Steak and Pasta Peperonata

Last week for a last minute dinner party for four, we quickly decided to cook one of our favorite pasta dishes 'pasta peperonata' from Jamie Oliver. And with it some tenderloin steak we bought from Gunaydin Kasap  (always has good meat and most importantly, it is in the neighborhood). 

what we already had in the fridge - peppers and parsley

red and yellow peppers sizzling 

We started with cooking the pasta sauce. The red and yellow peppers were slowly cooked until they are soft with some olive oil and salt & pepper. Then the onion was added to be cooked for another 15 - 20 minutes. We added the parsley stalks, the garlic and the parmesan as Jamie explains in his recipe. Here it is optional to add creme fraiche or mascarpone cheese. Luckily we had mascarpone and it gave a soft texture to the sauce. 

steaks on the griddle pan

While we were cooking the pasta we put the steaks on our griddle pan and cooked to everyone's liking (medium, medium-rare). And we also quickly made our recently favorite salad - celery and apple salad (an alternative to green salad) with thinly sliced 1 celery, 1 apple and 1 big radish and 2 handfuls of crumbled walnut. The dressing for this salad is 1 orange juice, olive oil (minimum twice the amount of orange juice), some pomegranate dressing (nar eksisi), 1 tablespoon honey and salt and pepper.

the salad ingredients arranged

We served the steak and the pasta at the same time. And had a lovely dinner with friends.

and the pasta is served with parsley leaves

Pumpkin soup for chilly days

This is one of our (and generally everyone's) favorite soup for especially very cold winter days. The recipe is here "Superb squash soup with the best parmesan croutons" by Jamie Oliver. And we made it with pumpkins instead of butternut squash (as they are from the same family of squashes!)

fried sage leaves, rosemary and pumpkins

We first fried the sage leaves until they are crisp as in the recipe. After that the vegetables (onion, celery, carrot, garlic and chili) and rosemary leaves are cooked in the same oil that we fried the sage.

After 10 minutes we added the pumpkin and the organic vegetable stock and simmered for about half an hour until the pumpkin is soft. Meanwhile we prepared the croutons from ciabatta slices with olive oil and parmesan.

soup is simmering

When the pumpkin is cooked through, we whizzed the soup with a hand blender (we left it slightly chunky).

And the soup is ready to be served with parmesan croutons and crispy sage leaves. We added a bit of cream as optional.

superb!

Cafe Market & Weekend Bakery at Galata House

18 Aralik 2011'de Galata House'da ilki duzenlenen Cafe Market & Weekend Bakery etkinliginin ikincisi 15 Ocak 2011 Pazar gunu olacaktir. LazyCook olarak bu etkinligin ilkine biscotti, elmali-cevizli kek, Vicdan'in kara keki, scones ve cevizli ekmek ile katilmistik. Bu pazar gunu ise biraz daha farkli tatlar ve cesitli sandwichler ile katilmayi dusunmekteyiz. Etkinlik ile ilgili basin bulteni asagidadir:

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Galata' da açılan ilk café olma özelliği taşıyan Galata House' ta 18 Aralık 2011' de ilkini düzenlediğimiz Cafe Market & Weekend Bakery etkinliğinin ikincisi için yeni tarihimiz belli oldu: 15 Ocak 2012 Pazar günü - saat 11:00-18:30!

Geçen sefer olduğu gibi Weekend Bakery' de ev yapımı ekmeklerle yapılmış leziz sandviçler, tatlı tuzlu muffinler, kurabiyeler, cheesecakeler, kişler, sıcak şarap, tabii ki kahve ve değişik çay karışımları tadacaksınız! Bu sefer Weekend Bakery' e gelen konuklarımızı 2. Kattaki piyanolu odada da ağırlama imkanımız olacak.
Bu ay Weekend Bakery' nin konuğu: ISTANBUL CUPCAKERY ve birbirinden güzel cupcake lerle hepimizi şımartacak :) http://www.istanbulcupcakery.com/

Tabii ki;
Tasarım t-shirtler, cantalar ve yastıklarla: OLI BASTIANI - http://www.olibastiani.net/
Vintage koleksiyonu ile Pınar Kılıç -  STYLEMATIQUE (www.stylematique.blogspot.com)
Şık ve narin takıları ile: MIKLA DESIGN - https://www.facebook.com/mikladesign
Polimer kil ile yaratılabilecek en ilginç şeyler ve özel tasarım ipad ve laptop çantalar ile: GUGIKO - https://www.facebook.com/killenmekguzeldir

Eğlenceli tasarım ürünleri ile: CALICO - https://www.facebook.com/pages/Calico/282059128500391?sk=wall

Ayrıca, her türlü CD, Plak, DVD, Kitap, Giysi, PS3, PS2, PC oyunlarının satılacağı: GARAGE SALE

Galata House 2. katta CAFE MARKET' te sizleri bekliyor olacak!

