Sultan’s Delight!

What’s on the menu today, Gutsy?

This past week, Marnina and I went on a Turkish kick.  We literally ate and prepared all things Turkish for lunch and dinner.  Marnina’s mother recently bought and sent us a signed copy of The Ottoman Turk and the Pretty Jewish Girl. It is a wonderful cookbook that should be on every foodie’s shelf (especially if you love Mediterranean cuisine!).  The pictures reminded us of our culinary journey through Turkey this past summer and left us yearning to recreate some of those memories in our kitchen.  While the recipes are simple and involve few and easy-to-find ingredients, most are not quick to prepare.  We had taken a cooking class in Istanbul and afterwards we had still not fully understood how many steps were involved in most of the dishes we had prepared.

Comfort Classic Combo!

As we continue on our fresh herb kick, we recently decided to counteract the cold weather with not one, but two, old-time comfort foods: tomato basil soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.  But this wasn’t any ordinary pairing of the two comfort foods – instead of eating them separately or dunking the grilled cheese sandwiches into the soup, the sandwiches acted as the croutons.  They were nothing like regular croutons that have a crunch, and instead were mostly soft and chewy.   Pan-frying them did give them a slight crunch on the exterior though. The basil provided an extra kick of flavor; tomato basil is a great combination and we recommend pairing the two ingredients whenever possible.

In with the Fresh Herbs!

Fresh herbs can make or break a dish. In the past, we have often used dried herbs as a substitute for fresh herbs. We turned to the fresh variety when we felt it would truly enhance the taste, but we often substituted dried herbs because of the convenience factor, and because we could never use up the entire bunch of fresh herbs before it went bad. But now, after consistently cooking with fresh herbs for a few weeks, we may never turn back.  Needless to say we thoroughly enjoy the fact that our refrigerator is constantly stocked with an assortment of fresh herbs, whether it be dill, parsley, cilantro, or thyme.