When in Turkey: Eat Gözleme

Gözleme is a delicious Turkish treat that can function as a snack or a light meal.  It is made from thin leaves of hand-rolled dough which is baked on top of a warm iron griddle, topped with a variety of fillings (often involving some sort of cheese), and rolled up into a portable treat.  

Because the dough must be hand-rolled and then baked immediately, wherever gözleme is served you will see ladies (and the occasional men) sitting at these small tables, rolling out dough.  We stumbled upon this particular restaurant between geological sites in Cappadocia.  We chose one of the more traditional fillings, spinach and cheese.  The freshness of the spinach combined with the tangy cheese and the taste of the freshly-baked lavash-like bread was absolutely divine.

As with pide, there are some few places online that feature recipes for making gözleme at home.  Here are a few:

- Taste: Spinach and Feta Gozleme

- Binnur's Turkish Cookbook: Gozleme

- Cook Almost Anything: Gozleme 

If you ever make it to Turkey, don't miss out on the wondorous deliciousness that is gözleme.  And in the mean time, try making it at home!  (And let me know how it goes.)

When in Turkey: Eat Pide

Pide is one of turkey's most ubiquitous street foods.  A dough similar to pizza dough is rolled into a canoe shape and stuffed with all sorts of delicious things––tomatoes (pictured), shredded chicken, minced beef or lamb––and topped with fresh parsley and sometimes an egg.  Pide is a quintessential Turkish street food, and it's perfect for a quick snack when strolling through busy streets or markets.

Pide is often served with spices and seasonings that vary depending on the locale in question, but where pide is sold, a bowl of hot chili pepper flakes is almost always near by.

In case you haven't gotten the memo by now, pide is a lovely snack.  It can be light or more filling depending on its toppings, but it always involves bright, fresh flavors.  Thanks to the work of some wonderful bloggers, you don't have to travel to Turkey (or Turkish Restaurants) to taste pide.  Here are a few recipes:

Rice & Wheat: Pide (Turkish Pizza)

Fork Spoon Knife: Turkish Pide

Give Recipe: Pide Stuffed with Beef

I plan on trying one of these out soon and as always, faithful readers, I will keep you posted.

When in Turkey: Drink Ayran

Folks, let's change things up.  Instead of overwhelming you with all the pictures of all the delicious things I encountered on my three-week trip to Turkey in September (as I've done before here), I'm going to take it slow.  I want to introduce you to the special flavors of Turkey slowly, allowing each culinary wonder its room to breathe.

One of the first new foods (or beverages, to be more precise) I tried in Turkey was ayran.  Similar to a lassi or doogh, ayran is a cold drink made from mixing yogurt, (usually non-carbonated) water, and a pinch of salt.  Turkish ayran tends to be creamier than Iranian doogh (as it is frequently made with thick, whole milk yogurt) and thinner in consistency than a lassi.  While bottled ayran is ubiquitous throughout Turkey and often quite delicious, I promise seeking out the frothy, freshly-made stuff is well worth the effort.

Restaurants that offer fresh ayran use a special sink to mix the yogurt and water, and to circulate the liquid so that it is always well-mixed and frothy.  In restaurants throughout Istanbul, fresh ayran is frequently served in beautiful copper tankards.  Cold ayran, in whatever form, is an unbelievably refreshing drink on hot days.

The most delicious ayran I had in Turkey was at a place smack dab in the middle of the Old Market's hustle and bustle, called Lezzet-i Şark.  We first popped in for a quick lunch on one of our first days in Istanbul and I insisted we go back towards the end of our trip, just to make sure it was as good as I remembered.  And it was.

And in case you were wondering, the food at Lezzet-i Şark is just as delicious as their ayran.  Their tomato kabob, chock full of pieces of roasted tomato mixed into the ground meat, was to die for.

Lezzet-i Şark Sofrası
Hasırcılar Cad. no. 52 Eminönü
34134 Istanbul, Turkey
212-514-2763

Mario Batali's Otto (NYC)

During my trip to New York a few weeks ago, I had the chance to spend the day with one of my most awesome friends, Lanny. During this day, I decided Lanny might be one of my favorite people to eat with. Why? He's always hungry and excited to eat something delicious! I don't mean to disparage any of my other friends, but I'm sorry, but it's no fun to go to a nice restaurant and eat a salad! Lanny wanted to wait until we were starving to eat, so we checked out the Stand Bookstore and I found a really nice copy of Patricia Wells's Food Lovers Guide to Paris for $1! Who knows when I'll be in Paris next but I can't wait to use it.

