Peppers on paper. Peppers on the plate.

 

I'm still in Hydra, glad to be out of the crazy Bodrum Bayram traffic, with plenty of time on my hands.  Luckily I packed my travel watecolour set so I've been able to make use of my free time to add to my collection of cards. Peppers are abundant at this time of the year and every day has found a plump specimen posing in the late afternoon light.

 Proud pepper

 

 Falling peppers

Reclining peppers

I'm beginning to see human characteristics in each member of the Capsicum family that I paint so it probably about time I return home to human friends and family and abandoned this solitary 'One woman and her dog'  island life. 

Having made friends with my 'sitters' it seems cruel to eat them, but they are the basis for so many delicious Aegean dishes. 

(The yellow pepper at the top is my 'Shy Pepper')

Red Pepper and Walnut Meze 

4 large red peppers (Bell or long)

1 bulb of garlic

1 cup walnuts

1 red onion

1 tsp chili pepper flakes 

1 tblsp pepper paste (optional) 

1 glug of olive oil

Heat the oven to 190 degrees C

Cut the peppers in halve and remove seeds, peel and cut the onion in quarters. Remove as much papery skin as possible from whole garlic bulb and cut off the top so the tips of the cloves are showing. Lightly oil a baking tray and put all the veg on it in the oven for 30 minutes.  Check after 20 minutes to make sure everything is softening without burning. 

Remove tray from oven and cover with a tea towel and allow to cool completely. 

Dry fry the walnuts over a low heat until they start to release a little oil but don't let them burn. 

Remove the skin from the peppers - it will come off easily once cooled under cover. 

Put the walnuts, peppers, onion and a glug of oil into a blender and mix to a chunky paste.

Squeeze the body of the garlic to extrude the aromatic roast garlic paste and add to the mix. 

Add salt and pepper to taste, pepper paste if you have it (I couldn't find it on the island) and a few chili flakes. Mix again and taste.  I add a tsp of chili but you may prefer just a pinch. 

Serve as part of a meze drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice,  piled on top of a baked potato, as a pasta sauce or as a dip with drinks.

.

Monumental Lentil

It is not unnatural to hope that our children will follow in our footsteps, enjoy the things we enjoy and learn from all those days out when we dragged them around art galleries and local monuments.  It's not unnatural to hope but it's highly unlikely to happen. My daughter had clocked up more archaeological sites by the age of 10 than most people see in two lifetimes - has she voluntarily visited any as an adult? Not to my knowledge.  However something must have rubbed off in the 19 years we spent living in the same house because she is turning into a very good cook, with a flare for presentation that is probably learnt from the pages of Instagram and Pinterest  rather than the home kitchen.
She is cooking up tasty, thrifty meals that taste as good as they look.

I've christened this one 'Esi's Monumental Lentil'  in the hope that she might be reminded of all the wonderful ancient sites around Bodrum when she cooks it next.

1 cup red lentils

3 cups water

1 ½ cup of fine bulgur

1 onion

1 tbsp Tomato paste

2 cloves of garlic

Olive oil

Red pepper flakes

Cumin

Salt

Pepper

Extras – lettuce and lemon to serve, parsley and fresh green onion.

Place the lentils and water into a pan and cook them till soft.

Turn off the heat and add the bulgur to the lentils and mix, put the lid of the pan back on and let it sit for half an hour.

While waiting on the bulgur lentil mixture, you can start on the second half by sauteing one onion and the garlic together in a tablespoon of olive oil.

Once onions and garlic have softened,  add the tbsp of tomato paste into the mixture and stir till the tomato paste has covered the onions and garlic then turn off the heat so as to not burn it.

Check on your bulgur and lentil mixture to see if the bulgur has absorbed the water and become soft, if not add a small amount of boiling water and wait a bit longer.

Once everything has cooled down add both mixtures together, then add in the red pepper flakes, cumin, salt and pepper together and mix with hands squeezing it through the fingers to create a smooth paste.

At this point you may want to add in some fresh parsley and green onions to the mixture for taste.

Once mixed to a paste you can then roll it in your hands and mold until you get a small sausage shape; pile up on a plate and serve with lettuce and lemons, some tzadzikki/cacik and steamed greens. 

