Quick and easy dinner ideas from Istanbul
Plus, my favourite seasonal two-ingredient treat!
Hi there,
If you’re a free subscriber, it’s been a minute since you heard from me. As you may have gathered from previous newsletters, the past few months have been a little overwhelming for me. While this isn’t my first time writing a book, it’s the first time I’m writing a book while trying to keep up a near full-time set of engagements alongside.
I’m very happy to say we finished the last photos earlier this week, and both manuscript and pictures are now with the designer. In fact, this weekend I’ve enjoyed my first couple of days off since spring!
I’ve missed writing this newsletter for you during this time. I’ve not stopped thinking about it, though, so my list of ideas for future editions has kept growing. And now there’s finally time to actually write them! I can barely wait to share them with you in the weeks and months to come.
In the meantime, I thought I’d share a handful of recipes from the archive that share a common trait that’s always welcome – but particularly so these days so packed with holidays and the often stressful days that precede them. Recipes that are quick and easy to make – yet pack a punch of flavour.
Hope you’ll enjoy them as much as I do!
Vidar 🧿
From left to right, top to bottom:
Chunky lentil & vegetable soup is my pimped-up version of the Turkish lentil soup, making it suitable for a light dinner. To make it extra filling, add a couple of handfuls of cooked chickpeas and enjoy with yoghurt and rye or wholemeal bread.
Arayes (Middle Eastern stuffed pitas) is a genius way of making a quick dinner. Spiced ground beef in pitas, fried in a pan and served with a 1-minute tahini sauce. Delicious!
Cheat’s lagman (Uyghur style lamb with noodles) is a delicious twist to your regular noodle dinner, mixing the flavours of East Asian cuisine with that more typical of the Middle East. One of my favourites!
Tomato orzo pasta with feta yoghurt is perhaps most suitable for our friends down under, where tomato season is about to start, but you can also make a very good version by substituting the 500 g fresh tomatoes with 50 g of mixed tomato and red pepper paste, plus as much water as is necessary. Feel free to add some spices for flavour as well – cumin, pul biber and isot biber come to mind.
And a bonus for the holiday season: Simple roasted salted almonds. Incredibly more-ish snack that’s also excellent as a homemade gift for friends and colleagues.
For paying subscribers
Paying subscribers have access to the full newsletter archives of recipes, including 50+ bonus recipes (and growing!). Here are a few recent recipes shared with paying members:
