Crispy Zucchini Flowers

With some fallen caramelized leaves on the floor and slightly chilly summer evenings, September is finally here. Although summer is not actually my favorite season like everyone else's, I won't complain. This has been a great summer for me. 

To sum up I have travelled a lot. First we went to Izmir to organize a summer camp for economically disadvantaged children, then I went to Italy and fell in love with two incredible cities: Rome and Florence. I came back to Turkey and went to our tiny summer house in Canakkale, where I spent 6 weeks relaxing, swimming, reading and cooking with my grandmother. I later came back to Istanbul to get started on my university preparation program. Just before the bayram, I was lucky enough to visit Bodrum and now I am finally here, at my desk, in my cozy room ready to share some of my favorite recipes with you. 

This Crispy Zucchini Flowers is actually a copy-cat version of the one I tried back in Italy. We first stayed at Rome for 4 days but then took the train and went up to Florence. My parents and I chose to rent a tiny apartment near the center of the city. There was a tiny market at the corner and we cooked most of our lunches and dinners there. However one night, whilst I was Instagramming some of my favorite food bloggers I bumped into a post that recommended a fantastic restaurant where both locals and foodies from all around the world cannot leave Florence without having a bite here. Plus the restaurant was around the corner of the apartment that we stayed. So we couldn't miss this opportunity and decided to go there. 

The fantastic restaurant I mentioned earlier is called "Trattoria Za Za". It is almost always very crowded so I highly recommend you reserve a table in advance. We had the Florentine steak and it was perfect. However what really stunned us was the fried and extremely crispy zucchini flowers. From the moment I bit into the crispy fritters, I knew that I was going to try them back at home. 

(The restaurant also offers great pastas and I was quiet excited to try the gnocchi with truffles (actual real truffles instead of truffle oil) however when I realized that I haven't ever tried a 1 kg steak before I decided to share that with my parents. But if you have the chance please do try that one as well :)

So, when I was at the farmers market in Canakkale, I spotted an old lady selling a bouquet of zucchini flowers for 2 liras. What a bargain! I got a bunch and headed back to our tiny kitchen to bring Florence to our table. The zucchinis turned out to be AMAZING. The crispy outside of the zucchini flowers with the perfect spicy yoghurt dipping sauce will definitely be your next game day favorite. You can also serve this as an appetizer or a snack, either way you are guaranteed to have a fantastic dish. So here is the recipe for Crispy Zucchini Flowers, I hope you'll enjoy:

Baked Crispy Chicken with Cornflakes

It has been a very long time since my last post. May and June is always an exhausting time for us at the school but this year just topped its game. I don't remember getting this much tired ever in my life. However this year was probably the best considering the classes I have taken and the things that I have learned throughout the year. 

This summer is very special for me because I finally got to visit Italy in late June. It was AMAZING. Everything was just perfect. I still feel as if it was a dream. There is so much to say about Italy but I can summarize the trip with pasta, museums, fantastic architecture, more pasta, some pizza, lots and lots of pistachio gelato and even more delicious pasta. People were so kind and the food was just incredible, not to mention the spectacular museums and the outstanding works of art. I sure will visit again. Ciao, for now. 

If we get back to the recipe, this is a super quick and a super yummy one. It only takes 15 minutes to prepare but you will have to be patient with cooking if you want to avoid raw chicken. The crispy coating on top and the most creamy and moist chicken will definitely be one of your favourite dishes. So go ahead and try this for your next meal, you won't regret it. Hope you'll like this one too: 

Cafe Fernando's Pistachio Ice Cream

Pistachio, in other words the green gem, is my favourite ingredient to work with and simply to eat. It is perfect with both savoury dishes and delicate desserts or as a salted snack on the go. 

Here in Turkey, pistachio is often used as a base for desserts, from baklavas to Turkish delights you can find it anywhere. Probably because we have the one of the best pistachios in the world, we try to use it everywhere; on top of a rice pudding, rolled in phyllo pastry, etc. It is dense, rich and has a sweet kick. As Nick Malgieri, a cookbook author, said "Turkish pistachios have a brilliant color that is entirely natural. The baklava is so bright and unusual people think, 'Eww, that has food colouring in it', but it doesn't"

Whenever I go to a bakery, I order pistachio macarons and a scoop of pistachio ice cream. Because nothing goes better with pistachio than pistachio itself. And I wanted to share an ice cream recipe before the winter cold starts to hit us in the face. Plus, I wanted to give my new Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Maker Attachment a try. 