Sıcacık ve keyifli bir Pazar günü geçirmek için bizi ziyaret edin!

Etkinliğin facebook linki:https://www.facebook.com/events/187076228057914/

Galata House facebook linki:https://www.facebook.com/galatahouse
www.thegalatahouse.com

Ayse Bige Goktug

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Ilk Weekend Bakery etkinliginde hazirladiklarimizdan birkaci:

Artik bir LazyCook klasigi olan biscotti, Spiced Biscotti with Marsala Mascarpone

biscottis

Yagsiz Elmali-Cevizli Kek

Bu cok hafif elmali keki ilk defa yuzmeden sonra eve yururken yarim saatligine kitap-gazete okumak icin ugradigim Maya Cafe'de yedim ve sahibi Harika Hanim'dan hemen tarifini aldim. Ozellikle orada ictigim ihlamurun yaninda  (ve bir saat yuzmenin ustune) cok guzel gitmekte..

1 bardak seker ile 3 yumurta cirpilir. 1.5 bardak un, 1 cay k. kabartma tozu, 1 cay k. tarcin, 3 soyulmus ve kupler halinde kesilmis elma ve birkac avuc kirilmis ceviz karistirilir ve ustune yumurta karisimi eklenir. Kaliba konup yaklasik 45 dakika onceden 180 derecede isinmis firinda pisirilir. 

yagsiz elmali-cevizli kek

Vicdan'in Kara Keki

Bu kek'in ise yapimi biraz daha karisik (ozellikle ilk defa kek yapmaya calisan benim gibi bir LazyCook icin!). Ama sonuc bayagi etkileyici!

2 bardak un

1 paket kabartma tozu

- karistirilir, kenara ayirilir

4 yumurta (yumurtalar kucukse 5 yumurta)

1.5-2 su bardagi toz seker

- el mikseri ya da robotla iyice cirpilir (iyice derken 10 dakika sureyle cirptim), ustune

1 su bardagi sut 

1 cay bardagi sivi yag

1 paket vanilya

2 corba kasigi kanyak (ya da viski) 

2 corba kasigi dolu kakao

- eklenir ve cirpmaya devam edilir. Cirpma islemi bittikten sonra 1 bardak karisim kenara ayirilir.

hazirlanan sostan 1 bardak ayirilir

- Hazirlanan sos un karisimina eklenir ve karistirilir.

- Kek kalibina dokulur ve onceden 180 derecede isitilmis firinda 45 dakika pisirilir

diktorgen kek kalibi bu kek icin en uygunu. yukaridaki kaliptan daha genis olmasi tavsiye edilir

- Kek pistikten sonra disariya alinir, firin kapatilir. Daha onceden ayirdigimiz 1 bardak sos ortasi diklemesine yarilarak kekin icine yedirilir (burasi en onemli kismi) ve hala sicak olan (ama kesinlikle kapali) firina geri konur. 10-15 dakika sonra cikarilabilir.

uzerinde peri kizlari olan kek Weekend Bakery'nin diger muhtesem tatlilariyla

Ilki cok zevkli ve lezzetli gecen bu etkinligin ikincisinde bu pazar gorusmek dilegiyle...

tatli sofrasi @Cafe Market & Weekend Bakery

harika tuzlu muffinler 

ve degisik bir tat - balkabakli tart

Lasagna Days

Last week we tried two different versions of lasagna: one vegetarian - grilled vegetable lasagna from Gordon Ramsay's 'Cooking for Friends' and one classic meat lasagna - simple baked lasagna from 'Jamie's Dinners'.

First the tomato sauce for the vegetable lasagna: after heating the oil in saucepan, we added the onion, celery stalks, carrot, garlic and fresh thyme with some seasoning and cooked until the vegetables are soft. We then put the tomatoes and simmered for 30 minutes, stirring frequently until the sauce was thickened. We added a little bit of sugar here.

first the tomato sauce

In the meantime, we prepared the vegetables: we trimmed and sliced the eggplants and zucchinis, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned. We cooked them in batches on our red hot griddle pan for 2-3 minutes on each side (until they are lightly charred). For the red and yellow peppers: we cut them in half and grilled them again until they are charred, left to cool slightly, then peeled of the skins and discarded the seeds.

