No Lamb Needed: Leftover Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie could be my new favorite way to use up leftovers! It’s so easy!

Sauté some fresh veggies, add whatever leftovers you have. Make a quick gravy. Make a fresh batch of mashed potatoes. Place veggie and meat mixture in a baking dish, top with the mashed potatoes and bake until bubbly and lightly browned on top.

By no means is what I suggested above a “traditional” recipe for Shepherd’s Pie.

According to my handy Food Lover’s Dictionary, the pie is a “popular British or Irish meat pie made of cooked ground or diced meat (traditionally lamb or mutton) mixed with gravy and sometimes vegetables and topped with mashed potatoes…Shepherd’s pie was originally created as an economical way to use leftovers from the ubiquitous Sunday roast.”

I didn’t use lamb in my recipe. However, I did have several kinds of vegetables and leftovers that needed to be used. I didn’t want to make soup again. (We recently ate turkey soup for nearly a whole week after Thanksgiving.)

I started scouring the Internet for inspiration to use my leftovers.

It’s chilly outside here in Istanbul. So I thought something warm and hearty would be lovely for dinner. I found a traditional Shepherd’s Pie recipe on BBC Good Food's website. This was my starting point.

Shepherd’s Pie is definitely not the healthiest meal mainly because I like to make my mashed potatoes with loads of butter and whole milk. But it’s certainly delicious and will warm up your belly!

Oh, I did serve the dish with a spinach salad. However, I must mention that I dressed the salad with an apple cider-bacon vinaigrette. I had reserved some of the bacon fat from Sunday’s breakfast that hubby made for me.

Our breakfast of bacon and over easy eggs on Sunday.

Sorry, but bacon is hard to by here in Turkey, so we have to savor it.

If you use my adaptation, feel free to substitute the vegetables with whatever you might have on hand.

Afiyet Olsun!

Leftover Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:

1          T.         vegetable oil

4-6       ea.        cloves of garlic, chopped small

3          ea.        shallots (or substitute ½ small onion), chopped small

3          ea.        carrots, chopped small

4          ea.        Turkish long, green peppers, chopped small

1          ea.        tomato, diced small

2          ea.        fresh sage leaves

1          c.+       frozen peas, carrots and potatoes

2          T.         Aci biber sosu or tomato paste

Splash              Worcestershire sauce

1          c.         beef stock

Make a quick gravy with approx. 1 Tablespoon cornstarch and 1 Tablespoon cold water.

TT                    salt and pepper

500      g.         (approx. 1 lb.) cooked roast beef, chopped small

900      g.         (approx. 1 to 1.5 lb.) mashed potatoes

1. Preheat the oven to approx 400 F or 180 C.

2. In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the oil. Then, sauté the garlic, shallots and carrots just until softened, about five minutes.

3. Next, add the green peppers, tomatoes, sage, frozen vegetables, aci biber sosu or tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce and cook for a few minutes. You can add the roast beef now too and cook for a few more minutes.

4. Then, add the beef stock while whisking in the cornstarch mixture. Let the liquids come to a boil and they will thicken slightly.

5. Prepare a large baking dish (approx. 8 ½” by 11”) by rubbing it with butter or using pan spray.

6. Pour the vegetable-beef mixture into the dish.

7. Carefully, spread the mashed potatoes on top. I used a fork to make the criss-cross pattern on top of mine.

8. Bake the pie until it starts bubbling and the potatoes are lightly browned on top, about 20 minutes. 

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Dinner Delivered!

Forgive me for not writing much during the past week or so. I’ve been involved in many local activities lately. I helped decorate and then worked at the Christmas bazaar. I attended a Turkish cooking class and a bookclub meeting. I helped organize a wine tasting last week. Also, I am trying to finish my Christmas shopping before I return to the states next week.

I have a ton of photos of my Thanksgiving feast to post, and I still owe you a continuation recap of our Dubai trip.

In the meantime, let me share my recent discovery with you.

Since we’ve been living abroad, I’ve realized how many little things we take for granted in the U.S.

·         Easily being able to get from point A to point B.

