Köfte and Mantı...

A Turkish feast!

Hi friends,

I had planned to send this out last week, sorry for the lateness! It’s been a bit of a revolving door of sniffles and colds and catching moments to work has been a bit tricker the past week.

I also changed the newsletter name to OSTRO! As many if you know, this is the original name of my blog which I started way back in 2013 or 2014? (What is time?)! I had a bit of feedback from readers who were a bit confused between the Ostro website, my instagram and this newsletter, so hopefully it’s all a bit more streamlined now, but please do let me know your thoughts! As always, it is a mostly fortnightly, often weekly, dispatch of what I’m cooking right now! It’s seasonal, fresh and hopefully inspiring!

If you love this newsletter (fingers crossed you do), you can upgrade to a paid subscription below which really helps to support my writing and work! LOVE YOU GUYS, SERIOUSLY!

And today’s inspiration comes from the soccer!!

My family were pretty soccer mad growing up, and so I always love it when the World Cup is on. My kids have been really getting into it this time (equal love for the Socceroos and Japan) and for the AUSTRALIA - TÜRKIYE game, I decided to make a massive Turkish feast. It was SO fun to put together a menu, invite people over and watch the soccer together. I thought I would share a few recipes today!

In some other fun news, I guest hosted a really great Collingwood story for Postcards on Channel 9 which will air next month so I’ll be sure to keep you posted on when that will be on your TV.

Annnnd I need to share with you my latest winter obsession - Persimmon and buffalo mozzarella! It rivals my Autumn fave - figs and buff mozz!

Working on a few great recipes for next week too, so stay tuned!

Ok, so for the feast I made/served:

• Three cheese tray Börek (Recipe coming in my new cookbook which I’ll be annoucingin in two weeks!!!)

• Mantı with garlic yoghurt and spicy tomato sauce

• Hummus with buttery cumin

• Cacık - Cucumber yoghurt

• Çoban salatası - Shephard’s salad

• Köfte

• Dried black olives that I marinated in a little olive oil and dried mint (Yuki’s idea)!

• Medjool dates stuffed with salted butter (I don’t think this is Turkish per se, but it tastes like a sticky date pudding and is so good - trust me on this) topped with some chopped pistachios and toasted kataifi pastry.

Sharing some of the recipes below!

I bought Mantı from my local Turkish grocer (Sonsa for those in Melbourne), boiled them up and topped them on a bed of natural yoghurt which I mixed with 2 cloves of finely grated garlic. To finish, I heated 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in a pan over a medium heat and then added a good pinch of Aleppo pepper, 3 heaped tbsp of tomato paste. I cooked it down to slightly caramelise. I then poured this over the Mantı and topped with some dried mint. This was a huge hit!

The Cacık was so good with everything and it made quite a big batch that lasted a few days in the fridge. I coarsely grated 2 Lebanese cucumbers and squeezed out any excess liquid. Placed in a bowl with 400 g of natural yoghurt, 2 cloves of finely grated garlic and about 2 tsp of dried mint. Seasoned with salt and a good glug of extra virign olive oil.

For the Çoban salatası, I chopped a few tomatoes and Lebanese cucumbers and a capsicum (a banana pepper would have been perfect here). Diced 1/2 a red onion and tore in a good handful of mint leaves. A good pinch of sumac, a generous glug of extra virgin olive oil and a good squeeze of lemon. Season with salt.

For the köfte, soak 1 thick slice of sourdough bread (crusts removed) in some water for 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess water then crumble into a bowl with 500g of lamb mince, 2 tsp ground cumin, 1 coarsely grated onion, a large handful of chopped parsley. Season well with salt and pepper. Mix well with your hands and shape into flat-ish köfte. Heat a grill or pan over a medium-high heat and oil well. Grill the köfte for around 6-7 minutes, turning halfway, to until cooked through.