Istanbul - day 6

We've finally settled down a little after a chaotic start to this trip. Two of our sons and a cousin came with us and are now off to do 3 weeks of military duty here. Our close friends (downstairs neighbors) even had dinner ready for all 5 of us - Turkish hospitality!

I couldn't wait to get to the outdoor market down the hill from us to see what was in season. In the last 10 years we have been coming/going I don't think we've been here in April before. The guys only had one day to run around and see the sights before taking off and I wanted to make a really nice dinner. Hubby and I carried bags loaded with fresh fruits, vegetables and levrek - small sea bass fresh from the Black Sea.

First dinner was stuffed peppers (1st course) and grilled fish (2nd course) with potatoes, a lovely salad and baklava. I had sent the men down to choose their own dessert!

Green peppers are different here - they're small, thin-skinned and very tasty - not bitter like the American peppers.

I don't have an outdoor grill here. Living in an apartment has it's 'rules'. If your neighbor can smell your food, you should offer it to them - our balcony is so tiny and there are so many apartments close by that I'd have to be able to feed at least 15 people in our building alone! So - no grill. But the oven does a terrific job of high heat baking - and a little wine and olive oil goes a long way. A whole levrek is about 3/4 lb. cleaned. I simply roll them around in a tiny bit of olive oil; add whatever herbs and spices seem wonderful at the moment (fresh dill, salt, pepper, fresh onions, lemon slices, kekik [oregano]) and bake at 400F for 20 minutes; raise the heat to 450F for 5 minutes and we had the best tasting fish! Sometimes I add pitted olives to the insides (if I have time to pit them).

I need to learn how to add my recipes to the blog - I've collected/made over 100 Turkish recipes since we moved in to the apartment 10 years ago. We'll see...let me know if you're interested.