Feta Cheese Tart

Ingredients: 

This recipe belongs to my mom. I just cannot get enough of it since I was a kid. Easy to make and makes you remember and feel like at home, wherever you are.

For the Dough (Crust)

• 125 gr butter
• 10 heaped tablespoons of flour 
• 3 heaped tablespoons of yogurt
• 1 sugarspoon of salt
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of baking powder

For the Filling

• 250gr of heavy whipping cream 
• 300-400gr mashed Feta Cheese
• Half a bouquet of chopped fresh dill
• 1 cup of milk
• 1 egg

Directions:

1. Mix the ingredients and prepare the dough. Set 6-8 small pieces aside to make strips.
2. Grease the baking pan with butter and roll the dough out into a pie crust.
3. Combine the whipping cream, dill and cheese together and pour the filling onto the crust.
4. Roll the small pieces of dough into thin strips and place them cross ways on the filling, attaching them to the crust.
5. At a separate bowl, whisk the milk and egg and pour it over the filling.
6. Preheat the oven to 340 Fº (~170 Cº) and cook about 40min until the filling is set and crust is golden brown.

Tips:

1. A regular 9inch-size baking/pie pan might be smaller for this dough.  An 11inch round baking pan or something similar in size would work better.
2. The dough might feel a little sticky and that's normal. Add flour if it's too sticky too handle.

Pickled Beets

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds of beets
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 cups of water
• 1 cup of vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

1. Wash the beets well and cook them in the pressure cooker for about 20 min after boiling.
2. After peeling the beets, cut them into slices and quarter each slice. 
3. Pound the garlic with salt and put in vinegar to dissolve. 
4. Mix the vinegar with a cup of water that you used to cook the beets and add the sugar. 
5. Place the beets in jars and pour the liquid over them.
6. Close the lids and keep them in room temperature for about 2 days until they are ready to eat.
7. After 2 days you can put them in refrigerator. 

Tips:

1. Before mixing the vinegar with the cooking water, estimate the amount of liquid you need for your jars. You don’t want to prepare too much water-vinegar mixture as this will reduce the amount of vinegar per jar.
2. You can skip the sugar entirely.

Hanife's Rosemary Beef Marinade

Prep time: 5 minutes

I learned this recipe from my sister and immediately fell in love with the taste it adds to meat. 

Ingredients:

• 1-2 sprigs fresh rosemary 
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 1 small onion - optional
• 2-3 tablespoons of sour cream/yogurt
• 2 tablespoons of tomato paste
• 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt, pepper, and crashed red peppers/chili powder to taste 
• Oregano

Directions:

1. Blend all the ingredients in food processor together.
2. Marinade the meat in the sauce for about an hour before cooking. 

Tips:

1. If you do not have time, you can cook directly after mixing the meat with the sauce. 
2. Increase the quantities if you are using more meat. I used this for about a pound (400gr) of cubed steak.
3. Using onion will make it more liquidy. I did not use onion; however, it is in the original recipe.
4. If you use yogurt, use less as it will also make it more liquidy as opposed to sour cream.
5. Add more olive oil to have a more liquidy mixture.

Pickled Serrano Peppers and Tomatillos

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pounds of serrano peppers
• 5 tomatillos
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 thick slice of lemon
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of chickpeas

Directions:

1. Sterilize the jar and the top in boiling water.  You can fill it while still hot.
2. After washing the peppers and removing the stems, slash 2-3 slits in each one.
3. Wash the tomatillos and cut into half. 
4. Cut the garlic cloves into 2-3 pieces.
5. Put a couple of chickpeas at the bottom of the jar and place rows of peppers.  Then add the tomatillos and spread garlic pieces and some more chickpeas. 
6. Continue the sequence until the jar is full. 
7. Put the lemon slice on top.  The lemon will press the vegetables while closing the top.
8. Dissolve the salt in vinegar and pour it into the jar until its above the vegetables.
9. Close the jar and store in a cool and dark place for about 20 days.

Tips:

1. My jar took 1 cup of vinegar and that is why I put 1 tablespoon of salt.  For pickling, the ratio is usually 1 tablespoon salt for 1 cup of water.  I used the same ratio for vinegar.  If you are pickling more or less, or have smaller or bigger jars, adjust the salt and liquid levels based on this ratio.
2. Choose fresh and crisp vegetables.
3. I used serrano peppers, you can however use the kind of pepper you prefer. 

Potato Soup

Here is another recipe which is a mixture of couple of recipes and my additions.  Tips can guide you for a much simpler, yet delicious soup.

