I love that Turkish breakfast comes in many ways: you can put its basic version on the table within 5 minutes or, as legitimately, spend the whole morning preparing it. I prefer putting together a basic version and then giving it a quick touch of sophistication.
Bottle of Turkish sparkling wine and the occasion of my 30th birthday both had already added a delicious festive note to the regular Turkish breakfast fare but I was looking for more. I took the breakfast staples out of the fridge to see what I can do this time.
If you live in Turkey your fridge is always stocked with the Turkish breakfast staples — white cheese, cured olives, vine tomatoes and little cucumbers of some sorts. Good housewives even keep sets of 6-8 small bowls which are refilled as needed: you take the set out of the fridge, add some fresh bread, brew strong black tea and the breakfast is ready. This is a our daily routine at the farmhouse and while appreciating its convenience I am nevertheless craving for slightly more sophistication while making my own breakfast in Istanbul.
One of the way to add interestingness to the regular Turkish breakfast fare — without loosing much time at the kitchen — is to put in use multipurpose condiments so often appearing in the various Turkish dishes. Enter the world of good extra-virgin olive oil, walnuts and hazelnuts, pomegranate molasses and reduced fruit juice (permez), honey and then natural tomato — and pepper pastes. And all the derivatives coming as assorted flavorings, sauce and dips that your imagination and hands can create.
I have noticed when having breakfast outside in Istanbul how adding a few drops of olive oil and pinch of dry thyme immediately makes the black olives look way more cool and have started experimenting with this knowledge at home. I think I could run a breakfast salon in Istanbul but I prefer focus on sharing it rather than making. That’s why I took only 15 minutes putting together the breakfast and we spent about 3 hours lingering over it.
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There is a sense of intimacy in sharing breakfast. To me a good breakfast is more important than a fancy dinner (even though we ended up having both that day). Because mornings are most sacred part of the day I like staring on my own and then gradually including people starting with the close ones.
The morning I turned 30 I shared my Turkish breakfast with my husband, the man who came as the biggest gift at this year of my life. I thought how it was love for Turkish breakfast that has brought me to this country and how I have learned to create my own version of this morning meal. I also thought about the luxury of having a long breakfast on otherwise a working day since Özge has joined the team and started leading some of our Istanbul food walks. And these were the most important condiments that made this breakfast so special.
Here are some practical tips on how to bring a touch of sophistication and festivity to your regular and not necessarily Turkish breakfast.
| Turkish Breakfast 1.0 | Quick Touch of Sophistication |
| Sliced feta cheese | Honey-drizzled feta cheese served with hazelnuts and sun-dried apricots |
| Cured black olives | Black olives slightly marinated with olive oil and fresh/dry thyme |
| Slices of fresh vine tomatoes | Salsa of finely chopped tomatoes, parsley and grape pekmez |
| Sigara shaped phyllo dough pastry (sigara boregi) | Phyllo dough triangles filled with pastirma and Swiss chard |
| Home-made tomato/pepper pastes served as bread spread | Bread spread of tomato and pepper pastes, pomegranate molasses, olive oil and crushed walnuts |
| Fresh white bread | Small slices of toasted bread served with chopped rocket salad and last night’s roasted pepper salad |
| Strong black tea | Sparkling wine (Inci Damla by Kavaklidere) |
