Last
night, we had one of the most bizarre meals that I’ve cooked for us at home.
I’ve
been cleaning out our freezer in Istanbul,
and I’ve stumbled across all sorts of strange foodie items from our travels.
Lemongrass
and fresh turmeric from Bali.
Raclette
cheese from Zürich.
Spicy pork salami
from Budapest.
Cheddar cheese from London.
As you know, whenever we travel, I always bring
back food items and spices that I can’t readily find here in Istanbul. And I
know I’m not the only expat that does this either.
Last night, hubby also enjoyed our last Brooklyn
Brewery Stout that we smuggled back from our last trip to NYC
while I had a small cocktail using our leftover homemade strawberry-vanilla
vodka from the summer.
For dinner, we started with a totally Turklish
salad made from lettuce, roka,
tomatoes, cucumbers and beyaz peynir,
drizzled with Turkish olive oil from the Ayvalık area and aged balsamic vinegar from our Bologna
trip.
That sounds sort of healthy,
right?
Well, for our main course,
things got rich.
I slathered an Asian peanut marinade
all over a defrosted pork tenderloin purchased from the mysterious, lone
Istanbul pork butcher. Then, I made a small pot of grits brought back from
Charleston, S.C., with a homemade parmesan
cheese broth and garnished with sautéed taze sarmısak (fresh spring garlic).
Finally, I boiled some
quartered, peeled potatoes until tender. Then, I placed the potatoes on a
baking tray, topped with pieces of the truffled raclette cheese. This went into
the oven under the broiler for just a couple of minutes until the cheese got
all oozy and gooey.
The truffle scent made my
head whirl! One bite of these potatoes and I was in heaven!
There was no room for
dessert after all this!
Afiyet olsun!
Have you ever made
a meal like this – using whatever non-compatible ingredients you have on hand?
Raclette Potatoes with Truffled Cheese
Basic
ingredients:
1
pound small potatoes, or normal potatoes, peeled and
quartered
1 package Swiss Raclette cheese
To
taste freshly ground
black pepper
In
a medium sized pot, boil the potatoes in salted water, until tender, about 20
minutes. Drain.
Place
potatoes on an aluminum-lined tray, lightly brushed with olive or vegetable
oil.
Place
pieces of the cheese on top of the potatoes. Season with a little black pepper.
Make
sure your oven is turned onto the broiler setting or about 200 C. Place tray of
potatoes into the oven. Let cheese melt. This only takes a few minutes so don’t
step away too far or you could burn your cheese.
Serve
immediately.
Note:
To eat Swiss raclette the traditional way, you would use an open fire or
special grill pan to melt the cheese. I don’t have either of these options so
this is how I did it.
