Cornucopia Turkish cookery: recipes

Meatloaf is dish whose visibility is considerably higher in real life than in cookery books”, Alan Davidson writes in the Oxford Companion to Food. 'The situation might be changed if it had a French name, but it does not.' And yet this recipe makes a refined, succulent, mildly spicy meatloaf.

4 eggs
2-3 small carrots
2 slices of stale bread
(soaked and squeezed dry)
500g minced meat
1 medium onion (grated)
2 teaspoons powdered cumin
1/2 tablespoon wine vinegar
2 teaspoons freshly ground pepper
Salt
1 cup parsley (chopped)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Boil 3 eggs with the carrots for 10 minutes. Shell the eggs, drain the carrots and set aside.
Place the soaked bread in a mixing bowl. Break the fourth egg into the bowl and add all the ingredients except the hard-boiled eggs, carrots and olive oil. Knead the mixture until it holds when shaped into a ball.
Transfer to a buttered roasting tray and flatten with your palms to a rectangle. Place the shelled eggs in the centre end to end and the carrots next to them. Fold the meat over the eggs and carrots, and press together to seal into a loaf shape.
Brush the surface with olive oil and roast in a hot oven for 20 minutes. Serve sliced like a cake, hot or cold. Potatoes make a good accompaniment.

From Meatball Wizard

Cornucopia 22.

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Pancar Tursusu
Beetroot Pickle

This quick and easy pickle is really a sweet and sour compote and is good company for roasts, cold beef and börek. With its deep ruby colour, it is very decorative served in glass bowls. The pickle will not keep for very long. If you would like to make a longer-lasting preserve of it, replace the cooking water with vinegar in Step 3.

4 or 5 medium raw beetroot
Salt
1 clove garlic
1 cup wine vinegar
1 tablespoon

Wash the beetroot. Remove the stalks and leaves if there are any, reserving those that looked undamaged.
Place the beetroot (with any stalks and leaves) in a saucepan, cover with water, add a pinch of salt, and cook until tender. Reserve the cooking water.
When the beetroot have cooled, peel and cut into thin rounds, or halve very small ones. Place with any stalks and leaves in a jar or glass bowl. Sieve the water in which they were boiled, and add to the beetroot until just covered.
In a separate bowl, pound the garlic to a pulp with a pinch of salt. Add the vinegar and sugar to the bowl, stirring until the sugar and salt dissolve, and pour the liquid over the beetroot.
As soon as the beetroot comes into contact with the acidity of the vinegar, it turns like magic to a brilliant ruby colour. Stir once or twice without bruising the slices. Serve chilled.

From Jewels of the Fall: Pickles and Relishes

Cornucopia 9

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Yalanci Dolma

Stuffed Aubergines with rice

Yalanci dolma, which means 'cheat’s dolmas' or 'imitation dolmas' - presumably because they are less fiddly to make than the classical dolmas in vine leaves - are a delicious cold first course. Allow one stuffed aubergine or pepper each.

Yalanci Dolma
Stuffed Aubergines with Rice
4 medium aubergines
2 small bell peppers
Filling:
2 cups olive oil
6 onions
2 tablespoons pine kernels
2 cups rice (rinsed)
4 cups hot water
2 teaspoons dried mint leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons currants
3 tomatoes (optional)

Wash the aubergines and remove the stalks. Halve crosswise, and without piercing the skin, use a corer to remove most of the flesh, leaving a thin layer all round on the inside. Reserve the flesh.
With a sharp knife, cut a circle round the core of the peppers. Twist and remove the core and the seeds, leaving the pepper itself intact. Rinse out any remaining seeds and drain upside down.
Heat the oil in a skillet or shallow pan. Wipe dry and fry the aubergine shells briefly on all sides. Remove with a skimmer and set aside to cool.
Chop the onions and the aubergine flesh finely. Plenty of onions is the secret of good dolmas.
Return the pan with the remaining oil to the heat. When the oil is hot, add the onion and stir-fry until it reduces and is translucent. Stir in the pine kernels and the aubergine flesh and sauté until all turn golden. Finally add the rice, stir once and pour over two cups of hot water. Add the mint, dill, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the currants and cover. Bring to the boil and immediately turn the heat down to minimum to simmer.
When all the liquid is absorbed, remove the pan from the heat and transfer the filling to a shallow dish to cool.
When cool enough to handle, spoon the filling into the hollow aubergines and peppers, stuffing them without packing too tightly. Stand the dolmas upright in the pan, leaning against each other. For extra colour cut the tomatoes into quarters, scoop out the flesh (which can be saved for another dish) and use the outsides as lids for the dolmas. Make sure the edges of the tomato are tucked inside the aubergines and peppers. Slowly add two cups of hot water at the edge of the pan. Cover and simmer gently.
When the peppers are tender, the dolmas are cooked. Let them cool, covered, for several hours. Serve at room temperature garnished with fresh parsley leaves. Yalanci dolma keep in the fridge for several days and, like most dishes made with olive oil, improve with time.

From Purple Reign: Cooking Aubergines

Cornucopia 10

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