When the tomato sauce was ready, we added the basil and we blitzed them until smooth in the food processor. Here, we preheated the oven to 180 degrees and started to prepare the lasagna dish. First, we laid a thin layer of tomato sauce over the base, then the lasagna sheets and then sprinkled over a little parmesan. 

the thin layer of tomato sauce being laid over the base of the dish

We then arranged a layer of the vegetables, followed by a layer of mozzarella and a layer of tomato sauce. And we repeated this until we reached the top of the dish. 

a layer of vegetables

then the mozzarellas on top of the vegetables

and a layer of the tomato sauce

We finished with a layer of lasagna sheets spread generously with the tomato sauce and topped with a layer of mozzarella and sprinkling of parmesan. We baked for 30-40 minutes until the cheese topping is golden brown. 

The only setback with this one was we used dry lasagna sheets instead of fresh ones (as we cannot find fresh lasagna anywhere) and the edges of the lasagna was tough. For our next lasagna below, we put each lasagna sheet in hot water for a second before arranging them on the dish. And it really worked out. We should try to prepare lasagna sheets at home (we have never tried to prepare any dough yet!) but this method is a good alternative.

Ingredients (for 4-6):

300g fresh lasagna sheets (about 12)  - we used Barilla

75g freshly grated parmesan

3 x 150g buffalo mozzarella

a small handful of basil leaves

Grilled Vegetables:

1 small eggplant

1 large zucchini

1 yellow pepper

1 red pepper

olive oil to drizzle

few sprigs of thyme and rosemary

Tomato sauce:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 carrot, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

leaves from a sprig of thyme

2x400g tins chopped tomatoes in natural juice

1 tsp caster sugar (optional)

a small handful of basil leaves

Jamie's 'Simple Baked Lasagna'

You can visit here for Jamie's recipe. For its sauce, instead of pork belly we used bacon and put a bit more minced-meat. And instead of butternut squash, we baked pumpkin. We cooked the sauce in our Staube iron-cast pan and it made a difference. We got some real good reviews on the table!

meat lasagna from Jamie

Return of the LazyCook - 'spiced biscotti with marsala mascarpone'

Yes, we're back with an Italian bakery classic (and our favorite coffee food). The recipe is from 'Marie Claire food+drink' - a great recipe book for dinner parties, cocktails and of course afternoon tea parties. 

So we began with preheating the oven to 180 degrees and mixing the flour, sugar, baking powder, dried fruits, almonds, lemon zest, cardamom and cinnamon in a large bowl. 

In the meantime my favorite assistant was beating the three eggs!

i'm getting help from little miss lazycook

beating the eggs..

We made a well in the flour mix, added the beaten eggs and made a sticky dough. Then we divided this (very) sticky dough into three pieces of about 4 cm in diameter (as it says in the recipe). We put these logs onto the baking tray lined with baking paper (leaving space between them) and baked for 30 minutes. 

don't forget to leave space between the logs

After 30 minutes, we removed from the oven (and reduced the oven temperature to 140 degrees) and allowed to cool, then cut each of the loaves into thin slices with a sharp bread knife. We laid the biscuits on the baking tray and returned them to the oven for about 10 minutes, turning the biscuits once. (In the recipe it says 20 minutes but they turned dark and very crispy in 20 minutes in one of my trials).

slice and put them back to oven but make sure not to overcook

Perfect with the first coffee of the day...

my favorite couple 

However, for after-dinner, we recommend the Marsala mascarpone dip. Supermarket price for Marsala wine is overly expensive for the dip! We used Misket, a demi-sec Turkish wine and it turned out well but next time we'll go for a sweet wine. For the dip we mixed the mascarpone cheese, wine and the caster sugar until smooth.

This was one of the favorites in the "Weekend Bakery" event in Galata House last sunday besides many amazing muffins, tarts and sandwiches. A blog post will follow about the event..And hopefully many many happy posts..It's good to be back!