Carrot and coriander with a kick

One week after my unfortunate slip I'm appreciating the benefits of imposed relaxation:  I can lie on the sofa reading a trashy novel without feeling guilty; I have had several visitors who don't usually pop in, so there has been plenty of chatting while I paint and I have been on the lucky end of a homemade Kashmiri Chicken delivery.  On the downside I usually dream up my blogs on morning walks around Bodrum with Jake. Today's inspiration had to come from opening the fridge.  There were a lot of carrots - I've been painting them and now I've cooked them.
I like carrot and cilantro/coriander soup but I decided to make it more interesting. This one has a hot and sour kick which has booted it into first position on my favourite soup list.

This recipe is for 2 servings and is medium hot, add more chillies to fire it up.

5 medium carrots
1 red onion
2 inches of ginger
1 fresh red chilli pepper
1 lemon grass stick if you have it - not essential

Chop the above and soften in a tablespoon of oil or butter

Add half a litre of chicken or vegetable stock and simmer with the lid on until the carrots are soft.
Take off the heat and liquidise until smooth

I handful fresh coriander
1 lime

Chop the coriander and add to the soup
Grate the lime zest into the soup and add the juice of half a lime
(I'm sure this would work with lemon too)
Taste and add salt if needed

Warm up and serve. So simple but very tasty.

A Festive Tipple

The upcoming festive season, an upset stomach and a friend's birthday have contributed to this post.  I have an iron digestion so am not used to being laid low by tummy trouble, but I spent all of Saturday in bed, only crawling out to take the dog for walks. I have my suspicions about a piece of sushi I had to be sociable (never understood the attraction) but will point no fingers as I may have caught a local bug.  Sunday wasn't much better and I missed a joint walk up to Pedasa with a local archaeologist, which was a real shame but luckily Roving Jay went along (despite eating from the same sushi plate so my indisposition must have been from a rogue germ) and we will hopefully get to read about the visit soon.
I wanted to take along something festive to writing group on Monday as it is our facilitator, Martha's birthday week.  I wasn't up to baking so I decided to brew up a mulled pomegranate juice. It is very simple to make but I admit the squeezing is a pain. It is best done in an old fashioned pull-down orange juicer, but an ordinary push down one will do, if you cover yourself and all surfaces before you start. If you live in Turkey, take a jug to your local juice stall and get it done well away from your kitchen. If you are in the UK, I'm sure Waitrose sells fresh pomegranate juice by now.

In Turkey, we have sweet and sour  pomegranates, you need the sweet for this recipe, unless you are prepared to add a lot of sugar.

Put half a litre of water in a pan with:
6 cloves,
6 cinnamon sticks,
A thumb sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and cut into sticks
The peel from 4 oranges
12 cubes of sugar

Boil until the water is reduced by half.

Juice the four oranges and add to the water and bring back to just under simmer,

Add  1 litre of pomegranate juice and bring back to just under simmering point.

Taste and add more sugar if necessary.  You may need 4 or 5 more sugar cubes

You can sieve and serve this now, but it tastes much better if you cover the pan and leave the spices to infuse for a few hours then warm just before serving.

It makes a great alternative to mulled wined and if you are careful not to boil the juice you will still retain a lot of the vitamin content.

Cheers!

An Autumnal Dessert.

Somethings take a bit of getting used to and for a born and bred Brit, sweet pumpkin is one of those tastes that seems strange on first acquaintance. If you hail from the USA, you will have grown up with pumpkin pie and wonder what I am talking about, but most of us from the British Isles find pumpkin just a bit too vegetably to be eaten for dessert. But it didn't take me long to acquire the taste and now Kabak Tatlısı is one of my favourite puddings. (I will be taken to task by some because the definition of pudding is a dessert with a creamy consistency but where I come from, pudding is what we eat after our dinner). Baked pumpkin is the perfect colour for autumn and takes no effort to make which is great when we are busy outside getting the garden ready for winter.  I buy my pumpkin ready cut from the market, I can watch the stall holders prepare it so I know it's fresh, then all that is needed is to transfer it to an oven-proof dish, pour over a cup of sugar, leave for 4 hours or overnight until the flesh has given up it's liquid and dissolved the sugar, then pop in a 180 C oven for 45 minutes until soft. Cover with a lid if you like your pumpkin in syrup, cook uncovered if you like a stickier sweet, but stir every 10 minutes so it is well coated.  I recommend Özlem's Turkish Table recipe, but admit to grating half a nutmeg over my dish before putting it in the oven, which gives it a hint of a British comfort pudding. A good dollop of clotted cream or Turkish kaymak adds some serious calories, but with all the shovelling and earth moving going on in the BacktoBodrum flower beds, they are well earned.

