My apple tart

I love sweet short pastry and I blame my nana for my lifetime addiction.  She was the producer of the most sublime apple shortcake.  I will never forget nana’s apple shortcake!

I therefore have continued my love of apple desserts and I love playing around with different ways of making them.  

This is a really simple tart.  A classic sweet short pastry (butter (lots), egg yolk, flour, sugar, lime or lemon zest).  Chilled, rolled into rounds, chilled, pricked, baked until crisp.  I made some decorations, coated with sugar and baked them off at the same time.

I sliced the apples and fanned them out and baked them separately until cooked and slightly browned (in my opinion no need to peel). 

When the pastry was cooked and the apples were cooked I spread the pastry with some warmed cherry jam (because it’s what I had) and slid the apple on top.  I then topped them with the decorations of pastry and viola! 

A beautifully crisp, perfectly cooked apple tart with all the deliciousness of nanas apple shortcake done in a slightly different way.

Really REALLY good served with whipped cream that has freeze dried raspberries mixed through it or passionfruit ice-cream or even simple strained yoghurt with lime zest.

Sea bream with red wine reduction and rouille

I used the remainder of my red wine reduction made from poaching octopus a couple of weeks ago (kept the reduction in the freezer).   This sauce alongside a middle eastern influenced cumin rouille from my Malouf cookbook complemented each other and the fish with a punch (in a good way).  Rich seafood and acidity in the red wine reduction, a heady combination of saffron spice and olive oil in the roulle, crisp skinned bream.... you get the drift.

Sultan Ibrahim (yes again, fresh out of the sea), tomato, ginger and fennel sauce with coconut pistachio khichdi

I've made this sauce so many times now I can almost do it eyes closed.  Every time it's a knock out.  Originally from my Rasoi cookbook, I've made a few adaptations over the years.  It's gorgeous with fresh fish and khichdi of some description (like an unstirred slightly thick risotto).

Pea Jelly with salad

This is a simple pea puree spiced with a touch of cinnamon and set into a very soft jelly.  I made a fresh herb salad of mint, dill, parsley and tomato with a sumac, olive oil, lemon juice, honey and pomegranate molasses dressing then crumbled with very firm local feta.

A fresh and simple entree that is elegant enough for a dinner party.  Needs cold plates as the jelly must be only just set (think pannacotta consistency) to get the most of the flavours and textures.

Local red mullet (Sultan Ibrahim) with red wine reduction

So as I was saying, I kept the red wine cooking liquor used to cook the octopus in the previous post to play around with.  I reduced it to a sauce consistency, added a touch of salt, sherry vinegar and sugar to balance at the very end and it tasted to me like it would work perfectly with our beautiful local red mullet.

A very simple dish as you can see, salt baked potato, herb salad (parsley, mint, sumac etc), that sticky red sauce and the freshest of red mullet only just cooked.  I can tell you with all honesty the flavours defied the simple presentation.  Complex yet fresh and light, it was SUPERB.

Octopus cooked in red wine

We tried this version of octopus at Lokanta Maya a superb restaurant in Istanbul.  I asked the chef how she'd prepared the octopus, I couldn't work it out.  Red wine was her secret and slow cooked until meltingly tender, giving it a high heat sear at the end to caramelise.  Yum.  Easy too.

I served it with a simple parsley, mint, tomato  salad dressed with pomegranate molasses, olive oil and lemon juice and sumac.  Mint and parsley together are old hat but for some reason I'd never fully explored them solely as a salad green.  They make the most beautiful salad to go with anything.  Somehow together they balance each other's flavours to produce a new taste which is more subtle than their individual components.

I kept the red wine the octopus was cooked in just to experiment and the next post is the result...

Prawn raviolo on fennel puree with fennel and apple salad

This Josh Emmet recipe was on Masterchef NZ recently and just looked to gorgeous not to try.

The filling of the raviolo is a prawn mousse with a beautiful hit of lime zest and ginger which makes this whole dish sweet, light and perfectly balanced.

I added a touch (a teaspoon or so is all that's needed) of pernod to the fennel puree at the end of cooking which gave it an extra hit of anise along with that sharpness from the alcohol.  The fennel for the salad needs to be put straight into acidulated water after mandolining it into shavings to keep it's white colour.  The apple can be added too and then drained patted dry and dressed at the last minute.

A punchy vinaigrette is in order here, we added a touch of ginger and lime zest and used aged sherry Jerez vinegar that I buy in Spain.

The raviolo take exactly 5 minutes in simmering water from fridge cold.  It's important to keep the raw prawn mousse as cold as possible when working with it to keep the sweet freshness of the prawn flavour.

A delicious dish and one to make again.

Turkey

We had been meaning to go to Turkey for many years (I'm talking decades).  It finally came together last minute when I booked a villa in Selimiye on the Bozburun Peninsular.  http://www.premiumturkishvillas.co.uk/accommodation/villagelincik

The photos on the website do not do this place justice.  It's a beautiful villa, well considered and everything is provided including plenty of tea light candles to create your own light effect against that blue black sky.

We've lived in Dubai for almost 6 years but rarely hear the call to prayer. On an early morning run I hear it depending on the daylight hour but it's a rare event.  I did not realise how many Mosques would be in Turkey.  Might sound a little dim but I really just didn't think of it.  I admit I'm not looking out for Mosques when I travel and an advance notice might just have put me off HOWEVER,  in this instance it added to my experience. This is a country, from my observance. of humility,
tradition and today.  It's an eclectic hedonistic mix which is very powerful.  It threw me off balance and I have to say Turkey was an eye opener.  A beautiful ensemble of religion and cuisine, tradition and modernity.  Quite something.

The call to prayer is so wistful as opposed to the harsh bell of the Christian church (sorry but those Christian bells in small villages when your bed seems to lie next/under it is pretty loud for light sleepers!).  The call to prayer  is a lovely sound that does not intrude, it makes one rather inclined to relax and listen.  Well me, anyway.

The food in Turkey is complex.  A heady mix of spice, fish, shellfish, lamb, goat, all cooked to perfection depending on the cut and protein and village/area to showcase it's distinction.  The high use of dried herb in amongst the fresh, the zesty peppery paprika, the sweet SWEET onions and tomatoes (the onions so sweet I can eat them raw and I never eat raw onion - these simply are beautiful and do not destroy one's palate).  I am getting more and more intrigued with Middle Eastern cooking and it covers a massive expanse of continents and ingredients.  I defy a person interested in cooking to not deeply delve into the aromas, spices and palate deliciousness of truly balanced dishes from the far ranging spheres that the entire Mid East has to offer.  It covers southern France and Spain along with the more obvious regions of Turkey, Lebanon, the Gulf ... it's hugely expansive.

Yes we enjoyed our foray into Turkey.  We completely fell in love with the crazy city of Istanbul and I think the main reason is because of the area we stayed in (The House Hotel Vault Karakoy).  Karakoy is arty,  young and has really great bars and coffee houses.  The hotel was close enough to the Bospherus that we enjoyed an incredible night at Ali Ocakbasi and  Lokanta Maya which were both superb.  Different, Ali Ocakbasi was more traditional and Lokanta Maya was more modern.  Both fresh, perfectly balanced with the spice and zest that Turkish cuisine is renowned.  

We will return to Turkey.  I sussed out a run on our return taxi trip to the airport so next time I can run easily in Istanbul (for runners, from the Europe side of Galata bridge, cross the bridge in the underpass and turn left, continue for a km and the waterfront will appear and continue, no chance of getting lost!  It's a crazy city you need a plan if you are running!!).

I'll post pictures later.