INGREDIENTS:
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1 cup caster sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 100 g dried figs, sliced 
- 50 g dried apricots, sliced
(I put around 8 figs and 10 apricots, and I add cranberries if I have at home)
- 150 g slivered almonds (yes when you really put 150 g of almond slices, it prevents the stickiness)
- 2 teaspoons chopped lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (I couldn't find ground cardamom, instead I extract one cardamom seed and put 2-3 of what is inside!)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 eggs, beaten
Marsala-Mascarpone dip
- 200 g mascarpone cheese
- 2 tablespoons sweet Marsala (or any other demi-sec or sweet wine)
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar

Dinner with Friends

We were really excited to have our first lazycook guests last week. After scanning through couple of cookbooks, we decided to go for a lamb dish (in Turkish 'tandir') and bean salad (both from Jamie); and grilled asparagus, our usual mixed salad and brown rice to accompany them. This time as a change we made a simple dessert and in fact we were successful at it (as generally we are not!)

STARTERS

Good Old French Bean Salad

We boiled the beans for 4-5 minutes and prepared the French dressing with mustard, white-wine vinegar and olive oil. Then seasoned it with salt and pepper and added shallot and capers (optional but definitely recommended). The trick with this salad is that the beans should be steaming hot when you put the dressing on top, otherwise they don't take it. And  it should be served warm. 

French dressing and capers..

bean salad served hot!

Grilled Asparagus with Olive Oil, lemon and parmesan

We grilled the asparagus in our griddle pan and dressed them with lemon juice and three times as much with olive oil. We seasoned them with salt and pepper and added shaved parmesan on top. Best way to serve asparagus!

MAIN

Incredible roasted shoulder of lamb

The incredibleness of this lamb is coming from its slow roasting. After we prepared it with garlic and rosemary, we put the lamb in the oven (covered tightly with tinfoil) with 170 degrees and left it for 4 hours. After 4 hours we checked if the meat was pulled apart easily and it was like Turkish delight! (this is a Turkish expression indicating its softness). We put the lamb on chopping board, covered it with tinfoil and then tea towel and left it there for resting, as it is written in the recipe. Meanwhile we prepared the gravy with the sauce from its roasting tray, vegetable stock, capers, fresh mint and red wine vinegar. By the way, it is a big change for us to be able to use red/white wine vinegar here as they don't sell them in Dubai. When our guests came after babies went to sleep, we put the lamb in the microwave for couple of minutes to warm it. And served it with gravy and brown rice.

DESSERT

Plum Crisp

While shopping for our dinner, I saw big red plums in the market but unfortunately they really tasted sour and then I decided to try this dessert from Nigel Slater (see the recipe at the bottom of the page from guardian.co.uk). It is really simple to prepare with white toast breads and we served it with vanilla ice cream. The sourness of the plums actually made it better and I didn't put much sugar (less than what is written in the recipe). We had another dessert from our friend - apple torte, which was really tasty as well.

I think our first lazycook night went well! But everybody's favorite was the bean salad.

Now we're thinking if we should go for Turkish since we are in Istanbul now. What do you think?

Good Old French Bean Salad

Incredible roasted shoulder of lamb

Plum Crisp

'We're Glad to be Back' Chicken Roast Pasta and very Green Salad

Yes, we're really happy to be finally back to the lazycook kitchen. In these last couple of months that we disappeared we changed countries - moved back to our home country after living in Dubai for almost a decade, added a new lazycook junior to our family and he is now 2.5 months old and built our new kitchen where we will cook and create lots of new recipes to family and friends.

The first of these recipes is a chicken roast from Jamie's Dinners 'Everyday Crispy Chicken with Sweet Tomatoes' which we served on top of pasta. It was easy to prepare as you can see from its website but resulted in a very delicious pasta dish. 

Pasta with Crispy Chicken Roast

And as a side dish we chose a rich, green salad with asparagus, avocado and goat's cheese from our Comfort Book which will definitely be added to our basic menu list. 

For the salad, we seared the asparagus in our griddle pan with a little olive oil and seasoned it wilt salt and pepper. 

We peeled the avocados, cut them in half and drizzled with a little lemon juice to prevent the discoloring. We placed the halfes on top of rocket leaves and top with asparagus and goat's cheese. For the dressing, we combined some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, 1 crushed clove garlic, 1 teaspoon honey, 1/2 teaspoon mustard and salt and pepper and whisked them all. Simple and perfect..

Afiyet olsun!

'Everyday Crispy Chicken with Sweet Tomatoes' from Jamie's Dinners