Que Tal - an Istanbul Tapas Bar

Two years ago it was hard to find a single good tapas bar. Now they seem to be opening one by one. Today, I want to tell you about Que Tal, the newest tapas bar in Istanbul which actually does have a bar with tapas! The owners are Ayca and Burcu, two young Istanbulites who have had close encounters with Spain and the world of food and who will be the ones greeting you when you enter their new little restaurant.

The place is a small cozy restaurant located just around the corner form Tunel on the main road that comes up to Tunel from Sishane. Just the right distance away from the craze of Tunel and Asmali Mescit but close enough to feel its energy, Que Tal offers a very pleasant atmosphere. The staff seems happy and to enjoy not only what they are doing but also what they are serving.

I tasted their Sangria, full of citrus flavors, not too sweet, and dangerously smooth that leaves you asking for more. I recommend the mini koftes (I know these are Turco tapas, but they are good). "Que Tal", also an item on the menu, essentially roasted mashed garlic with olive oil and herbs was I think the star of the night. We also ordered lightly sauteed chickpeas, cold tapas platter (variety of olive, red pepper and bean pasted tapas served on small toasts), and sauteed shrimp served with a chili sauce. All highly recommended. Ayca told us that they are expanding the menu and I am looking forward to my next visit to try their new additions.

In short, it's a friendly small restaurant away from all the chains and characterless locations, offering a menu in which you will surely find your flavor of choice.

You can get the most up to date vibe on Que Tal from their facebook page.

Address: Ilk Belediye Cad. No:5/A, Tünel, İstanbul

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Lemon Garlic Bonito (Palamut)

Palamut. That's the name of this fish in Turkey. It's know as bonito or horse mackerel in English. I think it's more of a Mediterranean fish as I have almost never come across this fish in the US. Browsing the internet I came across several Spanish and Italian recipes as well.

But none of them really sparked my interest and I decided to go the safe way: lots of garlic, a little olive oil, lemon, white wine and dill. It worked like a charm. The trick here is to first sear the fish and then steam it with white wine. I served it with plain jasmine rice (cooked in water only...no butter, no broth) to bring out the flavor of the fish. It's a fishy fish! So you need to like fish to try this kind.



Here is my simple recipe:

Have the fish gutted and cut into 1cm slices. Clean the marrow and make sure all the blood has been drained. Keep at room temperature.

Chop two cloves of garlic and half moon 1 small onion
Heat a small pan, add two table spoons of oil and saute the garlic and onions

Increase the heat, move the onions and garlic to one side and place two slices of bonito on the empty side (making sure that the fish is directly touching the pan). After about 20 seconds, flip the fish to sear the other side.



Add juice from half a lemon, 1 cup of dry white wine, 3 scallions chopped into 2cm pieces, 1 bay leaf, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill, and season to your taste with salt and pepper. Distribute the garlic and onions evenly around the pan to surround the fish slices. Bring to boil.

Once you reach the boiling point, reduce heat to low, cover with a lid or another pan, and simmer for 15 minutes.

Place over jasmine rice, garnish with fresh dill and red pepper flakes and serve with your favorite dry white wine.

Smoked salmon pan pizza with goat cheese

I am trying new variations on smoked salmon. I wanted to make something that was warm but I didn't want to cook the salmon. So here is what I came up with.


Heat a large pan and add 1 tbsp olive oil. Cook both sides of the tortiall until crisp.
Place a few thin slices of goat cheese
Sprinkle chopped green onions and tomatoes
Sprinkle some oregano to your taste (goes very well with goat cheese)
Then remove from the pan after the cheese is warmed or slightly melted
Top with pieces of smoked salmon
Season with fresh black pepper and enjoy!

BBQ leftovers panini - grilled lamb, onions and gorgonzola

It happens only rarely but sometimes I have left over food from my bbqs. Reheating bbq leftovers usually leads to very stiff meet. Today I want to share one my favorite ways of making the most of leftover grilled meats. A simple panini.

Thinly slice whatever left over meat you have- I think this works particularly well with lamb but a steak or any kind of chops will also work fine. Of course, the more rear your grilled meat the better. If you have left over grilled onions, slice them as well.