The Ice Cream maker is easy to use, if you learn how to use it. At first, I had a very hard time attaching it because I thought that I had to unscrew something in order to put the drive assembly in. But in fact I only had to slide it. Then I poured the mixture in to the freeze bowl before starting the mixer up. Then, the ice cream froze in the bottom and sides, the dasher did not move and I almost broke it. After scraping the sides and the bottom, cleaning the mixer, and refreezing I started the mixer and then poured the mixture in while it was working. Again my Turkish habit of not reading the manual did me no good. So, if I were you, I would read the manual before hand. 

Also, I do not have a food processor so I used ground pistachios, a spatula and a mixing bowl. It was very hard to achieve the desired consistency because the syrup crystallised very quickly. But somehow I managed to prepare a beautiful ice cream. What I try to mean is that, if you have food processor, you are lucky. If you don't, get ready to work those arms like a turbo mixer and your cardio workout for the day would be done. 

This is a Pistachio Ice Cream Recipe from my favourite cookbook Cafe Fernando. Yes it does take a lot of patience to prepare the ice cream, but I assure you will be amazed with the result. Also, the measurements I provided below are in grams and 480 g of milk is not equal to 480 ml. So you have to be careful and use your scale to its full potential. I hope you'll like this recipe,

No Bake Chocolate Fridge Cake - Mozaik Pasta

Summer in Istanbul is unbearable. It is impossible to go out during the day because of the burning hot streets. That is why people go on a vacation to cool down in the crystal sea or they go out when the sun goes to sleep. 

Even though it is very hot, the weather is definitely better than the humid New York weather and garbage smelling streets. Do not get me wrong, I really liked New York but there is no place like home. Especially if your mom spent hours making your favorite food- yaprak sarma-  for your arrival. 

Although the weather in Istanbul is better, I still crave for a cool autumn weather and cozy leaves on the streets. But since it is still August, I find the answer in refreshing drinks and desserts. 

This recipe is a summer classic in our family. As a chocolate lover, I make this very often. It is also perfect as a dessert after a dinner party because it is fresh and light. The cool refreshing cake is very easy to prepare. You only have to pop it in the freezer and wait for it to set. 

The reason why I love this recipe so much is because you can add or substitute many different ingredients. Just follow the directions for the chocolate sauce and the other ingredients depends on your creativity. I used petit beurre biscuits, walnuts and some orange zest in this recipe but you can use crushed cookies, wafers, graham crackers, digestive biscuits, marshmallows, peanuts, etc. You got the idea. The sky is the limit. 

In Turkey, we call this "Mosaic Cake" because when you slice it, the biscuits and the other ingredients make the illusion of a mosaic. I really hope you try this especially during the summer,

Cafe Fernando's Almond Cookies

A cup of coffee and some flaky almond cookies with a new book in my hand I am sitting in my balcony trying to ignore screaming kids and enjoying the beautiful weather. Summer is officially here. After coming back from an exhausting volunteering project in İzmir, I can finally relax and have a time of my own. 

A couple of months ago I bought a new cooking book called Cafe Fernando. It is written by the famous food blogger "Cenk Sönmezsoy" who loves San Francisco, baking, chocolate and macarons, just like me. He has won many awards with his blog, book and original recipes. I wish I had found his blog earlier but late is better than never. 

photos from: http://bigumigu.com/haber/tasarim_gozu_olan_kurabiye_ustalari_araniyor_cafefernando 

I tried the first recipe on his book called "Cenk's Home Cookies". In Turkey, every mother or grandmother has their special cookie recipe that they can pass on to their children and grandchildren. We do not have a specific recipe written on a piece but my grandmother always bakes the best cookies by measuring with her eyes and experimenting with different nuts and fruits. And as you can imagine it might be very difficult to follow a recipe where you are asked a handful of sugar and plenty of flour. This is why I chose to try Cafe Fernando's recipe. 