Anyways, by the time we got to Otto, it was around 4pm and we were starving. First off, I'd like to note that I love restaurants that stay open (with a full menu) between lunch and dinner. It may not be profitable, but people gotta eat! The Otto menu is great because its diverse and has a variety of types of food. Like Westville, they had a long list of small plates that were very vegetable heavy and surprisingly affordable. I love checking out restaurants of chefs whose recipes I use and I had a great time a couple years ago at Bobby Flay's Bar Americain, but man, that place burned a hole in my wallet! Otto was pretty affordable and I really appreciated that (I've even, for the first time in 1tsplove history, included prices!).

Lanny and I decided on three small plates: Summer Corn Salad ($4), Roasted Beets ($4), and the Mussels, Peperonata, Mint ($7). All three were delicious. All were served cold, which was surprising for the mussels but refreshing on a hot August day. Lanny, who I think had never had beets before, did not enjoy the roasted beets, but I loved them (perfect doneness!). Both of us agreed that the corn salad was good, but nothing to write home about.

As our entree, we split the Pane Frattau Pizza which was topped with Pecorino cheese (very lightly, I might add) and an egg. Lanny was very intrigued by the egg and I knew that you just can never go wrong dipping anything in egg yolk, so I was definitely on board. The pizza did not disappoint. Lanny thought there should have been two eggs for the size of the pizza, but I think then it would have just looked weird (or at least not as good). The pecorino was light, because I know some people (*cough*Idris*cough*) really don't appreciate excessive (or any) cheese on pizza.

For dessert, we got the gelato and the flavors we chose were olive oil, strawberry, and hazelnut. The olive oil was my favorite, even though the olive oil flavor was very subtle.

OTTO

1 Fifth Ave, NYC (+ 8th St)

Subway: 8th Street - NYU

212 995 9559

Westville (NYC): A Vegetable Lover's Paradise in the West Village

Westville's interior: simple and cozy

My last trip to New York City was in August, but I was just too darn busy (grrr classes, thesis, GRE, graduate school applications...go away!) to post these pictures earlier. One of the carefree summer afternoons I was there we had lunch at Westville to celebrate Yasmina's birthday. I cannot stress enough how much I enjoyed my dining experience.

the always lovely Yasmina, patiently waiting for me to stop snapping photos and order already

First of all, the menu is great. It's long and varied and creative. Second of all, it's small. This annoys some people, but I don't particularly enjoy eating in restaurants the size of Walmart. I prefer a smaller, more cozy space in which you really feel like you and the other diners are sharing an experience. But my favorite thing about Westville was how vegetable-heavy the menu was! I freaking love vegetables and I don't always feel like having meat or seafood with them. Westville's menu really let fabulous vegetables shine on their own without masking their flavor with excessive craziness.

Westville's menu includes a long list of smaller, mostly vegetarian dishes that are meant to share. Yasmina and I decided to share four: sweet potato fries, ginger & garlic snap peas, roasted beets with goat cheese, and a black bean salad. I can honestly say every single one of them was DELICIOUS. After sampling all of these simple, fresh dishes, I was still hungry and ordered the crab cakes, which I was pleasantly surprised to find were not loaded with tons of nonsense fillers. Now incase you didn't know: I'm from Maryland (i.e. I take my crab cakes very seriously). Westville crab cakes were great because they were mostly crab meat but had just enough finely diced extra excitement (my guess would be green onion and red pepper?) to keep them interesting. When Lanny joined us, he had some sort of steak sandwich which he enjoyed. If you're in the West Village and looking for a delicious, simple, fresh meal (especially if you LOVE vegetables!), I cannot recommend Westville enough.

Garlic Ginger Snap Peas, with Sweet Potato Fries lurking in the background

Roasted Beets with Goat Cheese

Black Bean/Corn Salad

Crab Cakes

Lanny, sick and tired of having his picture taken while eating by this point

Westville

210 W 10th Street, NYC

(between Bleecker and West 4th Street)
P: 212.741.7971