Place the sliced onions on a large piece of bread. Place the meat over the onions. Top with thinly sliced gorgonzola or any kind of blue cheese to your taste. Season with salt and pepepper. Sprinkle some freshly chopped parsley to add a refreshing flavor. Place a second slice of bread over and grill on a pan, a panini grill or even a George Forman grill and enjoy!

Stuffed grilled mushrooms- three cheeses and greens

So far so good! We're firing up the grill pretty much every weekend to not miss a single sunny day. Several of my childhood friends came together last night and for Adana's sake (grilling capital of Turkey!) we fired up the grill. I wanted to make grilled stuffed mushrooms. Normally I would fill them with mozzarella or pepperjack cheese but when I saw that we didn't have any of these I came up with this recipe and it was a huge hit!

Wash and remove (and keep) the stems of 1 kilo of large button mushrooms (about 30 pieces).
Place the following in a bowl and blend it with a hand blender. You can also mix everything in a blender:
Stems from the mushrooms
4 scallions
Half a bunch of parsley
50 gr of danish blue cheese
50 gr of edam cheese
50 gr of goat cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tea spoon freshly cracked black pepper
1 tea spoon salt

This will create a soft green paste. To make it less creamy and to not lose any of that tasty mushroom juice (and fat from the cheese) fold in 1 cup of bread crumbs.

Spoon the mixtures into the mushrooms. Grill for about 1o minutes. You can also bake them. Enjoy!

Smoked salmon and apple

I have been exploring new combinations with smoked salmon. One of the flavor combinations that I really enjoyed is apple and salmon. Here are two varieties which I highly recommend. They are very similar and use the same ingredients in different ways:

Spread some cream cheese on an Etimek (or a ready made toasted bread). Place a slice ring of red onion and a thin slice of apple and top with shredded turnip. Season with freshly ground black pepper.

Alternatively, spread some cream cheese on a toast (whole grain with sunflower seeds in the picture). Place a piece of smoked salmon and top it with a thin slice of apple. Decorate with chopped red onion, tomatoes, dill and scallions. Season with freshly ground black pepper! Enjoy!

Cake art

I turned 32 just a week ago. And I asked for a dinner with my closest friends. And my girlfriend organized just that for me. And also surprised me with this amazing cake which was created by Nesrin Tong at Pasta Tasarim (Cake Design).

Nesrin Tong creates custom cakes based on the stories of the individuals. My cake shows my passion for food, my unfortunate addiction to my blackberry, frequent work travels, my love for cooking fish and Sunday morning breakfasts. Thank you Damla for this wonderful cake and thank you to Nesrin for creating it!

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs

The weather is warming up and outdoor breakfasts are back on! To commemorate the season's first breakfast I wanted to prepare something that reflected the easiness of a bright warm sunny Sunday morning. Simple, colorful and delicious. Perfectly scrambled eggs on a toast topped with smoked salmon!

From foodplay

There is no recipe for this. Just scramble two eggs- make sure not to overcook them, eggs continue to cook after you remove them from the pan. You can mix in fresh chopped chives into the eggs after they are cooked. Season with black pepper and salt to taste. Place a spoonful on a toast. Then put a slice of smoked salmon. Decorate with chives or scallions and voila!

From foodplay

Best smoked salmon in Turkey: Finally available for home delivery!

Now you can get the best smoked salmon in Turkey home delivered to you. Delicco selects fresh salmon (never been frozen!) from Norway, marinates it at its production site and then oak smokes it to perfection. Hand-sliced and packed, the salmon beats everything else I have tasted in Turkey.

You can now order this salmon at http://www.sadecesomon.com and learn more about Delicco at http://www.delicco.com

360 Istanbul - Senses Restaurant

Dining in pitch darkness. This is how 360 Istanbul ’s new restaurant Senses is marketed. And you indeed dine in pitch darkness. I went to this restaurant last Saturday with two friends. Would I go again? No. Would I recommend it? Yes, the experience is definitely worth a try, albeit a bit expensive for what it’s worth in my view.

Senses is created after the concept of similar restaurants in Switzerland and Berlin. Where in Switzerland the waiters are also blind our guys in Istanbul have taken advantage of technology and are serving with night vision goggles, which unfortunately have little blinking lights that are distracting from the full experience. But not to worry. It’s still pitch dark!