·         How inexpensive dry cleaning is.

·         Eating pork. I miss pork in all its forms. Thank goodness I can at least find Italian cured meats like prosciutto and pork salami.

·         Buying a slice of pizza, prepared foods, fresh milk, imported cheeses, a wide selection of breakfast cereals, tamales and the list goes on.

There are many serious things we take for granted too, but I’ll save those for another time.

Everything is complicated by the fact I don’t speak the language that well yet. I’m slowly learning. The Turkish language is difficult. I know enough words to get by on a daily basis so I’m proud of that fact.

Trying to explain our address isn’t easy either. Once I’m in a taxi, I usually can tell the driver the directions in Turkish. But I’ve avoided trying to get food delivered because I can’t tell someone on the phone how to get here.

Until now.

Two of my American friends here told me about this great website called istanbul.yemeksepeti.com. The website offers an English version so I can just type in my address, select a restaurant in my neighborhood and order dinner.

Pizza with arugula, tomatoes and prosciutto.

With one click, I finally can have dinner delivered to our apartment. Sweet!

I love cooking, but sometimes I deserve a break too.

Over the weekend, we ordered pizza and a Greek salad through the website. Last night, we ordered Wonton soup and other Chinese specialties and then watched a movie at home.

Tonight, I’m back in the kitchen. I’m going to jazz up some leftovers and turn them into my version of a Shepherd’s pie topped with fresh mashed potatoes. It will be a simple, hearty meal that we can enjoy together on this chilly night.

Afiyet Olsun!

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Bazaar-ed Out

What an exhausting and crazy day!

Many women, including myself, invested tons of volunteer hours to make the annual Christmas Bazaar (hosted by the International Women of Istanbul) a roaring success!

It’s always nice to see the efforts of your hard work pay off, but at the same time I’m worn out.

Today, I spent most of the time selling salads to the hoards of customers in the food court section. At the end of the day, we counted 1,342 tickets or Turkish Liras that were spent at our table. Awesome! Money raised from the event is donated to various local charities that assist women and children in need.

Here's a view of the salad bar when everything was fresh.

As you know from my previous post, I also baked and decorated dozens of cookies and quick breads for the American table. I was told everything sold out. Hooray!

A view of the "disappearing" baked goods.

Some of the American ladies and friends whom worked at the bazaar.

Earlier in the morning, I had a chance to walk around and admire all the lovely homemade Christmas ornaments, jewelry, table décor, clothing and so much more. I bought a few things for myself and family members.

But I had my eyes on the imported foods – things you readily can’t find here or even if at all. Women from their native countries of France, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and Italy sold cheese, chartrucerie, wines, baked goods, mustard and numerous goodies.

Of course, I wanted everything! It’s hard for me not to spend money on good food, especially when it’s a pork product.

Here's what I bought: almond paste, 3 kinds of cheese and several pork products.

Tonight, I think I’ll be eating some of that French Camembert cheese for my dinner. 

Honey, you better hurry and get home from work or it might be gone!

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Baking Bonanza

Our kitchen smells like chocolate, lemon, cinnamon and turkey.

So far, I have baked 32 dozen cookies and 10 loaves of quick breads in the last few days. I feel like I’m back in my restaurant again. Currently, I have a 12-quart stockpot on the stove simmering away with leftover turkey bones, herbs and mirepoix. I’ll reserve the turkey stock to make soup later.

The cookies are packaged and ready to be sold.

All the baked goods are for the annual Christmas Bazaar hosted by the International Women of Istanbul. The bazaar will take place from 12 to 4 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 30, at the Hilton Convention Center. If you are in Istanbul, please stop by or tell your friends about it. Money raised from the event is donated to various local charities that assist women and children in need.

Besides baking for the American table, I’m helping to organize the salad bar at the bazaar. The table will feature more than 20 salads from local restaurants and the international women members.

One of my favorite cookies I made this time was a crispy, super chocolaty cookie made with chopped, salted almonds and a bit of Nescafe. It’s a recipe I adapted from David Lebovitz, a cookbook author who has a wonderful food blog about his life in Paris. 

