My entire schedule was wrecked after being away for 3 weeks, both on the home and work fronts. As any one would have expected, work piled up while I was away and my dear husband is the only one who thinks that a vacation is not one when you come back with your workload doubled or tripled. A lot of dust had accumulated in our home even with the windows shut and locked. With this terrible mess before me, I grew envious of the vacuum tight window seals I have encountered and love while in Turkey. All the houses are speckless!

With a house to clean up and loads of laundry to do, I gamely agreed to host a dinner party the first Saturday evening after we got back. We wouldn’t want to wait till Sherie returns back from her adventurous trip in December with such a long hiatus after such the immensely successful dinner hosted by Pick Yin, do we? Hence, lots of cleaning took place in our humble adobe that very week. I’m eternally grateful to Daniel for transforming our bedroom back to its former comfortable and cosy setting from its temporary chaotic, warehouse-like state while we were away.

I got a little too relaxed after the house was nicely spruced up and took on a slow pace with the food prep. I would usually start food prep very early whenever we entertain but since these two amazing women assumed huge responsibilities by taking on the mains and dessert, I figured I would have an easy time with the mezze and soup. The morning started with a Turkish breakfast served in bed and I lounged around the house in the afternoon.

Before I knew it, it is late in the afternoon and the Turkish bread that I had planned on making didn’t turn out as fine. The contingency plan was to make lavash crackers to go with the dip. The lavash dough needs at least an hour of resting time and that was exactly how much time I have on hand before the first of our guests arrived. Without much of a choice, I charged ahead with making the lavash.

Me, the undutiful host fed our hosts with cheeses and olives that we had lugged back from Turkey while the lavash rest and bakes. At long last, dinner began when the first of the lavash crackers was baked.

When Sherie peered into the pot of soup, she pointed out how big a batch it is and I intentionally made the full batch so we will have leftovers the following day. One of my favourite part of entertaining, little or no cooking is required the next day. In fact, I kept a portion of the spinach pilaf and it tasted even better the next day. The aroma was overwhelming the instant I unlocked the airtight container it was stored in. The same could be said for the soup. The flavours melded much better and tasted awesome. We had friends over and everybody went for seconds.

mezze of
Olives, Cheeses, Hummus
served with
Türkish Bread
Lavash Crackers

Türkish Peasant Soup
Pistachio Pilaf with Spinach & Herbs
Fish Doctor’s Stew with Black Pepper, Lemon Peel & Lemon Thyme
Lime Curd Tartlets with Raspberries & Red Currants
Türkish Lokum, Helva & Nuts
Türkish Çay & Kahve

adapted from Greg and Lisa Malouf’s Turquoise

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons hot parprika
1 tablespoon hot pepper paste
200 grams red lentils
900ml chicken stock
600ml water, plus more if the consistency is too thick
1/4 cup fine bulgur
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
dried mint
lemon wedges

Heat the oil over low heat in a large, heavy-based saucepan.
Stir the onion, carrot and garlic around in the hot oil, then add the cumin and hot paprika, and saute for 5 to 8 minutes, until the vegetables soften.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook for a minute.
Add the lentils, chicken stock and water and bring to a boil.
Cover the pan and cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time.
When the lentils have broken down and become creamy, add the bulgur.
Season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 10 minutes.
When ready to serve, ladle the soup into warmed serving bowls.
Serve with a drizzle of olive one and a sprinkle of dried mint with wedges of lemon.

mezze of br /