What I'm eating: September edition
The busiest month of the year + what's ahead for Meze
You may or may not have noticed, but I wanted to apologise regardless for the unannounced mini-break for this newsletter over the past couple of weeks. September is, by some margin, the busiest month of the year for me. In addition to my regular work, I’ve two large groups visiting from Norway for a food tour of Istanbul. I absolutely love showing them around my favourite places and restaurants in Istanbul, but it takes a lot of time and energy! I still thought I’d still be able to find time for this newsletter, but, alas, not.
I’m still in the midst of it all, so just a short note from me this week with a few recipes that I’m enjoying at this time of year. Plus, a little bit of what’s to come throughout autumn and winter here at Meze.
The next few editions will be traveller’s letters from a recent trip to the Southeastern region of Turkey, where I visited Gaziantep, by many considered the gastronomy capital of Turkey, as well as Hatay, where signs of daily life are only just beginning to resurface after the devastating earthquakes more than seven months ago.
It’s taken me a while to decompress after the trip. There’s also so much to pack in in terms of food, history and contemporary issues, I wanted to make sure these letters get all the attention they deserve. The first newsletter from Gaziantep (and next free newsletter) will find your inbox in two weeks. After that, I’ll be back to a regular schedule with weekly free newsletters every Wednesday.
After these traveller’s letters (there’ll be two or three), I’ll be delving deeper into parts of Turkish cuisine. I’m currently perfecting a recipe for köfte – Turkish meatballs. I’ve been making them for years, of course, but I’m getting ever closer to that bouncy and juicy texture that make the ones you buy at small, side-street köfte restaurants so irresistible. Another ongoing project is homemade “döner” kebab. There will also be ingredient deep dives for bulgur and sumac, among others. And many more stories from the local food culture. Hope you’re looking as much forward to it as I am!
Paying subscribers will continue to receive the additional In the kitchen newsletter every Friday, usually with a new recipe. I missed last week’s (sincere apologies!), which I’ll make up for with a bonus edition very soon, while this week’s will hit the inbox of paying subscribers on Sunday. If you’d like a paid subscription (thanks so much for your support!), you can get one here:
With that, I’ll leave you with a few recipes that I enjoy at this time of year.
Vidar
Mercimek köftesi (Turkish lentil meatballs)
Yesterday, my publisher invited me along to a rooftop reception with their Turkish agents as part of week’s Istanbul International Literature Festival. There was wine and there was food – but none of it was catering. Instead, they’d perpared real, homemade Turkish food from their very own kitchens. Incredible! The star of the show – as it usually is when Turks gather a crowd – were these lentil meatballs that everyone adores.
Patlıcan musakka (Turkish moussaka)
There’s a lot more to moussaka than the Greek version – which is actually a comparatively late arrival to the moussaka party. The Turkish version is more of a stew (it’s not baked), seasoned simply but brilliantly with only a couple of ingredients for a clean, delightful taste.
Simple red cabbage salad
We’re still very much in tomato season and I try to devour them as much as I can, but the time for it to be replaced by red cabbage as the salad staple is approaching very fast. And you know what? I look forward to it.
Warm chickpea salad with cumin (+)
The most recent recipe for paying subscribers is a warming corker. A wonderful combination of warm chickpeas, roast peppers, tomatoes, plenty of herbs and – something I’d never thought of putting in a chickpea salad before – black olives. All bound together by another layer of warmth courtesy of the cumin spiced dressing. My mother, who barely even knew what chickpeas were a few years ago, sent me a message of heartfelt approval after trying it in her own kitchen!
🔜 Coming Sunday for paying subscribers:
Roast tomato salad with fennel tadka
I love eating fresh tomatoes in abundance when in season, but now the temperatures once again allow for using the oven, I find it hard to resist the umami sweetness of roast tomatoes. This seemingly simple salad (for lack of a better word) is highly addictive, making full use of the south Asian technique of tempering whole spices in oil for maximum flavour punch.
This recipe will be for paying subscribers. Paid subscriptions enable the newsletters to keep coming, but are completely optional.
If you wish to support my work and receive new recipes every Friday, please consider becoming a paying subscriber for only US$6/month or US$50/year (or local currency equivalent).
The next free newsletter will hit your inbox in the first week of October.
With best wishes from Istanbul,
Vidar
I completely understand your desire to make money doing this, but as an enthusiast follower on a limited budget, I can’t sign up for the paid subscription for each or in fact any of these websites! I’m on Social Security, work part time, and behind on taxes and bills. Reading these recipes and commentaries is a joy but I literally cannot afford to subscribe…