Shepherd's Salad (Coban Salatasi)

Ingredients (serves 6 as a side salad)

2 salad tomatoes (or equivalent of other tomatoes), finely chopped
half an onion, finely sliced. (The authentic recipe has raw onions but if you don't like them then lightly saute the onions and let them cool before adding them to the salad)
1 cucumber, peeled and finely chopped
1 pepper, seeded and finely chopped
flat-leaf parsley (quantity to suit your tastes, I put in about 4-5 stems worth), chopped
A couple of good tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Juice of three-quarters of a lemon
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preparation

Put all the chopped fruit and vegetables, together with the parsley, in a bowl and mix well. Make a dressing from the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. This is the typical dressing used for most Turkish salads, zingy and delicious, just make sure you have a very good quality olive oil (Turkish if possible!) that is tasty but not bitter. Just before serving, add the dressing to the salad and mix thoroughly. Feel free to splosh in some more olive oil if you think it needs a little extra.

You can always add feta cheese or other salad ingredients as you like.

This is a fantastic, quick salad to accompany any spicy or flavoursome main dish.

Source: http://www.petersommer.com/turkey-travel-country/turkish-food-cuisine/coban-salad/

Turkish Meatballs (Kofte)

Ingredients (serves 6)

750 grams minced meat (lamb/mutton or beef, a mixture works well)
2 small onions, finely chopped or grated
2 slices of dry bread (without the crust)
1 whole egg
1 bunch of parsley
1 teaspoon cumin
3 teaspoons sea salt

Preparation

These meatballs (called Kofte in Turkish) are a popular food found all over Turkey. They come in many different shapes and probably have slightly different levels of spicing but the basic ingredients are the same. You can fiddle with the recipe to suit your own tastes.

1. Soak the slices of bread in water, until they’re properly sopping. Squeeze out excess water, and crumble the bread over the meat in a big bowl. (The bread can be omitted if you wish to avoid it). Then add in all the other ingredients, and knead well.

2. Scoop up egg sized pieces of the mixture. You can either flatten them into small burger shapes or roll them in your hand to form short stubby fingers. Whichever, make sure you press the mixture firmly so it stays together when cooking.

3. Heat a large frying pan and fry the meatballs on a medium heat until they are brown on both sides and cooked through. If the pan is non-stick you shouldn't need any oil. Otherwise, use a little bit to get the first batch started. If you're frying more than one batch, you might like to get rid of the oil after each batch has finished cooking.

Meatballs can be served hot with fresh bread, raw onions, salad and chillies. Rice or bulgar wheat are good accompaniments too. Turkish will often eat meatballs with natural yoghurt and a salad such as the Shepherd's salad (recipe also on this blog) accompanied with a glass of Raki.

These meatballs are also very tasty eaten cold the next day, and so make perfect picnic fare.

Source: http://www.petersommer.com/turkey-travel-country/turkish-food-cuisine/kofte-turkish-meatballs

Stuffed Tomato with Eggplant

We made twice this amount, to have 8 tomatoes.

4 medium tomatoes (or 2 beef tomatoes)
Filling:
1 onion, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1 eggplant, cut in cubes
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
1 tbsp basil, chopped
1/3 cup feta cheese, cut in cubes
1 slice day old Turkish bread (or French or Italian), without crust, crumbled
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp crushed pepper
Salt
Pepper

Cut off the tops of the tomatoes using a small knife. Then spoon out the
inside of the tomatoes and cut them in small pieces, put aside.

Saute the onion with olive oil in a medium sized pan. Add the garlic. When
the smell comes out, add the tomato pieces and eggplant. Saute for about 10
minutes on medium low heat. Then turn the heat off. Add the rest of the
filling ingredients and stir. Fill the tomatoes using a teaspoon.

Preheat the oven to 400 F (200 C). Place the stuffed tomatoes in a greased
casserole dish and bake for about 30 minutes.

(Patlıcanlı Domates Dolması, modified from Binnur's cookbook, online)