Sekerpare

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If you are craving home made Turkish (or Middle Eastern) desserts, and you don't feel like spending hours in the kitchen, this, my friends, is the recipe for you. It is as easy as can be. Sekerpare (sheckerparé) means "sugar bit". And they are sweet as sugar indeed. It is very similar to a cookie, but it is soaked in delicious syrup, like most of the Turkish sweets. Keep in mind though that you need to make this one day, or at least 10-12 hours before you want to serve them. 

Ingredients for 30-36 Sekerpare (one tray)

1 stick softened butter (100-110 g)
1 cup confectioner's sugar
4 egg yolks
4 cups flour, sifted
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract . I started using vanilla bean paste, it is still quite liquid,but the nice part is that you get the vanilla seeds as well, and I love that. It is also much cheaper than using whole vanilla beans. 
1 small pinch of salt
30-36 whole , raw, blanched nuts of your choice ( hazelnuts, macadamia, pine nuts, almonds, pistachio)

For the syrup
3 cups sugar
3 cups water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

Start by making the syrup. In a medium sauce pan mix the sugar, water and lemon juice, bring to a boil, then let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Turn the heat off, and add the vanilla extract, mix and set aside. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl beat the sugar and butter for 2-3 minutes, then add 3 of the egg yolks and vanilla extract and mix. You will need one egg yolk to brush the top of the cookies. 
Add the baking powder, salt and flour, mixing just until you get an oily soft dough, but hard enough not to stick to your hands, and to be able to make small balls out of it. Careful not to over work the dough. Adjust the flour quantity if needed. Even if it looks a little crumbly don't worry, it will get smooth when shaping it.

In order to have all the cookies same size, it is best to use a small ice cream scoop (25 mm or 20 mm), the one that you use for your regular cookies. Sekerpare must be the size of a walnut. Scoop some of the dough and using your hands and make balls out of it, placing them on a sheet pan, covered with parchment paper.

When done, using a pastry brush, gently brush the tops with egg yolk. 
Place a nut in the middle of each cookie, pressing gently in order to flatten it a bit. Even if it cracks a little it is fine, if not even better, as it will be easier for it to absorb the syrup. 

Bake the cookies for about 40 minutes.
Quickly move the cookies in a deeper, and smaller dish, so they fit snugly. 
The secret to great Sekerpare is that you pour the lukewarm syrup on top of the hot, straight out of the oven cookies, then cover the dish. The syrup must not be cold, nor hot. The cookies must be hot.
Let the Sekerpare soak up the syrup overnight, on the counter. They will be ready to serve the second day. 

I prefer most of my desserts with a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, and I recommend you try Sekerpare this way as well, it goes really well. Or with fresh whipped cream. 
Enjoy!

Ramazan Bayraminiz mubarek bolsun!

Paprikash

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This is one of my childhood's favorite foods. I was so happy every time my Mom cooked this. We have a rainy cold day in Palo Alto, so I thought some delicious comfort food, that reminds me of my childhood would be appropriate on such a day, to make us feel warm inside. 
Paprikash  is a Hungarian stew, but I am not sure this is the classical recipe, I just made it the way my Mom did. She usually made this with chicken wings, or thighs. I chose to make it with turkey wings. I just love the flavor and texture of it, sticky yummy deliciousness. 

Here is what you need for 2 portions:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound meat : turkey wings (chicken wings, thighs, breast or even beef... your choice)
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 peeled and chopped tomatoes (about 1/2 cup)
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon (or to taste) hot paprika, or other hot  red pepper
2 tablespoons sour cream
Fresh parsley 
For dumplings:
2 large eggs
1/2 and 1 tablespoon flour, sifted


Method:
Wash the meat thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels. It is always best to cook meat when it is at room temperature, not directly out of the fridge. 
Heat a large and quite deep saute pan on medium high heat, melt the butter, and brown the meat for 4-5 minutes o each side, until the skin gets golden and crunchy. Careful not to tear the skin when turning them. Also, if the pan is not deep enough , this can get messy, and even dangerous, as the butter will splash all around, so be careful, use some long thongs, and kitchen mitts.

When the skin is crispy, take them out of the pan, and set aside on a plate. Place the chopped onions and garlic in the same pan, and cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Meanwhile place a pot with water with a big pinch of salt on heat and let it get to a simmer. 


Add the tomato sauce over onions, mix well, cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the chopped tomatoes too, and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Return the meat to  pan, and add all seasoning, minus the sour cream and parsley. Stir everything, and let it simmer on low heat for 10 -15 minutes. If it gets a little dry, add some hot water from the pot you put to simmer.

While the meat cooks, prepare the dumplings.

In a medium bowl beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, then add the flour and mix well, until you get a sticky soft dough. 

When the pot of water gets to a simmer, using a teaspoon, dipped in cold water first, take small dollops of dough and place them in the simmering water.

