I know, I know… I look like I am obsessed with focaccia as I’ve been publishing many focaccia recipes lately (at least sharing many focaccia photos on instagram story..). Well that is because I guess I am a bit obsessed really!
A few months ago I posted a focaccia recipe with lots of basil and olive oil on top. Since then, I’ve been baking focaccia with different toppings for many occasions, from caterings to friends dinners. This topping is yet slightly traditional, but there is one special ingredient in it – a Slovenian herbal salt that my friend Helena brought as a gift from home.
When I was a kid, my mother used to make a “börek” (general name for many salty pastries in Turkish) with phyllo dough called “muska” (amulet in English). These were little triangles with cheese filling, fried in vegetable oil. I always hated the name because it came from the religious nonsense. But the pastries, they were gooooood!
When my friend Viivi asked me if I could do the catering for her birthday party, she wanted specifically brownies for the sweet side of the menu. She was even quite specific about the type of brownie she wished to have: with raspberries. I gladly accepted the challenge – and I call it a “challenge” because I had never made any brownies before that!
I love phyllo dough. Whatever you make with it comes out delicious (ok, yes, most of the time, depending on you too..). It is a very commonly used ingredient in Turkish cuisine and I grew up with all sorts of fillings and types of phyllo dough. This one has meat – not my favourite ingredient as I am not much of a fan of meat, but it reminds me of home so I like this little pastry. About 3 years ago, I posted a Turkish dish with many memories: manti, aka dumplings. This recipe is one other version of it, some call it “high society dumplings” and I absolutely have no idea why they call it that. There are several differences between this pastry and the other, more traditional dumplings: this one is made with phyllo dough while the other one has different dough, this one is baked and the filling is greasier and spicier. Also, these are individual, big pastries and one pastry can fill a person quite good. …
The smell of basil has to be one of the best things in the world. It brings a fresh, soft taste to anything it is added to. It even goes well in a sweet cake as I used in one of my recipes a few weeks ago (blogpost here). This focaccia bread is full of fresh basil and olive oil – there’s a lot of both, but it’s not overwhelming.
I love corn bread. I think one of the reasons is that it connects me to my Black Sea roots – we love eating flat corn bread made on pan and on stove, together with fried or poached European anchovy. It is a very delicious type of corn bread indeed. This one in this recipe is yet another delicious corn bread, and this time we have a lot more ingredients in it than just corn flour.
I lost my older uncle Sulhi when I was 12 years old. I loved him dearly. I can barely remember him now though, it’s been 26 years since he passed away. He loved me too. We used to visit him on Sundays and stay for dinner (or was it lunch? maybe sometimes..). He and my younger uncle Lemi would sit at two heads of the table. I would always sit closest to uncle Sulhi. I remember being slightly frightened by him too, to be honest. Probably because he was the oldest person in the family and he had an authority. Also, at that time respect meant a bit of fear..
I have been planning to make these buns for almost 3 months. I made poppy paste buns before with this shape (recipe is here) and I loved it (this is generally Swedish cardamom bun’s shape). So I wanted to try something different this time, using the same shape.
A couple of weeks ago, we celebrated the birthday of one of my close friends here, Zeynep, together with many other friends and family. I made the sweets for this gathering, while Zeynep’s parents-in-law prepared the salty snacks. It was this event where I got to taste this incredibly delicious bread!! I fell in love with it immediately, and I asked David and Tiina for its name and recipe. And so here comes one of the most delicious bread recipes from Finnish cuisine!
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