Mediterranean, Turkish Recipes
4 recipes found
Stuffed Sweet Peppers With Tuna, Bulgur and Herbs
Small, sweet bell peppers (also called mini peppers) in shades of red, orange and green make attractive vessels for stuffing. In this recipe, adapted from the home cook Meline Toumani, they’re roasted until caramelized, then filled with a mixture of bulgur, tuna, herbs and capers for brightness. Offer these to nibble with cocktails when you’re feeding a crowd, or serve them with a salad and some warm pita bread for a light but highly flavorful supper for a smaller group. Be sure to use the best-quality tuna you can get here; tuna packed in olive oil (rather than water or other types of oil) is generally richer and better tasting.
Long-Simmered Eggplant Stuffed with Farro or Spelt
This is a riff on imam bayildi, the long-cooking eggplant dish bathed in tomatoes and onions that is one of the great achievements of Turkish cuisine. I added cooked farro to the tomato-onion mix, making this more like a stuffed eggplant dish. The active cooking time is minimal, but the smothered eggplant must simmer for about 1 1/2 hours to achieve the intense, syrupy sauce and deep, rich flavor that make this dish such a wonder. Make it a day ahead for best results, and serve at room temperature on a hot night.
Grilled Peppers with Garlic Yogurt
This dish is very much in the Turkish spirit of mixing warm vegetables with cool, garlicky yogurt. Various types of peppers will work. This is a typical Turkish way to use grilled peppers. Turkish cuisine features cool, garlicky yogurt with warm vegetables. You can use a mix of peppers for this (in Turkey, longish, thin-skinned green peppers are the norm), and you don’t have to stick to sweet peppers, though I prefer the sweet against the pungent yogurt. Roasted peppers will keep for a week in the refrigerator. They will continue to release liquid, which they can marinate in. Warm the peppers before serving, or serve them at room temperature with the topping.
