'turkish eggs'

I've now been to Peter Gordon's restaurant/cafe/bar Kopapa in London's Covent Garden a few times and the food and service is always great. It's not a stuffy place, really straight forward but the food and cocktails on offer are really exciting without being pretentious or hugely over-priced, this is an incredibly rare thing in London. One dish that has stayed with me since the first time I tried it was their version of an egg dish from a related cafe in Istanbul, Turkey. The combination of thick yogurt, soft poached eggs and spicy rich butter is heavenly. Seriously - this is a wonderful breakfast.



Ingredients Serves 2
1 small clove garlic, peeled and crushed
150g thick Greek yoghurt
25ml extra virgin olive oil
25g unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (adjust this according to your tastes, you could also use some hot smoked paprika or cayenne instead.)
stem of fresh dill or flat parsley, shredded
4 eggs

1. Briefly whisk together the garlic, yoghurt and half the olive oil before setting to one side.
2. In a small pan cook the butter until it just starts to brown. You don't want it to burn just colour slightly. Remove the pan from the heat then add the chilli flakes, paprika or cayenne. Add the remaining oil and the dill. Put to one side while you poach the eggs.
3. Poach the eggs using whatever method you prefer. I have a suspicion that crispy edged, but still runny fried eggs would also work well here but I've ever tried so do what ever you fancy.
4. Divide the yogurt between two bowls, put two poached eggs in each bowl then spoon over the spicy butter and oil mix. Serve with some thick sliced, toasted bread or some warmed fat bread. 

butter, olive oil, chilli and herbs

yogurt mixed with olive oil and crushed garlic

the finished dish 

I've entered this dish in the Breakfast Club Challenge with A Kick at the Pantry and Fuss Free Flavours.

spicy harissa grilled chicken skewers

Harissa is a spicy pepper based sauce common in Tunisa and North African cuisine. This recipe is based on one I found in the Ottolenghi cookbook and goes brilliantly with most meats but works particularly well with these chicken skewers. This is very, very easy to make and makes an excellent dinner any day of the week.

Ingredients Serves 4

800g diced chicken breast
1 tbsp greek yogurt


Harissa:
2 fresh red chillies roughly chopped
2 dried red chillies roughly chopped
2 small or  1 large grilled red pepper (I used shop bought jarred ones but you could do this yourself)
1 small red onion, chopped
1/4 tsp whole cumin
1/4 tsp whole coriander
1/4 tsp caraway seed
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

Put the cumin, coriander and caraway in a dry frying pan and gently toast for a couple of minutes over a low heat. They'll be ready when the scent is released. Place in pestle and mortar and grind to a fine powder.

Next, heat the oil in the same pan you used for the spices. Add the onion, chillies and garlic and cook over a medium heat for around 10 minutes or until they have coloured round the edges and cooked through.

Place all the ingredients in a food processor with the lemon juice (or pestle and mortar if you've got the time and energy) and blitz together until you've got a smooth paste. Transfer to a bowl now if you are just making the harissa but if you're making the chicken skewers mix in the yogurt. 

In a large plastic container mix together the chicken pieces and harissa paste until it is all thoroughly coated. Cover and set aside in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight if you like. 

When you're ready to cook your skewers preheat the oven to 200C and put your griddle pan on the stove. Divide the chicken pieces between four metal skewers then once the griddle pan is hot cook the skewers until chicken has got some colour on all sides but not cooked through. Transfer the chicken on the griddle pan to the oven and cook for around a further 10-15 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with lemon wedges, salad and flat bread.

I'm entering this recipe in the July Four Seasons Food Challenge hosted by the lovely people at Chez Foti and Delicieux. 

turkish pizza

This is a wonderful pizza style dish inspired by the Turkish pide and lahmacun. I am led to believe from my Turkish friends that you place your salad on top of the pide/lahmacun then roll it up. A variation on this recipe would be to break an egg on to the top of the lamb mince a few minutes before it has finished cooking. Also, if lamb isn't your thing you would no doubt get some excellent results using minced beef, perhaps even minced turkey. You could use any basic bread or pizza dough for the base, mine is below.

The dough
1 kg strong white bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
14g fast action dried yeast
4 tbsp olive oil
approx 600-700ml warm water

Topping
500g minced lamb
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1/2 large onion, finely diced
1/2 green pepper, finely diced
4 small tomatoes, skinned and finely diced
bunch each of fresh parsley and dill (about 3 tbsps of each when chopped)
1 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp all spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
pine nuts (optional)

Salad
Roughly equal quantities of the following, all finely diced/sliced according to your preference:
1/4 cucumber
10 radishes
5 tomatoes
2 spring onions
large bunch of flat leaf parsley
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Put all the dry dough ingredients into a large bowl, make a well in the centre and pour in the oil, Using a butter knife or your hands start to bring the ingredients together. Gradually add the water, little by little, until you have a rough dough. You may not use all the water or you may need to add a little more. Knead the dough in between each addition.
2. Once you have a rough dough turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for around 10 minutes or until you have a smooth springy dough. 
3. Place dough in a bowl, cover with lightly oiled cling film then leave in a warm place to rise for about and hour or so.
4. In the mean time combine all the topping ingredients in a large bowl until evenly mixed. Cover and set to one side until needed.
5. Once the dough has risen uncover it, knock it back and divide into your required number of portions. I split mine into four balls. Each ball will serve 2-3 people generously. Roll the dough out as thin as you can, 2mm is ideal, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, brush with a little olive oil then leave to rise for another 15 mins. In the mean time preheat the oven to 210C.
6. Cover the dough base with an even scattering of the mince topping, sprinkle over a few pine nuts if you wish then bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden and cooked completely.
7. Prepare your salad while the pizza is in the oven. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl then set to one side.
8. Serve topped with salad, roll it up and eat with your hands. Delicious.

chorizo, mascarpone and tomato pasta sauce

A tasty, kitchen cupboard meal. These ingredients are usually knocking around in my kitchen or there will be something that I can substitute. To make a vegetarian version of this dish at stage one, saute a finely diced onion in some olive oil, add a tablespoon of hot smoked paprika and a couple of cloves of crushed garlic then continue on with the rest of the recipe. You can either keep the sauce chunky or put it through a food processor before mixing with the pasta.

Serves 2-3
Ingredients
200g cooking chorizo
400g tinned tomatoes or passata
2 tbsp mascarpone cheese or creme fraiche or similar
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
sprinkle of dried chilli flakes (optional)
salt & pepper
200g dried pasta. I used pappardelle.

1. Heat a wide frying pan over a medium heat, squidge the sausage meat or of their casings directly into the pan so that you've got bite-sized pieces. Cook for around 3-4 minutes until crispy and golden and the spicy paprika oils have been released. Don't move around too much unless you want to it break down into much smaller pieces. You can drain the oil off if you wish but it seems a shame to loose so much of the flavour.
2. Add the fennel and chilli flakes and sizzle for a minute. 
3. Add the tomatoes to the pan and simmer the ingredients together for about 5 minutes before you put the pasta on, it should be starting to reduce by this stage. If the tomatoes are whole you will need to break them up a bit with the back of your spoon.
4. Cook your chosen pasta according to the packet instructions, mine took around 10 minutes.
5. The tomato sauce is ready once it is no longer watery and has thickened up and is glistening with little pools of oil. Season to taste.
6. When the pasta is nearly ready stir the mascarpone into the tomato sauce and mix thoroughly. 
7. Once cooked, add in the pasta. If the sauce is too thick for your taste, add a little of the cooking water to thin it out.  Serve and enjoy.