Midye Tava with Tarator Sauce

Beer-battered Mussels with Walnut Sauce

Serves 6 as part of a meze

1. 30 blue mussels, scrubbed
2. 1½ cups plain flour
3. 165ml lager beer
4. 1 egg, separated
5. Vegetable oil, for shallow-frying
6. Salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
7. Tarator, for serving (recipe follows)

• Place mussels in a bowl and cover with boiling water.
• Using a blunt knife (such as a butter knife), along the broad edge, open shells and remove mussles. Snip off the beards and place on paper towel to drain.
• Place ½ cup of the flour in a bowl, pour in beer and egg yolk and mix well.
• Whisk egg white until it forms soft peaks and fold into the flour mixture.
• Heat oil in a frying pan.
• Add salt and pepper to remaining flour.
• Toss mussels in flour, shaking off any excess, then dip in the batter.
• Lower carefully into the oil, in batches, fry for a minute or so, until dark golden brown on both sides. Drain on paper towel. Serve with Tarator.

Tarator – Walnut Sauce

1. 3 slices day-old white sandwich bread, crusts removed
2. 100ml milk
3. 1½ cups shelled walnuts
4. 2 cloves garlic, peeled (see notes)
5. 1 teaspoon salt flakes
6. ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
7. 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
8. 1 lemon, juice strained

• Soak bread in milk for 5 minutes, then squeeze to remove excess liquid.
• Finely chop walnuts in a food processor then place in a bowl.
• Add bread and knead to combine.
• Place garlic and salt in a mortar and crush with a pestle to form a fine paste.
• Stir oil, vinegar, lemon juice and crushed garlic into the walnut mixture.
• Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour; return to room temperature and stir well before serving (as it may separate). If refrigerating overnight, mix in a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to loosen it up before serving.

Notes: If you don’t like the taste of raw garlic, roast it at 200°C for about 5 minutes, or use finely chopped garlic scapes (or shoots) when in season. Mix in a drizzle of olive oil before serving if refrigerating overnight.

Narli Ordek

Ingredients

For the duck

2 pcs of Duck Maryland

Duck fat

100 ml. Pomegranate molasses

cinnamon, star anise, nutmeg

For the sauce

200ml. Tawny port

20 x pomegranate seeds

5x sour dried plums

Method

1. Put the duck marylands into a deep oven tray and cover with duck fat and 100ml. Pomegranate molasses
2. Add cinnamon sticks, star anise and nutmeg
3. Cook in an oven, at 120 degrees 4 to 4and1/2 hours ( depending on the oven)
4. Meanwhile, glaze the pomegranates and unseeded sour plums with port and pomegranate molasses
5. Add duck legs in to the glaze adding a spoon of duck fat to give a shiny finish
6. Cook for 30 minutes.
7. Serve over blanched greens of snake beans, broccoli and/or asparagus

Menemen

Ingredients – 4 Servings

8 free range eggs
2 bullhorn peppers ( or Turkish sweet chilli from Auburn)

3 tomatoes

½ red onion

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil (more…)