a woman who cooks at home, a teacher, maybe a writer, but certainly not a chef. And yes, a big part of my calling is being a wife looking after her family house, or ”a homewoman”. I don’t know since when “housewife” became a swear word while everybody knows that house is not a house without somebody cooking, washing, cleaning and filling it with their love. I can’t believe it took me so long to figure out, but I am happy to know that now.
As for my cooking, how has it changed over the past year? On the one hand it has become more ascetic reflecting my eating and excluding a few food categories. On the other hand within the pool of the ingredients I am working with I try to make the most vibrant and exuberant food possible. My cooking increasingly becomes a listening exercise. I listen to the callings of the season, to the aspirations of the ingredient to appear in the dish in a particular way, to the urge of certain spices and herbs to get included, to the beating of my heart. Less and less I fetch a recipe and follow it. More or more I get to the kitchen, put on the apron, wash my hands, pull out all the ingredients I am going to use and just follow the sound.
I do page through a lot of food-related pages all around and get tons of inspiration like the other day I baked a soda bread only to be reminded that a while ago I saw my friend posted hers on Instagram. Or I made these gözleme thinking about the stunning pumpkin empanadas I came across a while ago. I only saw the photos and read the recipe but their smell followed me for days and I could vividly picture the comfort of eating them.
One day the dream of the empanadas materialized as paratha, Indian flatbread, I stuffed with pumpkin, chickpeas and spinach. Gradually the idea evolved into gözleme, a traditional Turkish griddle bread with not so traditional filling. I consider the recipe my own, however to create it I did nothing but listen. Please, consider it my humble new year gift to you.
Gözleme with Chickpeas, Pumpkin and Spinach
Gözleme, a traditional Turkish stuffed flatbread cooked in a skillet, is a classic of a weekend market outing and a favorite of busy moms; with the store-bought yufka (Turkish phyllo dough) you can put together a decent meal in no time.
This recipe expands the idea of gözleme. First, I invite you to make your own wholewheat dough following a few easy steps. Second, I suggest you experiment with the fillings. I am leaving the traditional potato or spinach aside and offering something more adventurous and flavorful.
Let me remind you that cast iron is best for cooking flatbreads. Keep the pan dry and red-hot for evenly cooked delicious gözleme. Also note that the dough and filling can be made ahead; in fact the dough will be easier to roll if you let it rest for at least on hour.
Gözleme makes an excellent satisfying lunch as far as I am concerned; however most people in Turkey would tell you that gözleme is a good idea any time of the day.
Prep Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Total Time: 50 min
Makes: 8 flatbreads
Ingredients
For the gözleme dough:
- 250 g wholewheat flour (2 1/2 cups) and more for dusting
- 1⁄2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tbsp ghee or softened butter and more for frying
- 225 g lukewarm water (1 cup)
For the filling:
- 300 g grated pumpkin (2 packed cups)
- 1⁄2 cup chickpeas soaked overnight and cooked
- 90 g shredded spinach (1 packed cups)
- 1 tbsp ghee or butter
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp ground turmeric
- 1⁄2 tsp ground cumin
- 1⁄2 tsp black mustard seeds
- 1⁄8 tsp ground allspice
- 1 tsp fine sea salt
Directions
- Prepare gözleme dough: In a large mixing bowl combine the wholewheat flour and sea salt. Add the ghee or softened butter and water. Mix with a spoon until combined, transfer to a clean working surface and knead until you see no pockets of dry flour and the dough is elastic and feels smooth (5-7 min). Place in a plastic bag and set aside. If you have time, resting the dough for an hour is a marvelous idea.
- Cook gözleme filling: In a medium cooking pot warm the ghee or butter. Add the bay leaf and mustard seeds and then the ground turmeric, cumin and allspice. Saute the spices on the medium heat for a few seconds. Next, stir in the grated pumpkin and season with salt. Let cook for about 10-15 min, or until the pumpkin starts getting mashed. Turn off the heat and add the cooked chickpeas and raw shredded spinach. Mash with a fork, potato masher or, if you wish, blitz for a second with an immersion blender. Taste for salt and adjust the seasoning if required. Set aside to cool.
- Make gözleme: Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape them into neat balls. Cover with a dump cloth. Dust the working surface with a bit of flour and roll one ball into circle with the diameter of 20-15 cm (8-10 inch); the size pretty much depends on the size of your pan. Divide the gözleme filling into 8 parts and place one part on the half of the dough circle leaving about 2.5 cm / 1 inch margin on the edges. Fold the dough in half to enclose the filling, dust the edge with flour and press with your fingertips to seal. Proceed with the rest of the dough.
- Cook gözleme: As you roll gözleme, you can simultaneously start cooking them. Heat your cast-iron pan (alternatively, use a non-stick) to red-hot. Place a gözleme on the pan. After 30 seconds or so flip it; you’ll see some pale brown spots on the drying surface of the gözleme. Brush with a bit of ghee/butter and after a minute flip and brush the other side. Let cook, flipping again if needed until both sides look dry with nice brown spots. Don’t overcook, or you will end us with way too dry and chewy pastry. Stack the cooked gözleme and cover with a towel to keep warm and soft. Once all of them cooked, serve immediately. Addition of soft young cheese, olives and freshly brewed tea makes it a rather traditional Turkish spread; alternatively serve with ayran, or diluted yogurt drink.
