"turkish" news and stories

I've always loved the little Turkish lamb dumplings called manti, so I was psyched to see this New York Times story on how to make manti the easy way. Instead of hand-rolling and filling pasta dough, a delicate and time-consuming process, the author tosses sauteed lamb with pre-made bowtie pasta, yogurt, roasted eggplant, red-pepper-infused browned butter, garlic and mint. Yum.

You can deconstruct all kinds of complicated pasta dishes. I like taking the flavors from my favorite butternut squash ravioli and letting it all hang out, tossing together sauteed squash cubes, orcchiette, sage, brown butter and Parmesan. Oprah's got a similar recipe.

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The flavor combination of chocolate and hazelnut is pretty much a match made in heaven. Just ask anyone who has even had Nutella. This Chocolate Hazelnut Tart has no nutella, but makes use of the flavors in a wonderful dessert. It was made from a recipe in one of Francois Payard's books by Turkish food blogger Zinnur at Our Patisserie and consists of several beautifully matched layers. First, there is the tart crust, which adds a crispness to the dessert and contrasts with the rich filling. On top of the crust, there is a layer of milk chocolate caramel, with hazelnuts stirred in. The caramel is topped with a chocolate mousse and garnished with chocolate curls and more finely chopped hazelnuts. Based on looks alone, a small piece of this rich dessert should be enough to satisfy any sweet tooth.

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I believe that this photo of a  bus stop billboard advertisement for McDonald's was taken in Turkey. While a bus stop seems to be as good a place as any to put advertising, this one is a tad unnerving since it is designed to look like a McDonald's counter, complete with friendly looking employees waiting to take your order. If they added some sort of french fry scent dispenser to the structure, it wouldn't be surprising if at least one or two unsuspecting passers-by actually thought that they were looking into one of the fast food franchises. Is this really more persuasive than, say, an ad that features a Big Mac or fries?

[Image Bigumagu.com]