Recipes from Turkey

Dolma

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rice
• 1,5 cups olive oil
• 1/2 cup pinenuts
• 500 gr. onions finely chopped
• 2 tea spoons sugar
• 1 tea spoon allspice
• 1/2 cup currants
• 3 cups water, hot
• 1 pinch parsley, finely chopped
• 1 pinch dill finely chopped
• 1 pinch mint finely chopped
• salt

Preparation:

Soak the rice in hot water for 30 minutes, then rinse throughly until the water runs clear. Drain. Soak the currants in warm water until they swell up. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add the pine kernels and brown lightly over a medium heat. Add the finely chopped onions and cook until coloured. Add the rice and stir over the heat for 4-5 minutes. Add the drained currants, salt, remaining spices and stir into the rice. Add the hot water, bring to the boil and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes. When the water has evaporated, and the rice gets too tender tip onto a large plate to cool. Chop mint, parsley, and dill finely and stir into the cooled stuffing.

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Baklava

Ingredients:
• 1 pound frozen phyllo sheets
• 1 cup melted butter
• 2 cups finely chopped walnuts or blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup honey
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Preparation:


Thaw phyllo pastry and separate sheets according to package directions. Keep pastry not being used covered with clean damp dish towel to keep it from drying out. Place half of pastry sheets in a greased 15x10x1-inch baking pan, one by one, brushing each sheet quickly and all over with melted butter. Combine nuts, 1/2 cup sugar, and cinnamon; sprinkle over buttered pastry. Place remaining sheets on top, brushing each with melted butter. Cut baklava pastry into 2-inch diamonds. Bake at 400° until brown and crisp, about 30 to 35 minutes. Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine remaining 3/4 cup sugar, honey, 1 cup water, and lemon juice; bring to a boil. Boil baklava syrup for about 20 minutes,
stirring occasionally, until syrupy. Cool and pour over baklava.

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Red Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

1 cup red lentils
1 medium size onion
1 carrot
1 tbsp tomato or pepper paste (or you can do half&half)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed pepper or red peppercorns
6 cups of water

Ingredients for the sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 tbsp sweet or spicy paprika

Preparation

-With a pressure cooker: Put everything (onion and carrot coarsley chopped) for the soup in the pressure cooker and cook on medium for 15 minutes and then smoothen the soup with a blender
-With a regular pot: Put everything for the soup in a big pot and cook on medium heat until the lentils are soft and mushy, for about 20-25 minutes. Smoothen it with a blender.
-If you don't have a hand blender or if you want to have a chunky soup, chop the onion finely and grate the carrot before you cook them.
-Previous two are, in a way, healthier ways of making this soup. If you want to try the tastier way, sautee the onion with 1 tbsp oil for 3-4 minutes. Add the paste and cook for a couple of minutes, and
add the rest of the soup ingredients. From this point on, everything will be the same. Sauteed onion and paste will make quite a difference, though.
-Before serving the soup, heat the oil in a skillet and when it's hot add the paprika. Stir for 5-10 seconds. Pour a couple of scoops of the oil+paprika sauce on the soup bowl.
-Squeeze a little bit of lemon juice on top.

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Recipes from Slovakia

Potato meal called Granadír

Ingredients:

6 peaces of potatoes
2 onions
200 g of pastas ( short noodles )
Ground red pepper
Ground black pepper
Salt
Oil

Instructions:

Boil potatoes in jacket,
peel potatoes and cut to small cubes,
boil pastas in salt water,
mix pastas with potatoes,
add salt and a bit of pepper,
chop onions ,
fry onions in a pan ,
add red sweet pepper,
put pastas and potatoes ,
mix it and salt if it´s necessary,
serve it with acid cucumber.



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Round cake with sheep cheese - Pagáče

Ingredients:
250 g of flour
180 g of fat
180 g of sheep cheese
Salt
1 yolk
Conditioner dough
White of egg
Salt and cumin for sprinkle

Instructions:

1. Put flour into a bowl ,
2. add fat, sheep cheese, salt, yolk and a bit of
conditioner dough,
3 . mix it very good,
4. spread on the board – it can be 1cm thick,
4. cut round cakes ,
5. cover with egg white, salt, cumin
6. bake until they are pink .
We can add a grated cheese instead of sheep cheese.


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Stuffed Chicken – Plnené kurča

Ingredients:
2 chickens
40 g of bacon
60 g of oil
Stuff:
20 g of oil
40 g of onions
4 eggs
4 rolls
Milk for wet rolls
40 g of butter
Parsley leaf
Salt, ground black pepper
Marjoram
Chicken giblets

Instructions :

Salt and oil 2 good washed chicken,
fill with stuff and sew very good,
put on an oiled baking pan,
garnish with slices of bacon,
pour with a bit of water,
bake in hot oven.

Instructions for stuffing:

peel and chop onions,
fry it on oil,
stew chicken giblets on it,
cut small cubes from rolls,
put them into a bowl with milk,
mix butter, yolks, salt, pepper, chopped parsley leaf, marjoram,
add chicken giblets, wet roll and snow from egg whites,
mix everything.
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Recipes from Italy

SOGLIOLA ALLA GIULIESE

INGREDIENTS:
(For 6 people)
6 beautiful soles
a couple of cloves of garlic
250 gr. of black olives
chopped parsley
a large glass of water
lemon
extra virgin olive oil
salt.

PREPARATION
First of all, clean and wash the soles and place them all together in a pan into a mixture with the lemon juice, chopped parsley, garlic and olive oil,
Add water and salt (making sure not salted too).
Cook over low heat and, ten minutes before turning off the heat, add the black olives and a slice of lemon on each sole.
Serve on a large serving plate garnished with a bed of olives and slices of lemon.

SOUP OF FISH OF THE ADRIATIC SEA

INGREDIENTS:
4,5 kg of mixed fish (squids, cuttlefish,
mullets, scorpion-fish, rays, prawns)
1 kg of clams (called lupini o paparazze)
1 kg of mussels
600gr of peeled tomatoes
250 gr of extra-pure olive oil
200 gr of minced parsley
8 cloves of garlic
1 sweet pepper
Chilli

PREPARATION:
Brown 4 cloves of garlic in 125 gr. of oil with sweet pepper cut into strips.
Add the fish that need a longer cooking: squids, cuttlefish, prawns.
After 3-4 minutes add scorpion-fish, mullets and rays.
Pour tomatoes, mussels and clams.
Boil for about 10 minutes.
Then add remaining oil, minced parsley and cloves of garlic and cook them for 3-4 minutes.
If desired you can add chilli,.
Serve with toasted bread.

SPAGHETTI WITH GARLIC, OIL AND HOT PEPPER

INGREDIENTS (for 4 people): 400 g of Spaghetti 2 Cloves of garlic 1 – 2 Hot peppers (as you prefer) 1 / 2 Glass of Extra virgin olive oil Salt Parmigiano cheese.

PREPARATION Let salted water boil. Cut the garlic and the hot pepper in pieces and place them in a pan with the extra virgin olive oil, and cook for about 3 – 5 minutes or until the garlic becomes golden. When water boil, add the spaghetti and cook for about 6 – 8 minutes. When spaghetti are ready, drain them and pour on them the oil and mix all together.
Put the spaghetti on a platter, sprinkle with parmigiano cheese and serve hot.

Slovak Winter Traditions

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Slovak friends

Slovak winter traditions

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