A vegan challenge

Every cooking assignment brings a fresh challenge and this past week I've faced a new one. I am used to cooking for vegetarians and gluten or lactose intolerants, but I haven't had to cater for a vegan before. So I have been trying to adapt my recipes to fit.  It hasn't been too difficult as a lot of Turkish vegetable recipes are vegan friendly but many also rely on egg to bind and cheese to give flavour so I've had to think up alternatives. 

I was making mucver/courgette fritters for the rest of the party and didn't want to leave the vegan out so had to put something into the courgette and onion mix instead of egg. I'd made some hummus the day before and had some cooked chickpeas over. I whizzed them in a blender and added them to the grated courgette, dill, grated onion and seasoning. I didn't want to put too much in and turn them into felafel so added a little chickpea flour, left the mixture an hour for the chickpea flour to swell and then fried as normal.  

Necessity is the the mother of invention, especially in cooking. 

Hamsi Pilav

After watching and smelling all those anchovies being cooked on Sunday, I have to follow with a post on Hamsi Pilav. 

This is my first attempt and I wish I had bought pre-gutted hamsi because de-heading and de-back boning these little blighters takes time.  After the first ten or so, I got into a rhythm and could pull the head off and run my thumb down the inside of the backbone separating flesh from gory bits in one action. If I'd read my own blog post about Byron Ayanoğlu teaching me to do this a couple of years ago, I would have saved a few squished fish.   I bought a kilo of hamsi and lined an oiled dish with 3/4 of them, skin side down. I then sautéed 1 finely chopped onion in a little oil, added a cup of jasmine rice, a handful of pine nuts, a handful of tiny currents, a pinch of salt and one and a half cups of boiling vegetable stock.  This was simmered until all the water had been absorbed, then left to cool slightly.

Add the rice to the hamsi-lined dish

Cover with the remaining fish, skin side up and put into the middle of a 180 C oven for half an hour. 

Invert the dish onto a plate and shake out the hamsi pilav.  Mine didn't come out as cleanly as I'd have liked which is why you have this side shot, but I was quite pleased with my first go.  A bit of loosening the edges with a knife before tipping out might be a good idea.
 A kilo of hamsi will not only give you a tasty supper for 4, you will also have super soft hands after massaging them with raw hamsi.  I know they are an oily fish, but it was only when handling them I realised how oily.

First sip. Melon Seed Sherbet.

Harem Scene by Quintana Blas Olleras (1851-1919)

The word sherbet brings two images to my mind. The first, as a child of the Midlands in the 1960s, is of a yellow tube filled with fizzing powder that could be sucked up a liquorice straw. If you lived in the Midlands in the 60s you'll know that this was about as exciting as life got, especially when the dust went up the nose and made us sneeze and wheeze. 

The second image is of well-padded Ottoman ladies lounging on plump cushions sipping pastel liquids from engraved glasses. I have yet to find a recipe for Sherbet Fountains  so it is the latter I'm writing about today. 

After tasty lunch of green beans and kale in Gambilya restaurant on Monday, our Turkish coffee was accompanied by a small glass of an opaque, slightly pink liquid. In its gold etched glass, it looked just the accoutrement for a silk-draped lady of a bygone era.  I usually pride myself on recognising ingredients but I had no idea what I was drinking.  At the risk of sounding like the worst wine bore, its subtle taste had a whiff of vanilla and an essence of reclining under a honeysuckle vine on a sunny day. It was quite impossible to pinpoint the flavour.  We had to ask Lale what it was and the answer was a surprise - melon seed drink. 

I've mentioned Lale's drinks before in Mulberry and Purple basil cordial at Gambilya and she is very good at sourcing traditional recipes.  This one was brought to Turkey by Jews fleeing Spain and is still a popular drink in Spanish speaking countries.  It's simple to make and, with the growing popularity of seed and nut milks, I'm surprised that I haven't come across it before. 

Wash the seeds of a cantaloup or yellow melon.  

Dry the seeds in the sun for 24 hours 

Grind or liquidize the seeds with two glasses of unchlorinated water 

Leave for 24 hours until the liquid thickens and goes milky in colour 

Strain and squeeze through muslin, sweeten if desired and drink chilled. 

