Turkish Dinner
Before coming to Italy I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve had Turkish food or, indeed, met anyone from Turkey! Over the weekend our friend Alyssa, invited us to a Turkish dinner at a B&B in the country that one of her chef friends was hosting.
Even though the food was Turkish, the meal and setting was very Italian. At a B&B in the middle of the countryside, we drove down a narrow dark road and turned into our host’s Bed & Breakfast in the middle of nowhere. Hosted at a long family-style dining table we started our evening with local white wine and chat at the Italian dinner time of 8:30pm. [ which means the first course was served around 9:00pm!]
The menu for the evening was also in typical Italian style of a antipasto, primo, secondo and finally dolce. The many courses meant we were dining and chatting until about midnight. It was a lovely warm feeling- enjoying a long meal in the middle of the countryside.
We began with some amazingly delicious tahini, okra in a tomato sauce and roasted bread. It was so difficult to not eat it all and be to full for the remaining courses!
The secondo was a delicious cauliflower and ferro soup with mint oil.
The main plate had a zucchini patty, stuffed pepper and stuffed eggplant and grape-leaf wrapped delights.
It was all so delicious! And, even though we’re mostly cooking at home and can make whatever we want, it was nice to have some unique un-Italian flavors. The main course was served with a honey-grape-water concoction that served as sort of a pallet cleanser. It was delicious and I thought complimented the spiciness of the food.
Dessert was a Kanafeh- a traditional dessert made with fine semolina dough, soaked in sweet, sugar-based syrup, and layered with cheese and ice cream. It was so good I finished it before I remembered to take a photo. And we finished with a nice strong tea.
Alex and I have been studying and working a lot the past month and it was really nice to get out of the house, to laugh and chat with friends and to have an amazing home-made delightful dinner as well. A very Italian Turkish dinner was the perfect study-break.