The menu is a five course fixed menu for a price of 125 TL including wine pairing. I do not want to disclose the details of the menu as a huge part of the fun is discovering the food using all your senses except your sight. Dinner is served with two kinds of wines and both are excellently paired with the food. The red is a dark, full bodied wine. The white is dry with hints of pears. I didn’t like the white by itself but it went amazingly well with the main course. And you get unlimited refills!

Guests are briefed before the dinner about the set up. You are told about the configuration of the dinner table, how to get a waiter’s attention (by raising your hand), and strongly encouraged to take care of your natural needs before entering the dining room as it is not recommended that you leave the place until the dinner is over. You are also forewarned that you will most likely try to compensate for the your sight’s absence by talking…and so will everyone else…and that this is exactly what happens. This is why they also recommend everyone to speak with a lower voice but that of course does not really happen.. This is actually an unfortunate thing as the room gets very loud and a bit more silence would be much more welcome to enjoy the dark atmosphere, the food and the company. You are then provided with a black apron and led into the room, curtain after curtain, holding onto the shoulder of the person in front of you.

Guests are encouraged to eat by hand. This makes your experience significantly richer as you real feel the texture of the food. The menu has been designed with a wide range of tastes and textures to give you a diverse experience and challenge you along a large spectrum.

In short I recommend the experience. The food was very good although I think one tends to expect something completely out of this world at a restaurant like this and I can’t tell you that this was the case. But don’t get me wrong. The food was delicious, although I have no clue what it looked like. Things had layers, you had to open certain packages, mix it with this and that….all to enhance your sightless dining experience. And the chefs certainly deserve an applause for this.

Linguine with white wine clam sauce

I had written earlier about how hard it is to find white pasta sauces in Turkey, especially those without cream. I went to Pastarito on Friday. I looked for a white wine clam suace linguine, but no luck. Instead I orderd a shrimp lemon risotto as I was looking for something light, with seafood and hints of citrus, everything you would find a good white wine clam sauce. So I made it at home tonight. Here is the recipe:

From foodplay

Heat a medium to large sized skillet.
Add 1/4 cup olive oil. When the oil is hot, add 1 tablespoon of butter and melt it in the oil.
Add 1 small finely chopped onion and cook for a minute. Add 5 cloves of garlic, also finely chopped and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat.
Add 1 cup of chicken broth or clam juice if available, and 375 ml (half a bottle) of dry white wine.
Mix in 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes (optional). Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half.
Add 1/4 lb cleaned clams (or mussels) and 1/4 lb of peeled and deveined medium sized shrimp. I would rather cook this with clams in their shells and with no shrimp but this is all that I could find.
Mix in 1/4 cup of chopped parsley and cook for about 3 minutes or so- be sure not to overcook the seafood! Remove from the stove.

To serve, you have two options. In the first option, you can simply cook the pasta according to the directions on the box, place a serving of pasta on a plate and pour the sauce over. Garnish with chopped parsley, red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

In the second option, which is highly recommended, you can cook the pasta one minute less than the time given on the box. Drain the pasta and add several servings into your skillet with the sauce and toss the pasta to coat it with the sauce. Then place your servings on plates and garnish with chopped parsley, red pepper flakes and parmesan cheese.

From foodplay

Membrillo and Manchego

Quince is a difficult fruit with surprises. It's not easy to eat fresh. And it's cooked taste doesn't resemble anything of the raw fruit. My grandmother used to make quince marmalade. I used to miss this when I lived the in the US and could not find a substitute for it. The only thing that came close to was membrillo, or also known as quince cheese, the spanish sweet accompaniment to sharp cheeses. Membrillo is just like quince marmalade but indeed like cheese as you can make it in blocks and slice it to create the perfect marriage between a slice of manchego (or Turkish aged kasar cheese if you can't find manchego) and this sweet, fruity jelly with citrus and vanilla hints. Here is the recipe I used for membrillo:

From foodplay

Peel, core and slice 5 large quinces. If you don't care so much about a transparent clean look you can leave them unpeeled.
Place them in a big pot together with some lemon peel (about 5 centimeters, or two inches long)
Bring to boil and simmer them for about 30 minutes in just enough water to cover the slices.
After thirty minutes the quince should be very soft, if not, boil for another 10 minutes.
Fish out the lemon peel and mash the quince, either through a seeve, with potato masher or an electric blender.
Measure how much the pure is in terms of volume and return the mash into the pot
Add an equal amount of sugar, probably around 600 gr for 5 large quinces
Add the juice of half a lemon
Add a teaspoon of vanilla powder
Cook on low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently to dissolve the sugar and to keep the membrillo from burning. Becareful about the bubbles as the mash gets thicker. Once the color is turned into a dark orange or red and the consistency is right, turn off the heat and prepare for molding.
You can check the consistency by placing some mash on the back of a wooden spoon or spatula and running your finger through it. If the two sides stay separate and don't ooze back into each other then you are done.

