I find that the simplest dishes often take me the longest to nail down. Take fava, a Turkish spread of dry broad beans. You will find it in every decent meze set in the restaurants and delis of Istanbul and along the Aegean coast. Fava is velvety, smooth and satisfying. It is so good that I can eat it every day. I mean it. I will not think twice about ordering fava at a restaurant even though I cooked it at home just the day before.
Fava Bean Spread with Dill Pesto
How to Prepare and Cook Artichoke
Artichokes start flooding Istanbul food markets in March, and the peeled, ready-to-go-in-your-pot artichokes hearts are hard to ignore. However, my first spring in Istanbul I was watching artichokes from a respectful distance.
Aegean Skillet Greens
I love traveling off-season. Alaçatı, an upscale resort town on the Turkish Aegean coast, that overwhelmed me during the family trip last fall, looked much more promising this April. I did not mind that our hotel staff was busy installing doors at the rooms upstairs, that the nearby restaurant folks were painting their chairs “Aegean blue”, that you could hear the sound of a saw and hammer everywhere, that on Thursday night only a few places were open for dinner. None of that could cancel the blossom on the lemon trees, kids playing on the streets, air filled with anticipation and the carelessness one could feel only on the seaside.
My Mom’s Russian Vegetable Soup
The moment an Aeroflot flight attendant handed me over their “Asian vegetarian” lunchbox I knew my culinary deprivation started. I regretted not packing any snack in my carry-on and none of the essential Turkish pantry in my suitcase. This New Years I was traveling ultra-light. I still had a fever. To endure a flight, the Moscow metro and an overnight train journey I packed nothing but the presents and my mountain skiing clothes: not that I am such a skier, it was the warmest gear I had.
My mom as usual reassured me I did not need to bring anything. She made a shopping trip to source some red lentils (they are not so readily available in Russia) and chickpeas, my favorite proteins. Still, a week without pekmez, tahin, yogurt, home-made tomato paste, kekik and all looked gloomy.
