• Eat Your Books

  See Susie's review of this cookbook at The Boston Globe

• cessyfr on April 20, 2010

  One of my all time favorite cookbooks. Gorgeous photographs that position the recipes in the local settings. Recipes are easy to follow and provide a good introduction to the wonderful Turkish cuisine I came to admire while travelling there.

• Peter on March 15, 2010

  A beautiful book that captures a lot of the Turkish spirit. In Turkiye they regard theirs as one of the world's great cuisines. Worth a read.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Red pepper soup with bulgur, chickpeas, mint and chile

  • Dannausc on July 03, 2020

    I had to cook it about an extra 30 minutes to get the chickpeas fully cooked, even after soaking all night. It made 6 fairly small servings. Decent but not worth a repeat.

• Whipped feta dip

  • Ganga108 on March 09, 2022

    A rare dish that didn't impress me. The mustard seems at odds with the feta and yoghurt.

• Silky celery root dip with lime

  • Ganga108 on August 14, 2021

    Absolutely divine. Favourite celeriac dish so far.

• Baby beets in an herb dressing

  • Dannausc on July 03, 2020

    Tasty. Fairly easy.

• Zucchini fritters with dill

  • KarinaFrancis on October 18, 2015

    These were very popular, and easy to make. I had a heap of mint, so I substituted that for the dill and it worked. I'll be making them again over the summer.

• Creamy pepper and pastirma braise

  • mcvl on July 30, 2011

    The flavors here were wonderful, but I had a texture problem because I used strips of long green pepper rather than dice -- the skins from the peppers turned leathery and unappetizing. Next time I'd carefully fish out the pepper skins before serving the dish, counting the number of pepper strips I use, or I'd follow the original recipe and dice the peppers rather than cutting them into strips.

• Green olive, walnut and pomegranate salad

  • EmmaJaneDay on February 09, 2018

    This is sensational. One of those recipes that everyone raves about. Keeps well in the fridge for a few days too.

  • Ganga108 on March 09, 2022

    Utterly delicious!

• Tomato pilaf

  • Kitchenangel on September 29, 2015

    Made enough for 4 so I'd have leftovers, but my husband practically demolished the lot!!! Also added pistachio as garnish

• Pistachio pilaf with spinach and herbs

  • EmmaJaneDay on May 21, 2020

    This dish is so nice, it had my sister-in-law, who does NOT eat spinach asking for the recipe! Sadly the link to the online recipe does not work

  • mjes on September 14, 2021

    This recipe is a winner - a pilaf that keeps it simple while building a complex taste with herbs.

• Sticky date pilaf with golden pine nuts and almonds

  • KarinaFrancis on February 26, 2016

    A great pillaf. The sweet from the dates, the spices and the crunch of the nuts it's delicious. I served it with Rick Steins pomegranate chicken, perfect combination

  • RosieB on April 14, 2016

    Delicious ! Greg Malouf is one of those chefs who just gets it right all the time! Definately make again.

• Little köfte dumplings in minted yogurt sauce

  • Dannausc on July 03, 2020

    Takes awhile to make but fairly easy. I thought it was quite good but my wife wasn’t overly fond of it.

• Crunchy red lentil köfte with fresh mint

  • Ganga108 on March 09, 2022

    These are so beautiful. I have made them often when cooking a Vegetarian xmas dinner. My parents loved them, which is saying something.

• Pilaf

  • KarinaFrancis on December 09, 2014

    This is a good, basic starter pilaf, ideal for serving with something complex. Note that the recipe is part of the pilaf in pastry recipe, not printed as a stand alone.

• Antep pistachio kebabs

  • mjes on September 14, 2021

    These lamb kofte have a spice mix that works perfectly. These are worth repeating regularly.

• Roast chicken with pine nut and barberry pilaf stuffing

  • mcvl on September 02, 2011

    1 September 2011 Made with whole frozen cranberries rather than barberries (good substitution) and all pine nuts instead of pine nuts and rice (too carby) -- outstanding. I can roast chicken perfectly now, I just cook it upside down. There are dents across the breast, but so what, it's juicy and succulent.

  • e_ballad on October 08, 2019

    A delicious roast chook recipe. There’s a slight error in the Aussie edition as there is no mention in the method regarding when to add the rice - I added following the barberries & it turned out well. There is quite a bit of pilav, which we didn’t mind as it was fantastic.

• Shrimp baked with haloumi in a clay pot

  • meggan on May 08, 2017

    I had to use paneer because I didn't have haloumi and pomegranate molasses as I did not have pekmez. This was ok but we found that served over rice, this really only serves two.

• The Fish Doctor's stew - with black pepper, lemon peel and mint

  • mcvl on September 01, 2011

    31 August 2011 This is amazing. I made it with chunks of four different fish (snapper, sole, cod, and sockeye) and fish broth rather than chicken broth. The richness and depth of flavor were to die for -- the combination of exactly the right herbs and spices. A permanent addition to my repertoire of fish stews.

• Haloumi, crème fraîche and spinach pizzas

  • pfgarden on March 27, 2011

    Topping has lovely flavour, though next time I would double the haloumi and creme fraiche. Base is excellent.

• Yogurt pastry

  • Melanie on June 23, 2013

    Made this pasty for the 'lamb and pine nut borek' recipe. Pastry was a little temperamental, couldn't roll it to the required thickness / size as it teared. However, the end result was still a good tasty pastry - uses the zest of half a lemon, and the lemon coupled with the yoghurt and butter makes a delicious casing.

• Lamb and pine nut börek

  • Melanie on June 23, 2013

    Delicious filling - the recipe and ingredients list completely misses the pine nuts but I added some in anyway. I made a double recipe and ended up needing a batch of the yoghurt pastry and a quantity of bread dough for all of the filling as the pastry was a bit temperamental. Good level of spice.

• Hazelnut martini

  • Charlotte_vandenberg on September 07, 2019

    Made my own chili infused vodka (1/4 teaspoon dried chili flakes in 90 ml vodka, infused for maybe 2 hours), turned out very spicy!! However, when we added some ice cubes it was fine. Hazelnut taste is definitely coming through, the cinnamon not so much, maybe adding a bit more cinnamon stick to the syrup.