Lightly grease a shallow baking pan, ideally with sharp corners. I used butter to grease mine. Pour the mixture into it and let it set. Once it cools, place in the refrigerator for a few hours for it to further set.

You can then slice your membrillo in square blocks and wrap them in wax paper or clear plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

From foodplay

Serve with your favorite sharp cheese. Must try it with manchego. I also like it with brie and camembert.

Shrimp Tapa with Chilis and Garlic

We used to have shrimp cook-off nights when I lived in Washington DC. Unfortunately it's hard to find the right size of shrimp in Turkey, but I finally found a website from where I can order the perfect sized shrimp. So I start my series of shrimp tapas recipes.



The first recipe is a very simple Spanish influenced recipe that is adaptable for different variations. It is very important that you have the right size of shrimp and adjust your cooking accordingly. The trick is to not overcook the shrimp while still achieving the right color.

Wash, peel and de-vein 8 medium or large sized shrimp.

Chopped 1 dried chili, and wash two dried chillies
Coarsely chop three cloves of garlic, or you can slice them lengthwise
Optional few small slivers of fresh ginger
Chop 3 scallions into 3cm pieces

Heat a medium sized stick pan- It's better not to use teflon because it may start smoking
When the pan is hot, add 1/4 cup of olive oil
Optionally, you can also add 1-2 tablespoons for butter for additional flavor
Add the garlic and chili, and ginger if desired, after a minute or two, when the oil is hot but not smoking
Cook for two to three minutes
Add the shrimp when the oil is still hot but not smoking, reduce heat to medium
Do not touch the shrimp so they form a crust on the bottom- leave them alone for two minutes.
Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground black pepper
Using a spatula, flip the shrimp and slightly stir the rest to avoid burning the garlic and chilis
Add the green onions, and cook for another 30 secs or so. The shrimp was already cooked for the most part, this is just to add color again.



Place in a bowl. Decorate with chopped green onions and dill and serve while hot. Make sure to prepare some bread on the side to dip in the juice. The juice from the shrimp, mixed with olive oil infused with garlic, chili and ginger is not to be missed!

Karakoy Lokantasi

I had the pleasure to eat at Karakoy Lokantasi this past Friday. It was the perfect place to catch up with friends over a delicious traditional meal in a quiet setting that filled with good energy. It's in walking distance to Istanbul Modern, and if you venture to Galata Tower and even Eminonu.

The atmosphere of the restaurant would make you believe that it has been there for decades. The blue tile walls and the old style stone floors give the place an authentic feel. Yet the restaurant is only 10 years old and has moved to its new home only a year ago. Situated over two floors in historic Karakoy Wharf, amidst plenty of street parking, Karakoy Lokantasi is just far enough from Beyoglu to attract only the crowd that really cares about the food and the chance to chat with friends.

The food is traditional meyhane fare, with olive oil dishes, sea food mezes and fish. We had a variety of mezes and skipped the main dish. Our dishes were accompanies by Beylerbeyi raki (Karakoy Lokantasi boasts a diverse many of Rakis for the enthusiast). Among the mezes, I highly recommend fish pastirami (balik pastirmasi), a dried salty fish dish, topik- the traditional Armenian dish (I think I had the best topik of my life at Karakoy), sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, and char-grilled octopus.

There is no question about which desert you should get. Peynir tatlisi with kaymak- Cheese desert (I think this name is misnomer for this desert in Turkey because it looks more like a pastry ball) with cream. We asked for one portion as non of us felt like desert. When we saw the serving size we were shocked....It was a medium sized ball....just one ball. But as soon as we tasted the desert we understood how special it was and why it was served as only a single ball. I don't even like desert that much but I would go back to Karakoy Lokantasi simply for their Peynir Tatlisi alone.