I made a double batch which yielded more than 200 cookies. Of course, Jason and I consumed a few cookies, and I love to just eat the raw cookie dough.

The recipe is a snap to make. I like to roll the dough into approximately 2” wide logs, then wrap them in waxed paper and freeze them. It’s much easier to slice and bake the cookies this way. Plus, you can bake a few cookies at a time if you’d like.

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as I did.

Afiyet Olsun!

Double Chocolate-Almond Cookies

(Adapted from “The Great Book of Chocolate” by David Lebovitz)

Ingredients:

8          oz.       (250 g.)            unsalted butter at room temperature

1          c.         (200 g.)            granulated sugar

¾         c.         (180 g.)            light brown sugar, firmly packed

2          ea.                                large eggs

1          tsp.                              pure vanilla extract

2          tsp.                              Nescafe or instant espresso powder

2          c.         (280 g.)            All-purpose flour (Add ¼ to ½ cup extra flour if using Turkish flour)

2/3       c.         (65 g.)              unsweetened cocoa powder

1          tsp.                              baking soda

1          tsp.                              salt

¾         c.         (100 g.)            salted almonds or substitute your favorite nuts

¾         c.         (100 g.)            dark chocolate chopped or chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F/175 C.

2. Place the butter and sugars into a metal mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer beat the mixture until light and fluffy, about three to five minutes.

3. Next, add the eggs, vanilla and Nescafe. Mix well.

4. Then, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together. Add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, and blend until well combined.

5. Lastly, stir in the nuts and dark chocolate.

6. Now, you scoop the cookie dough into large balls and bake them right away. Or you can roll the dough into approximately 2” wide logs, then wrap them in waxed paper and freeze them. It’s up to you. Once the dough is frozen, you can thinly slice the dough and bake the cookies.

7. Bake the cookies on a parchment paper-lined half sheet tray. Bake until the cookies are just flat, about 8 minutes in a convection oven or about 15 minutes in a conventional oven.

8. Transfer the cookies to a cooling back.

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Giving Thanks in Istanbul

Happy Thanksgiving from Istanbul!

The big day is finally here! I started working in the kitchen at 7:30 this morning. I have to get several things ready to go because soon my giant turkey will consume the entire oven.

I picked up Mr. Tom Turkey yesterday in Yenikoy, and he weighs a whopping 11 kilos. It's difficult to carry the darn thing! Last night, I rubbed the turkey down with a herb and salt mixture and wrapped him up in foil to rest. It's a new techinique (for me) that I read about in Bon Appetit magazine.

This year is my first Thanksgiving I actually get to celebrate at home with my husband and friends. For the past seven years, I've always been working in a restaurant kitchen preparing desserts for hundreds of people on this day. Sure, I got to nibble on leftover turkey and stuffing during the day, but it's not the same. I wanted to be the one sitting down, enjoying a nice meal and talking with my friends and family members.

Since we are in Turkey this year, we don't have family to celebrate with, but we've invited six friends whom we've met here. As expats, friends become like an extension of family because your own relatives are so far away. I am very thankful for the great group of international friends we have made so far.

Today's menu had definitely been keeping me busy. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to making food for others. I want everyone to be happy and enjoy everything. I also tend to overdo it.

Here's the menu so far:

Homemade dinner rolls

Cheesy green bean casserole

Herbed stuffing with apples, chestnuts and onions

Mashed potatoes with turkey gravy

The turkey

Mini pumpkin tarts and maybe an apple tart too

Cranberry-orange-ginger bread 

I made these homemade dinner rolls on Tuesday night.

Besides all the delicious food on this day, Thanksgiving, most importantly, is a time to give thanks. 

I'm thankful to be married to a wonderful man whom I laugh and talk with every day. I'm thankful for this opportunity to live in a foreign country and experience all it has to offer. I'm thankful for the adventures we've experienced this year. I'm thankful we will celebrate Christmas with both of our families next month back in the states.

What do you give thanks for?

May your Thanksgiving be full of happiness and a full belly!

