Spicy Feta Spread

November 08, 2019 by Gizem in Snacks, Meze

I don’t know about you but I love savory snacks. If I am looking for something to munch on during the day, there is a very good chance that it will be olives, cheese or bread, or all of the above. This spicy feta spread is a snack that I can whip up fast to satisfy the savory cravings. I mostly have this as an afternoon snack with some black tea (they go so well together), but I also made it for breakfast and served it as a meze at dinner parties in the past.

As the name suggests, this feta spread is quite spicy. I definitely recommend sticking to the recipe (or making it even spicier, I mean, why not) but if spicy food is not your thing, you can always reduce the heat that the recipe asks for. I didn’t use to like spicy food until I met my husband, Cesar. His love of spicy food rubbed off on me over years of food adventures. Now we have a collection of hot sauces in the fridge, yet another collection of peppers in the spice drawer and we became the couple that travels with a carry-on size Sriracha.

But, back to the spices in this recipe. Turkish Marash pepper or Aleppo pepper is a bit sweeter than the standard red pepper flakes you find at the supermarket. Marash and Aleppo peppers have moderate heat and a sweeter taste, almost like sundried tomatoes with a nice kick. Most spice shops carry Aleppo pepper. Marash pepper is a lesser known name, at least in the United States. If you can’t find either, feel free to use crushed red pepper flakes but keep in mind that your feta spread mind end up a bit spicier.

Yields: 8 servings Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

150 grams feta cheese, crumbled (about 3/4 cup)

3 tablespoons walnuts, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, preferably Marash pepper or Aleppo pepper

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Preparation

1. I always buy blocks of feta cheese if I can find them. If you are starting this recipe with a block of cheese, place it inside a bowl and crumble it using the help of a fork.

2. Chop the walnuts with the help of a knife or if you are lazy like me, use the chopper attachment of a hand blender. The walnut pieces should be relatively small.

3. Combine crumbled feta, walnuts, tomato paste, olive oil and spices until everything is incorporated.

4. Spread on slices of toasted bread and serve.

Chickpea Salad with Feta Cheese

November 08, 2019 by Gizem in Salads

This week I have definitely experienced a writing block. It was potentially because we ran out of coffee at home (disaster!) but probably because I am still exercising this muscle called writing. Blogging is completely out of my comfort zone and I am still very much learning about it. Cooking and photographing the recipes come a lot more naturally to me than writing about them. I haven’t been writing with my own voice, about my experiences and myself since I the diaries I kept until I was 15. On the positive side, writing this blog has already been super rewarding. I love getting text messages from friends who tried my recipes, showing me their creations. It makes me the happiest person on the planet. So with a little delay this week, I am back to writing and I have an amazing chickpea salad to share with you.

This chickpea salad is adapted from Sevtap Yuce’s cookbook Turkish Meze. The book was a gift from my mom for that I can make the recipes whenever I crave a meze spread. I modified Sevtap’s chickpea salad recipe and added some other ingredients I had in the fridge. It is an extremely easy salad to fix up and it makes the perfect lunch or a light dinner.

I feel like chickpeas don’t get much attention unless they are turned into hummus. Once someone asked to me, when they heard that I am from Turkey, “you must eat hummus almost everyday in Turkey, right?” Ummm no. I actually think hummus is so much more popular in the US than it is in Turkey because it is marketed as a healthy snack option. In Turkey, chickpeas are used in so many different dishes in addition to hummus. Don’t get me wrong, I love a well made hummus but chickpeas are so versatile, it is sad to limit their use to just hummus.

Roasted chickpeas, also known as leblebi, is probably a more popular way to consume chickpeas in Turkey. Leblebi has a smoky taste and a crunchy texture. You can get them hulled or dehulled and you enjoy them just like nuts. Instead of buying packaged trail mixes, people go to nut shops and buy nuts by the pound. My mom always used to have a jar of nut mix at home for snacking. She kept it in a cupboard right above the stove and we would snack on the nuts whenever we are drinking a glass of wine or just looking for something healthy to munch on. I would cherry-pick the chickpeas (and the hazelnuts) from the mix all the time.

I can never find leblebi in the United States so I try to incorporate chickpeas into different dishes all the time. They work amazingly well in salads, curries and stews. Whenever I am in a time crunch I use canned chickpeas (my mom would shake her head) but, obviously using dried chickpeas is the best. For this recipe, I used dried chickpeas and soaked them overnight. If you use canned chickpeas you can reduce the time of this recipe by 45 minutes.

Yields: 4-6 servings Time: 1 hour (15 minute if you use canned chickpeas)

Recipe adapted from: Turkish Meze by Sevtap Yuce

Ingredients

1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight (or 1 15 oz can chickpeas)

1 heirloom tomato, diced

1 cucumber, diced

6 scallions

16 black olives (I used cured black olives)

1/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled

1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped

1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Preparation

1. Start by cooking the soaked chickpeas. Put the soaked chickpeas in a pot and fill the pot with water. Bring the water to a boil and simmer the chickpeas until tender, for about 45 minutes. If you are using canned chickpeas, rinse them well, under cold water.

2. Chop off the root bit of the scallions and slice the rest. Dice the tomato and the cucumber. I use the cucumber without peeling it.

3. Combine chickpeas, scallions, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, feta cheese, and the fresh herbs.

4. Pour in the apple cider vinegar and the extra virgin olive oil and gently toss the salad.

5. Serve with freshly ground black pepper sprinkled on top.

Watermelon and Feta

October 31, 2019 by Gizem in Meze, Snacks

Watermelon is one of the most popular summer fruits in Turkey and it is my favorite fruit of all time. This post is not really a recipe but a pairing of watermelon and feta, sweet and salty. When I tell my non-Turkish friends to try watermelon with feta, they generally don't believe that they would go well together.

I grew up eating this for breakfast every summer when I visited my grandparents on the coast of the Mediterranean. On a hot summer day, a cold and sweet slice of watermelon and a salty slice of feta is all you need to cool yourself down. So trust me and try this match made in heaven this summer.

If you want to spice it up a bit more, watermelon and feta is also a commonly enjoyed meze with raki. Raki is a Turkish liquor made with grapes and anise. So pour yourself and your friends a glass and enjoy the flavors, the company and summer nights.

Ingredients

Slices of watermelon

Slices of feta cheese

Preparation

Put the watermelon and feta on a plate and eat as much as you'd like! One bite watermelon, one bite feta.