I highly recommend this place to anyone who likes traditional food, a traditional setting and calm environment. Incidentally, we had the pleasure to meet the owner and operator, Oral Bey, who is the source of normalcy of this fancy restaurant. Oral Bey walks around, greets his guests, chats with them, and towards the end of the evening, sits at a table on the main floor and just minds his business doing the day's accounting. We didn't have a chance to chat about this with him but the word is he is one of the best connoisseurs of olive oil in Turkey!

Now if you plan to have lunch at Karakoy Lokantasi, you can completely forget about my review as the restaurant turns into a bustling power lunch restaurant for artists, businessmen and local shop owners. I will need to visit the restaurant again for lunch to write a review of its other personality.

Karaköy Lokantasi
Address: Kemankes Caddessi, Karaköy
Telephone: 90-212-292-4455
Map:

View Karakoy Lokantasi in a larger map

Chilli Chicken with Figs and Candied Orange Rinds

I like to create new recipes with the fresh ingredients of each season. This year I experimented with figs. This recipe is a tasty recipe that brings the deep hot flavors of dried chillies together with the sweetness of fresh figs...kind of like North African dishes.



8 chicken thighs, de-boned and skinned (cut into two pieces if they are too large)
4 ripe fresh figs, quartered
4 chillies, chopped
1 large onion, thinly sliced (half moons)
1 cup of dry white wine
2 cups of chicken broth
1 cup chopped scallions
2 table spoons chopped cilantro (to decorate)
Sugar glazed orange rinds

Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable or canola oil in a large skilled (preferably non-teflon)
Brown the chicken thighs on both sides, about 3 minutes on each side in the hot oil, set aside.
Add the onions to the skillet while the skillet is still very. Cook the onions stirring occasionally for about 3 three minutes, letting the onions brown.
Add the chillies cook for another minute
Add 3 of the quartered figs and cook for another minute or two, until the figs have softened and deformed
Add the white wine to deglaze the pan
Add the chicken broth and chicken pieces
Bring to boil and simmer for 15 minutes.

Serve over rice or pasta. Decorate with fresh cilantro, quartered pieces of the remaining fig and candied orange rinds.

From foodplay

Zesty calamari pasta with artichoke hearts

I have difficulty finding pasta with white sauces in Turkey. My favorite pasta in the US was linguine with white wine clam sauce. Turkish restaurants are more fans of tomato based sauces. I hope one day we will see more white wine based sauces which I find lot better suited to summer meals and more gentle on the subtle flavors of seafood. Here is a recipe I created - with no wine to my surprise as well. It has citrus flavors, and Asian after taste and it brings out the flavors and aroma of calamari.

Prepare 500 grams of pasta according to directions on the package. I used fettuccine in this case.

Chop the calamari into small squares or short strips
Marinate with the following while preparing the rest:
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 table spoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon mustard powder
Juice of a lemon
(1/2 cup dry white wine, optional)

1/2 a medium sized onion, sliced into halfmoons
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
Fresh ginger, about the size of 3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 red bell pepper, sliced lengthwise
3 pickled artichoke hearts, chopped into 1 inch square leafs


Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a pan
Add 1 tablespoon butter, let melt
Saute the onions and garlic for a few minutes, follow by sauteing the ginger
Add in the artichoke leafs
Add the calamari, keeping the marinade separate
Cook for a about a minute, then add the marinade, add 1 tablespoon of sugar
Reduce heat, and simmer for three more minutes. Try not to overcook the calamari.

Pour over pasta. Serve with fresh green onions or cilantro. Garnish with parmesan.

Baked Breakfast Pasta?

I woke up this morning to a light rain- which was a very refreshing way to start a hot summer day. I was too lazy to walk out of my building to pick up bread or tortillas for breakfast- I was craving for bread and cheese. So I came up with the following recipe with some leftover pasta (which I figured was basically strings of tortilla).

3 cups of leftover spaghetti, chopped into small pieces
Mix with
1/4 cup of feta cheese
1/4 cup of gruyere cheese
1/4 cup of tulum peyniri (or any other white cheese, saltier the better)
1/2 cup of chopped parsley
1/4 of an onion, finely chopped
3 scallions, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all of the above and place in a pyrex that could fit into a toaster oven. Drizzle some olive oil over the mixture.