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Beer and Bebek

Ahhh….there’s nothing like sitting near the water, drinking a cold beer and enjoying the lovely weather. And for once, it wasn’t an Efes.

Don’t get me wrong. I do enjoy drinking Efes here, but I miss a good, heartier draft beer.

Over the weekend, Jason and I decided to spend the afternoon in Bebek, which is one of the wealthier neighborhoods of Istanbul on the European shores of the Bosphorus. I just think it’s a super cute area where the streets are lined with great restaurants and gourmet shops. The neighborhood also has one of the best Starbucks in the world because of its water view.

We’d heard there was a real brewery in Bebek called TAPS. The company brews all-malt beers with ingredients imported from suppliers in the E.U. Apparently; the beer is even being exported to Japan, Sweden and the U.S.

The menu listed about 20 different craft beers, but our server told us there were only four available that day. I’m not sure if the brewery rotates the beers it has available or how it works exactly.

Well, I was happy to order a TAPS Vienna Lager, and Jason selected the Smoke Lager (Rauch Beer). My medium-bodied beer had a slight malt sweetness to it and reminded me of some local beers back in Baltimore, MD. Jason’s beer definitely had a smoky flavor, and I didn’t like it.

The brewery also offers a typical bar/pub menu filled with fried appetizers, hamburgers and brick-oven pizzas. We ordered the Freda Farm pizza with chunks of fried chicken and a ranch-like dipping sauce. Beer and pizza always goes well together.

We had a wonderful time just sitting by the Bosphorus, relaxing and talking throughout the late afternoon. I love being by the water. It’s quite tranquil and allows my mind to wander freely. I think all those years of living landlocked in the middle of the Midwest finally got to me. I’ve been living by a body of water ever since I moved to New York in 2004.

Later on, we decided to walk around Bebek and popped into a few of the shops. I bought 200 grams of heavenly Italian prosciutto and a few other food “necessities” from one of the gourmet stores.

We ended the evening at Kitchenette, a popular French Bistro that we’ve taken a liking to as well. We continued our food binge and ordered a beef carpaccio, a small carafe of white wine and an oh-my-god-to-die-for “hot chocolate tart.”

The tart shell was filled with a molten dark chocolate ganache that oozed out as soon as we put a fork into it. The dessert was amazing! Very rarely do I find a dessert that fits that description, but this was it.

If you make a trip to Istanbul, I’d highly recommend setting aside a few hours to stroll through Bebek.

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Dubai Trip: Part One

I can understand why one of Dubai’s nicknames is “Vegas on the Gulf.”

With all the resorts, luxury hotels, tall buildings and commercialism, the city does remind me a little of Las Vegas in the states.

You won’t find casino gambling here. Instead, you can lose your hard-earned money to the merchants that sell ornate gold jewelry, gemstones, watches, Arabian carpets, clothing, designer shoes or perfumes. You also can spend your money at many of the city’s fine dining restaurants.

Last week, we spent five days in Dubai – the richest of the city-states that make up the United Arab Emirates. We stayed with our friends at their hotel in the area known as the Dubai Marina, which my husband likened to Canary Wharf in London.

Here is the story about our trip:

On Sunday, Nov. 14, after a four and a half hour flight from Istanbul, we landed at 6:30 a.m. I was tired and very sleepy eyed. I always have a difficult time sleeping on planes. Our friend and Jason’s former colleague, Riz, picked us up. Riz and his wife moved to Dubai for his job about the same time we moved to Istanbul.

After chatting and then taking a four hour nap, we decided to hit the nearby beach behind Le Meridien Hotel. We tried to rent a beach chair at the hotel, but the guy wouldn’t let since we were not hotel guests. So instead we found a patch of sand on the public beach for our towels.

The beach was full of other tourists. I could catch snippets of British and Australian accents amongst the people. The sun was hot, with temperatures reaching the upper 80s F, but the salty water was perfect for cooling down.

You could even take a camel ride along the beach.

Back at the hotel, we shared a steak wrap sandwich for a late lunch. Later, our friends decided to take us to The Palm Atlantis resort for dinner. This impressive resort looks like a giant modern-day castle and is located at the end of the Palm Jumeirah.