Some recipes suggest boiling the seeds in the water for 5 minutes, but I'm sure the drink is more nutritious unheated.  In some of the Spanish or Mexican recipes, melon juice or lime juice is added, but I think this would mask the delicate flavour.  I haven't made it myself yet but will definitely be coming back from Sunday's market with two large melons.  

Bodrum Talks Teas.

Photo credit - Robert Patrick

Friday's talk gave us a few reasons to sweat;  tricky translations, non-compatable memory sticks, non-existent air-con and the inevitable mobile phones piping up every so often, but over all it went very well and more people than expected turned up. 

I've been asked to transcribe the whole talk for the H3A website, so I'll  put the link on here when it's available. But, in the meantime, here is a snippet: 

Ilhamur 

Linden Flower Tea  - Ihlamur

Linden is an herb that comes from various species of Tilia or Lime Tree. The flowers were historically used to soothe nerves and treat health problems associated with anxiety. These flowers were steeped as a tea to relieve indigestion, irregular heartbeat, and vomiting. Today, linden is used in many cough and cold remedies. Active ingredients in linden help promote sweating, which may help treat people with fevers. Tilia has been studied in only a few test tube and animal trials. It appears to have antispasmodic (reducing muscle contractions), astringent (drying), diuretic, and sedative properties.

Frequent use of linden has been linked with heart damage. Do not use without medical supervision if you have heart disease.

Kara baş otu

French lavender – Kara baş otu

French lavender tea is used in Turkey mainly to remedy forgetfulness, and is thought to be useful against Altzheimers. It is also used for good blood flow and against coughs. The tea is sold in Turkey as a cure all for heart and circulation problems, stress, insomnia, prostate problems, high cholesterol, shifting mucus, bronchitis, muscle pains, head aches, and hand tremors. Use the flowers to make tea, and either drink or use the liquid to bathe an aching area, or mix the flowers with honey and eat. 

Olive leaves

Olive leaf - Zeytin yapragı

In the early 20th century, a bitter compound called oleuropein was discovered in olive leaves and in the past 20 years this substance has undergone considerable research.

Initial results show positive results in boosting the immune system against both viral and bacterial attack, promoting increased energy levels, strengthening the cardiovascular system and helping ease aching muscles.

As the winter cold and flu season approaches, I produce my own olive leaf extract. The easiest method is to collect a handful of leaves from trees that haven't been sprayed, chop and infuse in almost boiled water for 5 minutes, strain and drink. The leaves can also be dried and made into tea. I admit it's not a very pleasant taste, but it improved with a teaspoon of honey.

The second way is to steep the leaves in alcohol, olive oil or glycerine  to make a tincture. I pop a few handfuls of leaves into a blender then pushed them into a clean glass bottle and fill it up with vodka. I turn it every day and after 6 weeks I have my tincture. Half a teaspoon morning and night seems to be the recommended dose, although tests at over 100 times this amount showed no harmful effects. I don’t take it all the time, just when I feel a cold or sore throat coming on.

This formula can now be bought over the counter in pharmacies and herbalists in the UK and Turkey. 

Nutty Courgettes

Another quck meze dish that isn't really traditional but draws from 2 famous Turkish dishes and  can be on the table in 15 minutes flat. We love kizartma in the BtoB household but we always griddle or bake the aubergines, courgettes and peppers rather than fry them.  We are also partial to Çerkez Tavuk, chıcken covered in a walnut and garlic sauce, Cicassian style.   This is a merging of the two. 

Cut 3 courgettes lengthways into half centimetre slices.  Brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Cook on a hot griddle until soft.  Arrange on a serving plate.

Peel and slice two cloves of garlic and liquidise in 2 tbls of olive oil.  When smooth, add a handful of walnuts and a handful of basil leaves and another of parsley. Grate 100 g of hard sheep's cheese, you can use Parmesan but only use 50g, and add to the mixture and pulse a couple of times.  Spread this pesto over the courgettes and serve.   This makes a change from the usual yogurt sauce.  

Spicing up an old favourite

This week I've been cooking for folk who love strong flavours and I felt my usually well-received collection of Turkish meze might be just a bit bland for them, so I have turbo charged a few traditional recipes to give them some more umph.  Green beans in a tomato sauce is one of my favourites as it is quick and easy to cook but this spicy upgrade is even speedier. 