Ingredients:

• 2 russet potatoes 
• 1 small yellow onion
• 2 branches of celery
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 1/2 cups of home-made chicken stock
• 3  tablespoons of sour cream
• Salt and black pepper to taste

for Beşamel Sauce:

• 2 tablespoons of butter
• 3 tablespoons of flour
• 1 cup of milk

Directions:

1. Peel and wash the potatoes and onions, and cut them into four.  Cook them in the pressure cooker for  7-9 minutes with the stock, garlic, celery, salt and pepper (or cook in a regular pot until soft enough to puree). 
2. When it’s cooked, liquify it with a hand blender while it is still in the cooker.
3. In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat.  Whisk in flour and cook, stirring constantly until you smell the flour or it is brown.  Slowly stir in milk and keep stirring constantly until it thickens and does not have any lumps. 
4. Add this sauce and the sour cream into the pressure cooker and mix them in.
5. Cook for couple of minutes.

Tips:

1. If you don’t want to add extra calories or do not have time to make beşamel sauce, just don’t do it.  I tasted it both before and after adding the sauce and both tasted good.  However, if you want a creamy soup and end up with a runny mixture after blending, beşamel sauce helps to thicken it.
2. You can skip sour cream if you wish.
3. If you want a creamier soup, simply use more potatoes or add beşamel sauce. 
4. You can use any kind of potatoes you like.
5. If you don’t like too much stock flavor or do not have it available, you can do half water and half chicken/beef broth or stock.
6. Add more spices as you like. 
7. By the way, you can use beşamel sauce for any soup you want.

Turkish Style Meatballs

I love cooking these meatballs!  Why?  Because
when I have time, I prepare and freeze them.  When the time comes for when I don’t have time, I just take them out and throw them in a skillet.  As a matter of fact, being scared of my upcoming very busy winter, I have prepared a stash of bags of meatballs.  The best part is, they don’t take up a lot of space!

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds, 80% lean ground beef  
• 1/2 bouquet of parsley
• 2 small to middle-sized onions
• 1 1/2 spoon of tomato paste (not absolutely necessary; most people don’t use it)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of bread crumbs
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon black pepper
• Salt, chili powder, crashed red peppers, a small pinch of lemon pepper, garlic salt to taste ( I just love spices!) (I used 2/3 tablespoon of salt, 1/4 tbl spoon chili powder, 1/2 crashed red pepper).

Directions:

1. Grate the onion and garlic in food processor and then grate the parsley separately.  Don’t beat up the parsley too much.  
2. In a large bowl, combine the beef, onion, parsley, tomato paste, egg, bread crumbs and all the spices and mix them all.
3. Take pieces from the mixture and roll them into meatballs.  Press them with your palms. This is not only easier to store and fry, but this is also how Turkish people often make meatballs. 
4. After finishing the whole mixture, place them in a quarter-sized storage bags and freeze.  With these ingredients, I have placed 9 meatballs in each bag and ended up with 6 bags (9x6=54 meatballs). 
5. Or, just throw them in a skillet, fry until cooked and enjoy.

Tips:

1. If you are using 93% lean, you can add a little bit of olive oil.
2.  If you have a rather soft mixture, you can always add bread crumbs.
3. They are even more delicious when you make them with ground buffalo.
4. You can leave out the garlic salt, lemon pepper, or crashed red peppers if you prefer. 

French Onion Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 middle-sized yellow onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 cups of homemade chicken stock or chicken/beef broth
• 2,5 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup of red wine
• 2-3 tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 2-4 slices of sourdough bread
• Cheddar and mozzarella cheese
• Salt and ground black-pepper

Directions:

1. Slice the onions into rings and chop the garlic.
2. Add half of the butter into a skillet and caramelize the onions and garlic with salt and pepper for about 20 minutes (if needed, you can add more butter in the process). 
3. Meanwhile, toast the bread and set aside.
4. After the onions are caramelized, put the rest of the butter and add the flour.  Stir for couple of minutes until the flour smells cooked.
5. Add the wine and stir until it almost evaporates. 
6. Add the chicken stock and stir to mix the flour with the liquid (I used chicken stock that I made home myself and no water.  It turned out to have a great flavor). 
7. Taste with salt and pepper.  
8. Cook under medium heat until it boils.  After it boils, turn the heat down to low and cook 3-5 minutes more.
9. Shred the cheese (you can replace the cheese with any kind you like or simply have at home).
10. Pour the soup into a serving bowl.
11. Put in a slice of toasted bread and add a desired amount of cheese.

It is so filling that it can serve as the main and only dish!

Tips:

1. I used home-made whole wheat bread.  I included sourdough bread in the recipe as I love it and think it would also go very well with this soup.  You can use whatever bread you like and think would go well with this recipe.