Riz and Jason outside of The Palm Atlantis.

Jason and me in the lobby of the resort.

The giant aquarium located in the passageways of “The Lost Chambers” apparently features 65,000 sea creatures from around the world including sharks, giant catfish, giant stingrays and more. I did enjoy watching the fish and stingrays swim by what seemed like inches from my face.

For dinner, our friends took us to Kaleidoscope which features an extensive buffet full of Mediterranean cuisine, complemented by influences of Greece, Northern Africa, Morocco and Asia. The hotel is extremely family oriented and even at 10 p.m. the dining room was still full of families and young children. The food was decent and I ate several steamed chicken dumplings, sushi rolls, kebabs, curried chicken, rice and more. Afterwards, the guys enjoyed smoking sheesha outside at one of the resort’s bars.

The view from the resort.

Night-time view of The Palm. You can see the curved edge of the Palm on the left.

Daytime view of The Palm. You can see the large resort in the background.

Day 2: Monday, Nov. 15

For breakfast, Riz’s wife, Ilona, made us a stack of yummy Czech pancakes, which tasted similar to French crepes, and served them with a variety of jams.

Later on, Riz drove us to the Deira Creek area so we could do some shopping. First stop for me was the outdoor Dubai Fish Souq. Riz and Jason didn’t really want anything to do with this section because of the smell. But I must see the markets wherever we travel, and I wasn’t disappointed!

Piles of dried fish at the market.

The Fish Souq is a crazy mess of fish heads, giant crabs, shellfish, large fish, dried fish and shrimp and things I’ve never even seen before. The salesmen kept trying to get me to buy stuff and said there was a cafeteria across the street where I could take my purchases and my meal would be cooked on the spot. Interesting!

Jason and me with one of the giant crabs

Then, we wandered through the produce section next door. Inside, the market is full of all sorts of imported delights such as mandarins, melons, dates, lychees, mangoes, kiwi, radishes, baby eggplant, herbs and more.

I never knew there were so many kinds of dates.

Fresh dates from Jordan.

You can pay one of the guys to haul your groceries to the car in a wheelbarrow.

Once the SUV was full, we drove across the street to wander through the Deira Gold Souq to admire the jewelry. A local man started talking to Riz and the next thing I know we’re going down a small street to what I’d call a black market. This is where you find the deals on knock-off designer watches, phones, purses, laptop bags, etc. It was a fun and interesting experience too.

Then, we made a quick stop at the Deira Spice Souq where I purchased 100 grams of Madagascar vanilla beans, 150 grams of Indian cardamom and some fiery hot cashews. I didn’t spend too much time here because Istanbul has such an amazing spice market.

Piles of dried teas and garlic chips.

Rows and rows of spices.

In the evening, we watched the dazzling fountains outside of the Dubai Mall. They put on a similar display to what you see in front of the Bellagio Casino is Las Vegas. Apparently, the same California-based company, WET, designed both of the fountains.

The Dubai Fountain covers 275 meters (900 ft),  more than two football fields, and is visible from more than 20 miles away up in the air. The fountains, shooting water up to a height of 150 meters (500 ft), appear to dance to the music. If you want to watch the show, my advice is to arrive early or book a reservation at one of the many restaurants surrounding the Dubai Lake in front of the Burj Khalifa. This area was packed full of people!

A view of the Burj Khalifa at night.

We did not have a dinner reservation, but we finally scored an outside table at The Rivington Grill, which serves a regularly-changing British and seasonal menu. (The restaurant also has two locations in London.) To start, we had a salad with sliced pears, walnuts and blue cheese.

The guys ordered the grilled beef filet with hand cut chips served with béarnaise sauce. I kept stealing Jason’s fries and dipped them in the sauce. Delicious!

Ilona ordered the daily fish special with a citrus sauce and I ordered the daily “Rivington Pie.” The steak and ale “pie” was like a large pot pie filled with a steamy, gravy mixture of chunks of beef and a few vegetables, topped with baked puff pastry.

Stay tuned for the next blog about our Dubai trip.

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