Blend two eggs with a 1/4 cup of milk. Pour over the mixture in the pyrex.

Crack two eggs on top and place in your toaster oven for 15 minutes, until the eggs reach your desired consistency. Longer if you prefer your eggs fully cooked.

Compund Butter - add your own twist

Butter. I used to really dislike butter when I was a kid. Then as a boarding student I discovered the combination of butter and honey, when I was 11, in my protest to eat eggs and pursuit to gain some weight. Then I rediscovered butter when I started to cook, when I learned that I had to watch for my cholesterol and could actually shed a few pounds. I usually try to stay away from it to the extent I can. I think it is a too easy way of adding flavor to any food…and I think restaurants take advantage of this all the time. But compound butter is something else. It allows for creativity and can surprise your guests with new twists on plain main ingredients. Here are three compound butter recipes.

All recipes follow the same basic method. Bring butter to room temperature and fold in the other ingredients using a fork. Refrigerate in a small serving dish (a glass bowl, a ramekin, etc), or roll in wax paper (to be sliced before serving), or create shapes like cookies.

Tequila, jalapeño, lime
Serve with flank steak, fajitas, grilled shrimp
2/3 cup butter
1 chopped fresh jalapeño (or any other hot pepper)
3 tablespoons of tequila
Zest of a lime
Juice form ½ lime

Lemon, garlic, parsley
Serve with any fish. Would be perfect with grilled sardines!
2/3 cup butter
¼ cup chopped parsley
Zest from ½ lemon
Juice from ½ lemon
2 cloves of chopped garlic
Black pepper to taste

Dill, capers, white wine
Serve with smoked or grilled salmon
2/3 cup butter
¼ cup chopped dill
¼ finely diced red onions
¼ cup capers
¼ dry white wine
Black pepper to taste

You can try your own variations. Hint: It’s almost impossible to go wrong with butter, fresh herbs, citrus and your favorite drink!

Gazpacho, with an optional kick

Gazpacho. They say today will be the hottest day in Istanbul this summer. 35 degrees Celsius, or almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat seems to usually kill my appetite, at least for fried stuff, or pastries, or any meat dishes. But there are also dishes that are best enjoyed in the heat, and can even make a hot summer day in the city a lot more pleasant.

Gazpacho is one of those dishes that is perfect on a steamy day--it's refreshing, healthy, and delicious! I was trying to describe it to friends who’ve never heard of gazpacho before and I said imagine the juice of a fresh salad with plump tomatoes, cucumbers, green peppers and slightly salty vinaigrette. I owe my love for Gazpacho to Suzan Bishop of Annapolis. I used to work for Suzan as a gardner and I learned how to make Gazpacho from her and her beloved husband Jeff. We enjoyed it after long hot summer days in Annapolis.

The recipe I want to share is a variation of Jose Andres’s recipe from from his book Tapas: A taste of Spain in America. He credits his wife Tichi for the recipe.

2 pounds, or a kilo of red tomatoes (I try to buy the tomatoes in advance and leave them on my counter, even a sunny spot, for a few days to allow them to fully ripen)
1 cucumber
1/5 green bell pepper (1 full pepper if you are in Europe ☺, American sized bell peppers are huge!)
1 hot pepper (could be a jalapeño, or a couple of the small Thai hot peppers)
1 garlic clove
2 table spoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar
¾ cups of extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons of salt

Most recipes call for peeling the tomatoes. I like the chewy texture of the soup and I leave them unpeeled. Cut and quarter the tomatoes, discarding their cores. Place them in the blender. Peel and chop the cucumber in a few large chunks, and add to the blender. Cut up the pepper in large pieces, peel and cut the garlic cloves into a few pieces. Blend all of it together until it almost reaches your preferred consistency. Then add the oil, vinegar and salt, and reblend to mix it all together.

It’s hard to wait for the next day to enjoy it, so pour your self a glass or a bowl. But I highly recommend chilling the rest in a non-reactive container (a glass pitcher for example) over night in your fridge. The taste is infinitely better after the flavors blend.

You can serve in small cups before a party, or in bowls or glass cups as a soup appetizer. Garnish with chives and with a little additional olive oil.