Last time I told an unofficial farewell to winter without even bothering to ask whether it has decided to go away or not. It turned out that it is here to stay and we, as people living in Istanbul should accept the fact that we will go through a cool summer this year. For me cool days are only bearable with a bowl of tasty soup. So this time I share a recipe that will turn your otherwise humble soup into a five star feast.

Remember the most delicious soup you’ve ever had. Why do you think it is that tasty? What makes it different from a regular soup is the use of a flavorful stock instead of water. Using plain water is more practical for sure but when it comes to taste, difference is like between French butter and margarine. Using a fish, chicken, beef or vegetable stock according to your main soup ingredients elevates the overall taste and leaves a rich flavor on your taste buds. I prefer using vegetable stock since it goes very well almost with anything and is lighter compared to other variations. Moreover, you can use it in other meat and poultry dishes, vegetable stews, sauces, risottos or simply almost everywhere.

Good thing about preparing a full-flavor vegetable stock is that you can make it by using leftovers in your vegetable tray without visiting the market in your neighborhood. Whatever you have at home will do the job. So nice and refined and almost for free, I’ll call it as economies of scraps. Besides, it is healthier than the store bought bouillon cubes, ingredients of which you may never know exactly.

There are hundreds of vegetable stock recipes out there and there is no right or wrong combination. In other words, making vegetable stock is more like combining your outfits, as long as they look good on you, there ain’t no problem. However, if you are not a mix&match person with a proven success, a French classic may lead you the way: mirepoix, which means the combination of celery, carrot, and onion in raw, roasted or sauteed form used as a flavor base for most of the dishes. You may use many other vegetables but be careful with cabbage and broccoli since they have quite strong flavors to dominate over other ingredients. Keep in mind that starchy vegetables like potato will make your stock look more cloudy and thicker. Adding some fresh herbs and pepper corns will make your stock even more fragrant which is something good to enrich its taste.

When it comes to cooking there are two ways to follow: browning vegetables in olive oil before adding water or directly boiling them without pre-cooking. By following the second way you will end up with a more clear stock in terms of looks however I prefer the first one since browned vegetables release their aromas and develop a sweeter flavor which adds more complexity to the stock.

You can be generous while preparing your vegetable stock and refrigerate the unused portion for future use. Having such a delicious base under hand will save your life when you need to make a quick soup or a sauce.

Ingredients (around 4 cups)

• 3-4 celery sticks, chopped
• 4-5 small tomatoes, halved
• 1 mid sized onion, chopped
• 1 stalk of leek, chopped
• 3 mid sized carrots, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 6 sprigs of fresh parsley
• 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
• 1 1/2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 5-6 white and pink pepper corns
• 5-6 black pepper corns
• 2 bay leaves
• Sea salt
• 5 cups of water

Instructions

I don’t know how you feel but for me first two weeks of 2011 passed so quickly that residues of New Year joy faded away in a few days like a deflating balloon after a party. It’s quite common to have hectic times in the office but this time ours is a bit head spinning, making me grateful to weekend holidays. While thinking about all this stuff a question hit to my head “who decided to work for five days and rest in the remaining two on behalf of everyone on earth?”

After some research I found out that New England Cotton Mill instituted the first five-day work week and famous entrepreneur Henry Ford applied the same in his factory. I was about to put all the blame on them before I learned the fact there was no weekend holiday at all before, so maybe I should thank them instead. As for me, I am pretty sure that we would be better and much more positive people if everyone could work four days a week and rest in the remaining tree.

Anyway, you might also be passing through the same point of the circle and could not find enough personal time to realize what you had planned at the end of 2010. No worries, I am here to help you. The recipe I am about to share soon is a life saver. Since it is quite easy and tasty as well you will have more time to do whatever you like after a long and exhausting day in the office.

All you need is some easily obtained vegetables like onion, potato and some chard or spinach leaves you found in your refrigerator. I prefer to use chard since had a chance to find incredibly fresh ones at the grocery. Chard is an excellent source of A,C, and K vitamins coming with magnesium, potassium and iron in the same package. Chard is also quite beneficial to cure ulcer which is quite common among stressed out office people. Chard juice (I must admit you should be really in love with chard to do that, otherwise just keep that mind to use some other day) is a good decongestant and leaves are also helpful to neutralize stomach acidity.

A recipe that is delicious, easy and healthy. No need to ask for more, right. You may even keep the fried potato pancakes in the fridge for a few days to use afterwards and reheat them in the oven to make them gain their crispiness again.

Ingredients (for 4 serving)

For potato pancakes

• 4 mid-sized potatoes (around 450 grams -1 pound-)
• 1 mid-sized onion
• 35g (1.2 oz) all purpose flour
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Freshly ground black pepper
• ¼  teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 1tablespoon liquid vegetable oil for frying

For sautéed chard

• 450 g (1 pound) Fresh chard leaves -washed and drained –
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground white pepper and sea salt to taste
• 1 ½ cup sour cream
• Fresh mint leaves for garnishing

Instructions

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Recently I read a lot of posts welcoming the long awaited spring in other countries and started to feel blue for the gloomy and mostly cloudy weather surrounding the Istanbul sky. Regardless of where we live, we all had a difficult winter passed with financial recessions, personal depressions, work environment pressures, relationship complications, you name it. All we need is to feel the sunshine on our tired shoulders carrying more than we could handle nowadays.