 Even if the dough is very soft, it should come out of the teaspoon fairly easy, when you dip it all in the water, and take out the teaspoon. Do this with all the dough, you should get about 20-25 dumplings. Be careful for the water to be simmering, not boiling, so that the dumplings don't disintegrate. Cook them for 10-12 minutes. Stir slowly once or twice., after 4-5 minutes pass, not before. You will see them fluff up, and double in size. 

When the 12 minutes pass, the meat must also be almost done, and all you have to do is to scoop the dumplings out of the water, and place them on top of the meat. Don't need to drain them,  you can have some of the water in the sauce. Stir and let them cook all together for another 5-7 minutes. 

Serve hot, with a tablespoon of sour cream on top. You can garnish with fresh parsley too (if you like parsley... I don't :P )

Turkey

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The turkey turned out delicious. 

All I did is to take it out of the brine, pat dry with paper towels, let stand for 1 hour at room temperature, rub it with softened butter inside-out, sprinkle with some fresh ground pepper and cover it with a cheese cloth soaked in butter melted with rosemary in a sauce pan. 

Place the turkey on a grill on top of a roasting pan filled with dry white wine and some water and roast at 400 degrees F for one hour. Baste it every 30 minutes with some left over melted butter. After one hour, take out the cheese cloth and roast for one and a half hours at 350 degrees F. Our turkey was 10 pounds, so if your turkey is larger, you need to keep it longer in the oven, 3 1/2- 4 hours for a 20 pounds bird. Also ours was not stuffed, as we don't like stuffing, but if you do stuff it you also need to add extra time in the oven. The turkey is ready when the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh, reaches 170 degrees F. You need to be careful not to dry it too. 


We served it with roasted vegetables: carrots, green beans and tomatoes, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper, and put them in the oven with the turkey, for the last 45 minutes of the roasting time. 


Also made mashed potatoes: cut the potatoes in cubes, boil them in salty water, drain the water, add cold butter ( 1 tablespoon per large potato you boiled ) and mash together. Taste for salt, and if you want more you can add. Then heat 1/8 cup of milk per potato, and pour it over the mashed potatoes, mixing well, and you will have the most fluffy and delicious mashed potatoes. It is important not to use a blender/mixer for mashing them, because they will have the texture of glue! In order to have a fluffy consistency you need to mash them by hand with a potato masher, or even a fork will work for smaller quantities. 


The gravy I made by just placing the roasting pan containing the drippings from the turkey on medium heat on the stove, and let it simmer, adding 1 tablespoon of flour, to make it thicker, stirring constantly, until you reach the desired consistency. Strain and that's it!


Some green salad on the side, some pickles, and we had a very yummy Thanksgiving dinner. Followed by cake of course :) I will have a post about the cake soon.

Hope you all had a great time on Thanksgiving! And did you go shopping on Black Friday?
Thank you for reading,
A

Preparing for our first Thanksgiving

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Happy Thanksgiving!


So excited to prepare our first turkey, for our first Thanksgiving, in our new home... happy! I just made the brine. It is kind of an experiment really. Looked for inspiration on marthastewart.com , but ended up adding a bunch of random things in it. So curious, can't wait to see how it will taste. Getting hungry just thinking about that turkey now!

We went earlier and bought a small 10 pounds turkey. Brining is supposed to ensure your roast will be very moist and flavorful and means actually soaking the whole turkey in a solution of salt and water. Adding aromatics to it will only make the meat more flavorful. I read that you must brine it for an hour per pound of meat, so ours would be ready in 10 hours, but it would be just fine to keep it even longer. Some recommend 24 hours. Some keep it for 2-3 days even. Ours will stay around 12 hours, that should be enough I think.

This is how I made it:

Put in a pan 4 cups of water, 1 cup salt, 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns, 1 tablespoon mustard seeds, 2 thyme stems, 4 bay leafs, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, 1/2 cup maple syrup, and bring to a simmer. Let aside to cool. 

Line a large pot/container, ( larger than your turkey ) with a large brining or oven roasting bag. Place the room temperature turkey in, and pour over the mixture. Add a bottle of dry white wine, 1 large finely chopped onion, 4 crushed garlic cloves , 1 sliced orange, and 1 sliced lemon, 1 sliced carrot and some parsnip. 

 

Complete with cold water until the whole turkey is covered. Make sure everything is well mixed and the turkey submerged in brine, filling the inside as well. Close tightly the bag, taking the air out as much as possible and secure with twine. Place in fridge overnight. 

The next day take the turkey out, discard the brine. Pat dry the turkey and place on a roasting pan, breast side up. 

I still didn't decide what to do next... will see tomorrow, it is 2 am so I am off to sleep :) and I have to roast this bird tomorrow, and bake a cake!