A soup with a story behind it. Or perhaps I should say several stories, as with all good folklore. One version is this: there was a beautiful young woman named Ezo, who lived in a village in Gaziantep near the Turkish-Syrian border. Ezo struggled greatly when it came to finding matrimonial bliss; her first marriage ended when her husband fell in love with another woman and her second marriage took her far from home, to Syria, where she became deeply homesick and struggled with her mother-in-law. It is said that Ezo created this soup to win her mother-in-law around to her favor. Today, it is fed to brides on their wedding day to sustain them for the uncertain future ahead, and it is also found in almost every kebapçı (kebab restaurant) in Turkey, where it is often eaten for breakfast. Don’t skip the lemon juice before serving, it really enlivens the dish.
What the Turks don’t know about making kebabs just isn’t worth knowing. Tepsi is the Turkish word for “tray,” which is what this recipe is traditionally cooked in, and kebap is the Turkish word for “kebab.” I visited a butcher’s shop attached to a restaurant in Antakya in Turkey and was roped into hand-mincing the ingredients for this recipe using a giant machete-like knife. The mixture was then pressed into a baking pan and baked in a wood-fired oven. The results were spectacular, and the flavor so memorable I came back home and created a version in a shallow casserole dish. If any one recipe changes the way you cook, this may just be it. The meat is juicy, tender, and charred on top, and the ease of pressing the meat into the dish makes this a super-simple way to cook a kebab.
A deeply savoury börek filled with rice, sultanas, pine nuts and chard. It is baked as a large pie rather than as small pastries, making it ideal for a lunchtime gathering. The fleshy sultanas give it a lovely sweet note. Yufka pastry, often for sale in Turkish/Mediterranean shops, is slightly thicker than filo pastry and usually comes in generously sized sheets; if you can find it, buy it.
VEAL TONGUE | DİL SÖĞÜŞ
Region: Malatya, all regions
STRAINED LENTIL SOUP | SUÅNZME MERCİMEK CORBASI
Region: Eskişehir, all regions
SHEPHERD’S SALAD | ÇOBAN SALATASI
Region: Bolu, all regions
STUFFED BREAD | EKMEK DOLMASI
Region: Aydın and Manisa, Aegean Region
RICE PILAF WITH ORZO ŞEHRİYELİ PİRİNC PİLAVI
Region: İzmir, all regions
MUNG BEAN AND ONION SALAD | MAŞ PİYAZI
Region: Gaziantep, Southeastern Anatolia
FESTIVE MEATBALL AND CHICKPEA STEW | TIKLİYE
Region: Şanlıurfa, Southeastern Anatolia