photo from: http://bigumigu.com/haber/tasarim_gozu_olan_kurabiye_ustalari_araniyor_cafefernando

The cookies are so good that you cannot stop eating. It is not to sweet but has a crunchy topping and a flaky texture which is what I love in a cookie. I highly recommend that you try this because it is purely worth your time. It is time to use those almonds that you have bought a couple of months ago and that you couldn't use them because you've spent too much money on. Believe me it is worth it. I hope you'll enjoy. 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Summer is the time where I get to travel and most importantly visit my summer house in Çanakkale. It is the only time where I get to relax, enjoy the sunshine on the silky sand, read a couple of books of my choice with my sunglasses on and swim in the crystal clear sea. However what I like the most is that I get to visit a small island called "Bozcaada". It is just across where our house is and only takes 45 minutes to get there with the boat. 

The port

Bozcaada is known with its jams, wine, fish, herbs and most importantly its super cold sea. But for me a cold sea is the best after a burning summer day. I can say that warm water is definitely not for me and this is why I love Bozcaada so much. I would love to spend the entire summer there but a lot of people choose to come here during the season and it makes this tiny cute island a disaster because of the traffic, and food problems. Even the hotels are overloaded and you can count yourselves lucky if you have a loaf of bread and a bottle of water. This is why I only go there just before the season starts. 

Ayazma Beach

The classic Bozcaada lunch, roasted eggplants, fried calamari and samphire...

for more photos of Bozcaada

Three weeks ago I went there for the weekend with my entire family; my aunt, my uncle, my grandmother, my grandfather, my cousin, my father and my mother. We visited  Alesta Otel owned by one of our friend who lives in Bozcaada. She invited us for the authentic island breakfast full of jams, pişi and olives. It was spectacular. After the breakfast, we had coffee and some cookie that I baked for her. I had to hide the cookie box on our way to the island because m uncle and my cousin were trying to eat "Just one more". Everyone, even the guests that were staying at the hotel fell in love with the cookies. Later I baked a batch for my Geography class and they also liked the cookies. 

So, I am sharing the recipe for the most amazing "Chocolate Crinkle Cookies":

Note: If you bake these overnight, it will be easier to shape them. They need minimum 5 hours of resting in the refrigerated. 

Arancini, Fried Rice Balls

Winter is one of my favorite seasons but I sometimes miss summer as well. The weather is crazy here in Istanbul nowadays. The snow storms are not leaving the city for the rest of the week and even though I love winter, the weather makes me miss the warm summer days. That is why I am going to share a recipe that I first tasted last summer and have been wanting to cook for a really long time. 

I tasted this arancini last summer in Carluccio's which is an Italian restaurant here in Istanbul. I fell in love with the creamy and crispy rice balls and wanted to try them. But whenever I cooked a risotto at home I couldn't resist and I ate it the way it is. That is why I never had any leftovers for risotto and I was very lazy to prepare a risotto from scratch just for this recipe. 

Having some leftovers took approximately a couple of months and I was finally able to cook some arancini. I loved the home cooked version better because the arancini I had in the restaurant was a little bit greasy. I served mine with some green salad on the side and it was absolutely delicious. They were so yummy on their own, they did not need any marinara sauce on the side. However if you are not like me and if you love a great tomato sauce then go for it. 

So, here is the recipe for a great alternative for a risotto: 

Summer Update and Apologies

As many of you might have noticed I am not very good at updating you guys. I have been on my summer break since the last week of June and I have to admit that I haven't been writing to you and I am very very sorry about that. I will try to write more and share more recipes with you. However today I am going to tell you about what I have been up to in these 2 months, so no recipes for today and I am sorry about that. 

I have been travelling both nationally and internationally. I've been to Chicago, Bozcaada and did some touristy things here in Istanbul. Both Chicago and Bozcaada was very nice and I did all these "must do things" there and something hit me: I live in a city that I do not know of. I felt like many visitors from all around the world actually might know a lot more of Istanbul than I do. And that kind of made me feel embarrassed and sad at the same time. So, when my cousins came to pay us a visit from Germany, I decided to "explore" Istanbul with them. We went to the Prince's Islands, strolled around Kadıköy and tasted some of the Turkish Classics from Turkish delight to köfte. 

a Traditional Ferry