Menemen and Breakfast in Istanbul

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...If you think Paris is a moveable feast, it will help to think of Istanbul as an unending block party where lusty flavors fill bowls that never seem to empty. The feast begins at breakfast where tables laden with fresh fruits and vegetables are balanced with the local cheeses and wonderful breads that helped give Turkey its reputation as a food lover's paradise. A typical breakfast includes a unique and slightly milder version of feta cheese called called beyaz peynir. You'll also find wedges of a semi-soft sheep's milk cheese called kasar. There are platters and bowls of butter, olives, eggs, tomatoes, cucumbers, jam, honey and a spicy Turkish sausage called sucuk. If you are lucky you might also be served pastirma, which is a thinly sliced air-dried beef that is spicy like pastrami. There will be filled flaky pastries called börek and the ubiquitous Turkish bagel-like rolls called simit. There are bowls of hard boiled eggs and a Turkish egg specialty called menemen. The dish contains eggs, onions, green peppers and tomatoes and it can be scrambled or prepared in the same fashion as a frittata. Interestingly, tea is the beverage of choice for breakfast in Turkey. There is some humor in that. The Turkish word for breakfast is kahvalti, which we were told means before coffee, but we couldn't find brewed coffee in the whole of Istanbul. Believe me we looked. There was lots of the instant variety but we never found a place that served the real thing. That led to much grumbling from the Silver Fox and other aficionados who like their morning coffee strong and intravenously. Today's recipe is for menemen, an egg dish that's crossed borders and worked its way into the cuisine of many countries. In Turkey it's made with a lot more olive oil than I've used in the recipe that appears below. I've cut back to keep you from talking about me, but you should know that Turkish cooks use copious amounts of olive oil and they are very healthy people. Banana peppers are usually used to make this dish, but if they are unavailable bell peppers can be substituted. I really hope you'll try this. It truly is delicious and very easy to make. Here's the recipe.

Menemen...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
8 eggs, lightly beaten
2 onions, diced
2 green peppers, sliced crosswise or diced
4 tomatoes, blanched, peeled, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Sauté onions and peppers in olive oil until tender. Add well-drained tomatoes and cook for 5 to 7 minutes longer. Add parsley and season lightly with salt and pepper.
2) Pour eggs over mixture in pan. Stir until cooked. Yield: 4 servings.

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Oven Baked Scrambled Eggs - Outdoor Wednesday

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I lay no claim to loaves and fishes, but eggs for the multitude is another story. While I do eggs of all types, including Benedict and Florentine, once there are more than six people at the breakfast table, my unembarrassed version of the Marquess of Queensberry rules of the kitchen kick in. Those rules allow you to have scrambled eggs anyway you like them. My friend Louie got the recipe for me from a fire-breathing chef that only he could charm. The recipe defines simplicity, so I thought I could take a little time and share some egg trivia with you before we get to it. Did you know that weight determines how eggs are classified and sized? Small eggs weigh 12-ounces per dozen. The scale then climbs with weight per dozen being 15-ounces (medium), 18-ounces (large), 21-ounces (extra-large) and 24-ounces (jumbo). One large egg is about a 1/4 cup. While that's not important to many, size does matter, especially to bakers. If you try to bake a cake or souffle with jumbo eggs, you're in trouble before you start. The way around this, of course, is using equivalent measures. The color of a shell or the color of a yolk is no guarantee of quality. Eggs are like apples and color means little. Everyone knows that cracked eggs should be thrown away. Did you know that clean eggs can be kept at room temperature for several days? I'm not recommending that as a storage technique. I'm a bit of a traditionalist and prefer to keep mine in the refrigerator where they can be safely stored for up to six weeks. Eggs should be brought to room temperature before starting to work with them. It takes about 30 minutes to bring an egg to room temperature, so plan accordingly. Today's recipe can truly feed the multitudes. The recipe can be doubled or tripled as long as you have no more than 24 eggs in one 9 x 13-inch pan. Here's how it's done.

Oven Baked Scrambled Eggs...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients for 6 or 12:
3 to 6 tablespoons melted butter
12 to 24 large eggs
1 to 2-1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 to 1/2 cup sour cream
1 to 2 cups milk

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8 x 11-inch glass pan with cooking spray if using 12 eggs. Spray a 9 x 13-inch glass pan if using 24 eggs. Pour butter into baking dish.
2) Beat eggs, salt sour cream and milk in a large bowl. When completely blended, pour egg mixture into pan.
3) Bake uncovered for 10 minutes. Stir well, folding sides and bottom toward center and top of pan. Bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until eggs are set but still soft. Fluff with fork to form curds. Serve immediately. Yield: 6 to 12 servings.

This is being linked to:
Outdoor Wednesday - A Southern Daydreamer