Warming food that comforts
A few recipes to get you into the rhythm (and weather) of fall.
Dear friends,
It’s been another busy week in Istanbul, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
Come Monday, the manuscript of my new book will largely be out of my hands, and we’ll have made much progress on the photos.
I know I keep talking about this book most of you will probably never be able to read (it’ll be published in Norwegian). But rest assured I’ll be sharing several recipes from it on here, in English. And I think you may find it interesting to hear about the stages of how a cookbook is made, too?
It’s not just the cookbook that’s been keeping me busy, though. Other out of the ordinary things have also demanded my attention. Within a few weeks, those things should largely be behind me as well. At least for a while.
Touch wood, come mid November, I’ll get my life back 🙃
How I do my food shopping
I was delighted to feature in
’s newsletter earlier this week, alongside two other excellent food writers, on my grocery shopping habits. In addition to how I shop for food, we also touched on the availability, seasonality and locality of food in Istanbul in general – and how I ended up here in the first place.You can read it here:
A few recipes from the archives
This week, I’m sharing a few recipes from the archives with you.
While Istanbul’s still pretty warm (certainly by the standards of a Norwegian!), fall’s most certainly here.
Figs and nectarines cling on, but the apricots and cherries have long since yielded their space at the market to apples and pears. Beetroots, cauliflower and broccoli have once again taken centre stage at the vegetable stands. At home, we’ve had the heating system maintained. We’re ready for colder days ahead.
In the kitchen, this means dishes that warm the body and nurture the soul. Luckily, the cuisines of Turkey and the Middle East have a lot to offer when it comes to stews and soups that come together quickly, but are packed with flavour!
Before I get to the recipes, I have a couple of minor announcements. These are probably more relevant for regular readers than casual ones. If you fit in the latter camp, feel free to skip straight to the recipes.
With all best wishes from Istanbul,
Vidar 🧿
IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
ℹ️ Discontinuing Grow on A kitchen in Istanbul
I recently switched ad providers for my recipe site A kitchen in Istanbul. As a result of this, I’ll be discontinuing the use of Grow, which has allowed you to save favourites on the website. You know, this bit in the bottom right corner:
It’ll be replaced by a very similar service called Slickstream, which is more widely used across the largest food blogs on the internet. Even if you’re not familiar with the name, I’m sure you’ve already seen it or even used it!
If you have saved any favourites with Grow, I’m sorry to say these will not be transferred across.
You may want to manually take note of which recipes you’ve saved, and re-save them once Slickstream is up and running. The switchover will happen early next week, so you’ll need to do it before that.
I apologise for any inconvenience, but overall this should be an improvement to the website.
There’s one more thing…
With the “new” ads in place, it feels like a good time to tease one of my plans for the near future.
We all find ads annoying. The harsh truth, though? Without ads, there wouldn’t be a website to start with. Those recipes you love would never have made their way online.
But there is another way.
As you may or may not know, past editions of this newsletter live on a website separate to A kitchen in Istanbul. That includes many recipes and informative articles.
In a few months, I’m hoping to move everything over to A kitchen in Istanbul. Paid subscriptions will also transition from the newsletter to the website.
This has two big benefits:
All recipes and articles in one place
Ad-free browsing for paying subscribers
This will increase my costs quite substantially, but should make for a much improved reader experience. Some recipes and articles will be paywalled, but plenty will remain free. I will also introduce further benefits for paying subscribers. Paid subscriptions will, however, remain completely optional.
I’ll be starting work on this towards the end of the year and will keep you posted when it’s ready!
But now, on to this week’s recipes 😊
Pictured left to right, top to bottom:
Mercimek çorbası (Turkish lentil soup). It doesn’t get more quintessentially Turkish than this. A staple at home and at restaurants alike, I make versions of this several times a month during fall and winter (and no, I’m not exaggerating…).
Chicken soup with orzo & leeks. A spiced up version of the Turkish/Middle Eastern chicken soup with vermicelli pasta, inspired by London based restaurateurs Honey & Co. Perfect for when that throat is tingling or the nose is runny.
Bazela (Lebanese meat stew with peas). Technically more of a spring dish, but with frozen peas so easily available all year around, I can’t help but think that the warming Lebanese spices makes this an autumn winner, too.
Zeytinyağlı kereviz (Turkish braised celeriac). I know it may not sound that enticing, but this is a brilliant way to enjoy celeriac (celery root, if you’re in the US). Delectable on its own, but also works wonders alongside fish.
For paying subscribers
Paying subscribers have access to the full newsletter archives of recipes, including 45+ bonus recipes. Here are a couple from the archives:
🔜 Coming this Friday for paying subscribers:
Banana bread with walnuts & dates
Warming and comforting food isn’t just soups and stews, it’s also sweet bakes. My banana bread with walnuts and dates has been a firm favourite among my Norwegian readers for years, and on Friday I’ll be sharing the recipe with paying subscribers!