Interview on Wild Edible Greens

Here is an article by Jane Tuna. She interviewed me on the wild greens of the Aegean:
http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=11543912

Broad beans and fennel spread

A little dish I created last week. By chance. Or lets put it this way, by imagination. Are you like me? I love imagining dishes before I try creating them. Sometimes I like the result, sometimes I don't. But usually they make me smile. This was one of them. I had broad beans (fava beans, for us, it's "bakla") I bought from the farmers' market. In Antalya, farmers who bring goods to the market, clean/unshell and sell them that way. Broad beans are among them in this season. But there is also the outer skin which is hard and not too pleasant to eat. So I discarded them as well. I had about 1.5 cups full of inner beauty. I also had a fennel bulb which I thought would be good with beans. So I cut them in pieces and add. Lovely spring onion bulbs helped with the aroma, 3 of them, cut in small pileces. Also 8-10 spring garlic cloves. Of course I added few tablespoons of virgin olive oil from our friends garden, a little black pepper, some seasalt. I had to add a little water, less than a cup. I covered the pan, cooked until all ingredients are soft. Waited a little bit and when it cooled down a little, I pureed it in the blender. There was a beautiful dish in front of me. A lovely, appealing green that's awaiting to be tasted. I toasted some of my homemade bread and started dipping in it. After a while I realized that I ate too much but who can blame me, it was too tasty...

Homemade jam, for spring breakfasts

What is better than homemade jam? Homemade jam on homemade bread. Or homemade cake. I'm serious. And you know I'm serious.

The story began last week. I had a guest from Canada. We had no jam at home. But I had little time to make this easy, fragrant jam. (I call it jam but you may prefer to say jelly.) And yes, I had the ingredients. Two handfuls strawberries, two apples. That was enough for a jar of this lovely creation. I cut the green parts of strawberries, I peeled the apples and diced them. I wanted extra fragrance, something I used to do: Few cloves and a pinch of nutmeg would do it. And it did. I added 5 tablespoons of sugar. This was enough for me. If you prefer it sweeter, add some more. I covered the pot, boiled the jam, lowered heat and uncover. I cooked it for 10 minutes, not more. For the texture, I mashed the ingredients with a potato masher. And there it was, my fragrant little jam. I discarded the cloves and put the jam in a jar. And that was the end of the jam story.

What then? Then one day I wanted something sweet with my afternoon tea. Luckily -these days I'm the luckiest one since there is always cake at home which I bake once a week- I had my sugarless banana and peanut cake in the fridge. Yes, I didn't add any sugar. The sweetness comes from the bananas and the dried figs came as a gift from a friend. There it was, few slices of cake, few spoonfuls of jam and there I was, melted in the moment...