Dairy

This dip is quick to make. Serve it with crisp toasted flat bread and, if you like, black olives, cucumbers cut into little sticks, plum tomatoes cut in wedges, and scallions. You can now find labneh, the very thick Lebanese strained yogurt, in Middle Eastern stores.

This pie, made with fillo pastry, can be served hot as a first course, a tea-time savory, or as a snack. Milk sprinkled between the sheets gives it a lovely soft, moist texture. The most common cheese used in these pies is beyaz peynir, or “white cheese,” which is salty and much like feta cheese. Another cheese called lor is like our cottage cheese. I like to use a mixture of the two. For this recipe, you will need large sheets of fillo; I used sheets measuring 19 inches × 12 inches. These are usually sold frozen and need to be defrosted for 2 to 3 hours (see page 9 for information about fillo).

These dainty little rolls, or “cigars,” make ideal appetizers and canapés. The cheese used is beyaz peynir, or “white cheese,” which is salty and much like feta cheese. Use large sheets of fillo measuring about 19 inches × 12 inches, cut into strips, but if the fillo sheets are too thin, the pastry is liable to tear and the filling to burst out during the cooking. In that case, use 2 strips together, brushing with butter in between. You will then need to double the number of sheets. I prefer using only one strip if possible, as it makes for a lighter pastry. (See page 9 for information about fillo.) Serve the rolls hot. They can be made in advance and reheated.

I love these roast quinces even more than the famous quinces in syrup that I have written about in other books, because here the fruits keep their natural and unique taste and perfume. Quinces can be small like an apple, and they can be huge and weigh up to 1 pound each. You need about 1/2 pound per person so a large one is enough for two. Cooking times vary depending on their size and degree of ripeness. Quinces are available in farmers’ markets and in Middle Eastern stores. Kaymak (see page 218) is the cream served with it in Turkey, but clotted cream or mascarpone will do very well.

A pasta like tagliatelle called erişte is a traditional Turkish food that is still made by hand in rural areas. This recipe, with feta cheese, eggs, and milk is easy-to-make comfort food. It can be served as a first or main course and can be made in advance and heated through before serving.

Use large dried apricots for this famous Turkish sweet. You need to soak them in water overnight (even if you are using a semi-dried moist variety). The cream used in Turkey is the thick kaymak made from water-buffaloes’ milk. The best alternatives in this country are clotted cream or mascarpone.

The dish can be made with small lamb shanks or with knuckle of veal (osso buco) or slightly fatty, cubed meat. I have used lamb shanks, a cut not normally available in supermarkets. But butchers sell fresh ones from the foreleg weighing about 10 ounces and frozen ones from New Zealand from the back leg weighing from 14 to 16 ounces. Serve it with plain or Vermicelli Rice (see page 304). The yogurt makes a wonderful, soupy sauce so provide spoons, too.

One legend surrounding the name of the sauce, hünkâr beğendi, which means “Her Majesty’s delight,” places it in 1869 when the Sultan Abdul Aziz entertained Empress Eugénie (my Istanbul grandmother was named after her), wife of Napoleon III, in his white rococo palace of Beylerbey on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. The empress was so enchanted by the pale, creamy, eggplant purée that she asked for the recipe to be given to her cooks. The sultan’s cook explained that he could not pass on the recipe because he “cooked with his eyes and his nose.” In Turkey, they use mature kasar, a hard yellow cheese, or Gruyère in the sauce, but mature Cheddar can be used too. Serve it with rice pilaf (page 193).

This is a mainstay of Turkish kebab houses, where it is often dramatically served in a dish with a dome-shaped copper lid, the type that was once used at the sultan’s palace. I serve it in a large, round, clay dish, which can be warmed in the oven. This is a multilayered extravaganza. There is toasted pita bread at the bottom with tomato sauce poured over. This is topped with yogurt and sprinkled with fried pine nuts. Grilled ground meat kebabs or shish kebab (see above), or both, are laid on top. It requires organization and must be assembled at the last minute as the pita should remain a little crisp. The tomato sauce and meat should be very hot while the yogurt should be at room temperature.

Beets may be boiled or roasted, but I think roasting, which takes much longer, gives them a deliciously intense flavor. It is best to buy small ones because they take less time to cook. Or, of course, you can buy them already cooked.

Fried onions, feta cheese, and herbs lift what is otherwise a bland vegetable. These little fritters can be served hot or cold. They can be made in advance and reheated.

A very traditional meze is fried eggplants served with yogurt and tomato sauce. I like to do the same with a mix of roasted vegetables, and I serve them either hot or cold. It is the kind of thing you can do easily in large quantities for a party. It can be done a day in advance, cooking the vegetables in batches, if necessary, and reheating them, if you wish, on the day. The yogurt should be at room temperature. The tomato sauce has a sweet-and-sour flavor and is served cold.

This is one of my favorites. It makes a good first course as well as a vegetarian main dish. The vegetables can be served hot or cold and the yogurt should be at room temperature. I mix the two kinds of yogurt—plain whole-milk and strained Greek-style yogurt—to get a thick creamy texture that still pours well.

This salad is popular throughout the Middle East. Unless it is to be eaten as soon as it is made, it is best to salt the cucumber and let the juices drain before mixing with the yogurt; otherwise it gets very watery. If possible, use the small cucumbers sold in Middle Eastern and Asian stores—they have a finer flavor than the large ones. Cacik is served as part of a meze and also as a side dish—to be eaten with spoons from little individual side bowls—to accompany pies, meat dishes, and rice. It even makes a lovely cold summer soup. Use plain whole-milk yogurt.

Yogurt softens the flavors and adds to the creamy texture of this refreshing purée.

Use a soft, fresh-tasting, mild goat cheese for these little pies. Use the fillo in sheets that measure 12 inches × 7 inches, which you can find fresh in some supermarkets, or use the large sheets measuring 19 inches × 12 inches and cut them in half. See the note on fillo on page 9. You can freeze these pies and you can put them straight from the freezer into the oven without thawing, but they will need a little more cooking time. They make elegant and tasty party fare.

A mild and soft fresh goat cheese, jban, is one of the rare cheeses produced in Morocco. If you are not keen on raw garlic, you can leave it out.

Baked apples are a splendid example of “nursery food,” and children as well as adults deserve this sort of comfort on a regular basis. To ease preparation, you need a very sharp, short knife for coring the apples.

I remember buying creamsicles from the ice cream truck as a child. The combination of the orange and vanilla flavors was wonderfully refreshing. Here’s a healthy, natural re-creation of those flavors in an invigorating beverage.

Whichever berry or berries please you most, here’s a tasty way to enjoy them