Had some friends over for a Saturday dinner a couple weeks back. That means I had the day to cook, so I went a little bit overboard. Based on who was coming over, we decided on a Turkish feast for this dinner. Hence, afiyet olsun — enjoy your meal in Turkish.
I did the prep and cooking in stages all through the day — since I stared early, there was no rush, and I could have a nice relaxing day even as I made all this stuff.
Here’s the full menu, Turkish style:
Meze: Sucuklu pide, peynirli pide
Çorba: Kırmızı Mercimek Çorbası
Et: Kuzu pirzola, haydari, makarna pilavi
Sebzeler: Havuç salatası, zeytinyağlı pirasa, sumaklı soğan salatası
Tatli: Fıstıklı baklava
In English:
Antipasti: Soujuk flatbread, cheese flatbread
Soup: Red lentil soup
Main (meat): lamb chops, yogurt sauce, vermicelli pilaf
Vegetables: Carrot-tahini salad, leeks in olive oil, sumac onions
Dessert: pistachio baklava
I did the baklava when I woke up, which meant crushing a million pistachios and melting an indecent amount of butter to coat the phyllo sheets; when it’s put together, I cut it so it will absorb the syrup better — and because it shatters if you try to cut it AFTER it’s cooked. Made a coffee, put it together and baked it, then made the syrup while it cooked. After it cooled mid-morning, I poured the syrup all over it and took it out of the pan, plating it and covering it with plastic wrap.
After lunch, I made the marinade and put the chops in it, in a big plastic bag, then set that aside in the fridge.
Mid-afternoon, I did the haydari, the carrot salad, and made the dough for the pide.
2 or so hours before dinner, I prepped the onions and started the leeks in olive oil.
An hour before, I shaped the pide and prepped the soujuk (Turkish spicy beef sausage) and the cheeses for them — kashkaval and a little mozzarella, shredded. I set up the broiling pans with the chops and finished the sumac onions. I also started the soup, which tastes a lot better if the flavors have a little time to meld.
Right before our friends got here, I did the pide and blitzed the soup in its pot with an immersion blender, so it would be smooth and thickened. And I made some melted butter with (a lot of) paprika to dress the soup.
We had a bottle of wine and the pide sitting in the living room, then moved to the table for the feasting. Soup then we cleared the bowls, and I broiled the chops. Then everything else hit the table and we ate, and ate, and ate.
Then back to the living room to finish the second bottle of wine, and hit the baklava. It was a lovely evening, we sent everyone home with baklava and some leftovers, and we still had enough to eat two meals later in the week…..