Eventually, last weekend we enjoyed a pleasant weather outside with the sun up on the sky, “what a joy!” I said to myself. At the end grumpy, old winter with white-grey hair packed all its stuff -cold weather, early darkening days, faded colors- and walked out the door, leaving the place for the new tenant, a teenager with a colorful outfit.

While this replacement was taking place, we discovered a beautiful arboretum in a few miles away from our place and to my surprise Japanese community living in Turkey was preparing to celebrate the cherry blossom festival there.

Cherry blossom –originally called Sakura in Japanese- is the representative of spring besides being a symbol of good fortune and affection. They have been prominent in Japanese art, anime, film, music, painting, poem and all sorts of goods ranging from kimono to dinnerware.

Cherry blossoms also symbolize the transience of life because of their extreme beauty and quick death. Falling blossoms are considered to be metaphors for fallen warriors who died bravely in a battle.

Considering all these references, it is easy to understand the importance of “Hanami” –Cherry blossom viewing- festival in Japanese culture.

It has been a custom since the 7th century when the aristocrats enjoyed the view of beautiful Sakura and wrote poems. In the early spring time Japanese people gather with their family and friends under cherry trees to relax and to enjoy home cooked foods. That’s why I love Japanese culture which accentuates living in a perfect harmony with nature.

After a long stroll in the park and doing some “Hanami” to feed our souls, I was at home brimmed with the joy of spring. A tasty soup with fresh green vegetables would carry the fresh spring air on our table, so I decided to prepare a green soup inspired from a Gordon Ramsay recipe.

The original recipe was a simple yet delicious broccoli soup. My green things soup was enriched with green soy beans, fresh green peas and onion to add more flavors. Also serving with goat cheese and walnut made its way to the top of my favorite soup chart.

Just look outside your window today and if there is sun up on the sky, take a long walk to discover the awakening nature. Viewing trees and various flowers will ease your senses in a way you may never expect, however writing a poem is still optional if you do not have the talent! On the way back home don’t forget to stop by the greengrocer’s for ingredients of the green things soup recipe. Have a nice spring!

Ingredients (makes 6 servings)

• 300g (12.4 oz) broccoli
• 100g (3.4 oz) fresh green peas
• 100g (3.4 oz) green soy beans
• 1 midsized onion (roughly chopped)
• Sliced goat cheese (depending on the number of servings)
• Extra virgin olive oil (to drizzle)
• Walnuts
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sea salt

Instructions

As most of the good things tend to end unexpectedly, mild and spring like weather in Istanbul ran away from the city all of a sudden and left a freezing cold and lots of snow in its place. Just a week before we were enjoying long strolls along the coastline and in the twinkle of an eye we found ourselves hardly going out of homes even for a grocery shopping in the neighbourhood. Such desperate times require desperate measures, such as buying new DVD’s, taking your blanket out of the closet, refilling your corn kernel reserves to make fresh popcorn, and for sure having a bowl of hot soup that will warm you from inside.

I like eating almost all kind of soup as a starter, however when I feel really cold I eat the first bowl as a starter whereas the second bowl makes my main dish. A hot and tasty soup embraces various feelings like tenderness of your mom when you are sick or the nearness of a companion in a cold winter day making you feel warm.

All these in my mind, I wanted to make a soup to enjoy while watching the snow covering all over the place as if everything on the street like cars, trees, and apartments were dusted with confectioner’s sugar. No one on earth could take me out of my house for shopping so I need to make the soup of the day with the ingredients in hand. Considering the situation, I was ready to go experimental and to try something like a red Mexican bean soup with fresh herbs and chili powder. Then I realized the bowl on the refrigerator’s rack full of pumpkin slices waiting for my better half to make a traditional pumpkin dessert out of them which feature another post in the coming weeks by the way.

Pumpkin is also one of these “all purpose” stuff from which you can make savory foods, desserts, tart fillings, garnishes and so on. Even the seed of this great colored Halloween icon, also known as pepita, is a popular snack. Interesting thing is that unlike most of the other snacks, pumpkin seeds are full of fatty acids that are beneficial to maintain healthy blood vessels and nerves. So, do not feel guilty if you cannot stop yourself cracking a handful of these seeds while watching your favorite TV show.

This heart-warming and healthy soup I prepared became one of my mellow recipes for this winter. Its enriched flavor with a touch of roasted mustard and coriander seeds along with grated nutmeg will make your day in a snowy winter afternoon. Taking the widespread winter laziness into account, using a large bowl to decrease the number of refill trips to the kitchen is highly recommended. Enjoy!

Ingredients (makes 8 servings)

• 650 g (22.9 oz) chopped pumpkin (very hard outer parts should be taken out by a knife at first, watch your fingers while doing that)
• 160 g (5.6 oz) onion, finely diced
• 100g (3.5 oz) carrot, chopped
• 150g (5.3 oz) potato, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup milk
• 4 ½ cups water
• 1 teaspoon mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sea salt

Instructions