Week 22: Turkish - Pecan Baklava [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: Turkish food, like many other cuisines, borrows ideas from other countries and molds them into a cuisine they call their own. Also like many other countries, it is a cuisine that varies across the country. For example, the region close to the Black Sea uses more seafood than the other regions. Here is a short list of frequently used ingredients to give you an idea of where the cuisine starts (this list is in no way definitive, but only meant to give you an idea of the flavors in Turkish cuisine): Nuts, Lamb, Chicken, Eggplant, Yogurt, Tomatoes, Garlic, Olives, Lentils. And some dishes in Turkish cuisine: yoğurtlu çorba (a yogurt soup cooked with spices and rice), İşkembe (tripe soup), baklava (a sweet pastry with nuts and honey), manti (a dumpling filled with minced meat, usually steamed, and served with a garlic yogurt), kuskus (version of couscous that can be served with meat or vegetables), mahmudiye (named after a town in Turkey, this is a dish that consists of chicken mixed with honey, apricots, almonds, currants and black pepper), köfte (almost like a Turkish meatball, with spices common to the region), Şiş kebabı. For desserts, there is an interesting technique that produces Turkish ice cream(dondurma) that has a different texture and is melt resistant. And don't forget Turkish Delight! There are many more areas of Turkish cuisine to explore! Some recipes and more info.

Ok, so these might look a little familiar...I'll admit I fell behind on the weekly challenges while I was traveling for three weeks, so I might have cut corners by also making baklava for the Nut Baking Challenge.  However, I was sure to make two different types of baklavas!  Which my beach body is regretting.

As with the last one, the recipe is stolen from here. The fillo dough was definitely a bit of a pain to work with, but I got into a groove after the first few tries. I also picked up some delicious whipped honey with cinnamon by Andrew's Honey at the Union Square Greenmarket and used it with this (leaving out the cinnamon in the nut mixture).  

Who am I kidding?  I do not regret having two pans of this at all!