Memories Maketh The Meal

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When I was fourteen I went on a holiday to Gumbet in Turkey, at that time the resort was rather quiet with just a few local shops and a couple of restaurants but from what I can gather it is now a thriving tourist resort – I’m glad I went when I did, although I most likely wasn’t saying that at the time (in typical teenage fashion I suppose).

Other than the distinct difference in the culture compared to the UK and the rather interesting dolmus rides to Bodrum, the most memorable part of the holiday was the food! 

Bodrum had a huge (bazaar) market, selling everything from fresh fruit and vegetables, to dairy produce, to livestock! Never before have I seen live chickens for sale at a food market and to be honest I did find the whole experience rather unnerving. From what I can remember the market was absolutely packed to the brim and the market traders expected you to haggle away, they at the time seemed to be pestering the tourists a fair bit but I don’t really suppose they were doing so, anymore than a market trader here shouts out his or her wears but for a rather lacking in self confidence youngster it is not all that surprising that it was all a little unsettling … now however I’d love to go back and dig in!

Image Courtesy of Google Images

We were self catering so we did indulge in an awful lot of the local produce, all of which was amazingly good, and when we ate out we went to local food outlets rather than the places aimed at the influx of tourists; even though it did mean most of our meal planning was pot luck (non of us speak any Turkish and many of the Turks didn’t speak much English), pointing at the menu and just going for it, I hasten to add that the majority of the food was superb. Delights included stuffed vine leaves fried aubergines stuffed with spiced minced meat, beans and tomatoes simply stewed in olive oil, lots and lots of simply grilled fish dressed with gorgeous (taste of the sun) lemon juice and herbs, koftes and of course the essential kebab (which I hasten to add is nothing like the foul item sold in fish & chip shops throughout the UK). I could go on and on but I’m not going to, there are many Turkish cookbooks out there you could read or just head over to this fabulous Turkish food blog.

One last food I need to tell you about (because I made a version of it the other night and that is the whole point of this article) is Lahmacun – basically a type of Turkish pizza, in the form of a pitta type bread topped with a spiced very finely mined meat. The first one I had was at the hotel we stayed in near the pool, sipping a cool salty yogurt drink called Ayran – the hotel owner knowing we were keen to try local food was nice enough to bring us the lahmacun to try, I was on cloud 9, they were so good!

I’ve tried several recipes before which are similar in nature to this delightful food but non of the were quite right, the combination of a Rick Stein recipe and a Greg Malouf recipe I used the other night was perfect, joy oh joy! The topping was Rick’s and the bread Greg’s – together they worked perfectly. I am entering this to YeastSpotting because I need to shout out about how good this is!

The key element to bring everything together is to ensure you have a good handful of herbs (I used parsley & rocket) and lots of lemon juice for squeezing over to bring the true Turkish delight into your kitchen; it helps if the sun is shining too though but hey you can’t always have everything can you?

I served the lahmacun with some spinach cacik, recipe from the New York Times.

This added some extra moisture and a cooling/calming element to the hot dish, essential considering how warm the day had been. I could have done with the view below though to round the evening off

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Filed under Bread, Meat, Sides