I based the sauce on puttanesca, that famous Italian pasta sauce named after "ladies of the night", but kept it raw to make the flavours stronger. 

Prepare the fresh green beans in which ever way you prefer, I sliced mine quite thinly.  Steam or boil until they are the texture you are happy with,  I like them with a slight bite, but not too crisp. 

Combine the following in a blender:

2 peeled chopped garlic cloves

1 tsp rinsed capers

1 tbsp green or black olive paste

1 tsp chilli flakes

2 tinned anchovies or more if you want a real flavour kick. 

1 large or 2 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped and squeezed to remove excess liquid

1 tbsp the best olive oil you have.

Drain the beans and immediately coat them in the blended sauce.   Leave at least 30 minutes.  

This dish can be served warm or cold, but is best at room temperature. 

 

Vegetable Spaghetti

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I'm not keen on kitchen gadgets as there is not much you can't do with a set of sharp sharp knives, a sturdy mixer and blender, but I had great fun yesterday with a "Spiralo"

My daughter has been told to cut down on carbohydrates, a hard task for a working girl keen on pasta, so I bought this contraption for her.  Before I cart it back to Turkey, I thought I should give it a go. It is a multipurpose slicer, but it can very cleverly turn vegetables into long strings of "spaghetti".

I made a simple tomato sauce with 2 skinned beef tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, half a leek, and a glug of olive oil. Two courgettes were turned into strings in seconds, and could probably have been eaten raw, but I steamed them for 3 minutes to heat them up and soften them slightly.  A handful of grated cheese and a few basil leaves topped off the dish.  It was very satisfyiing to be able to twirl the courgette spaghetti on the fork, and with a meat sauce, would be an even tastier low carb dinner. 

I think I might have to buy another one for my kitchen. 

Mulberries at Gambilya

There is a bumper crop of mulberries this year and everyone is searching for ways to use up this juicy fruit. One friend is brewing mulberry wine and  I'm looking forward to tasting and writing about the resulting brew. Mulberries are ideal for sherbets and cordials. Most recipes call for the berries to be boiled with sugar and water but Lale, at Gambilya Cafe in Bodrum showed me a "raw" recipe.  The amounts are vague but approximately 2 cups of berries, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of lemon juice are mixed in a glass jar, which is shaken daily and left in the garden for 4 days.  The mixture is then passed through a fine sieve and bottled.  I would keep the bottles in the fridge, but I'm sure they won't be around for long as the syrup mixed with 4 parts water makes a very refreshing long drink. I think the addition of a shot of vodka and plenty of crushed ice would also go down well after the sun dips below the yardarm. She also makes a cordial using purple basil instead of berries, which, once diluted, produces the delicate pink liquid in the glass on the left. 

I haven't mentioned many ( if any) restaurants in this blog, but Gambilya is worth a recommendation as Lale and Selahattin have created a little green oasis in the centre of Bodrum, where healthy, clean

natural foods can be enjoyed in a peaceful, almost rural atmosphere. We hold our writing group here every two weeks, and each time we are treated to a different cake or dessert, created with minimum or zero sugar and lots of seasonal fruits.  Effort is made to use only locally sourced products and their lunch and dinner menus feature home cooked dishes which aren't found in other restaurants. 

They also have excellent wifi so if you are looking for a quiet spot to catch up on your correspondence over a herb tea or coffee, Gambilya is the ideal spot. 

Chestnut and Red Onion Tarts

I've made these delicious tarts a few times over the holiday period and have been asked for the recipe on each occasion so, as I haven't written any food posts for a while, now seems like a good opportunity.  The new internet sanctions coming into force may jeopardise all but food and travel blogs in Turkey hence it's time to up my foodie credentials.  These tarts can either be made as small bite-size canapés or a large tray bake to serve with salad as a supper dish.  When buying chestnuts, choose the biggest ones you can find; in Turkey I favour Bursa Kestane. They are more expensive but are much easier to peel and in the end you will get more cooked chestnuts for your money.

For the pastry

200 gr plain flour

100 gr butter

pinch of salt

cold water 

For the filling

3 large red onions

500gr chestnuts

200gr white/feta cheese

olive oil for frying

I make my shortcrust pastry the old fashioned way by rubbing the butter into the flour and salt until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs and then adding chilled water slowly by the tablespoon until the mixture comes together  and can be made into a ball.  When pushed for time, I've  put all ingredients except water into a food processor and whizzed it together before slowly adding the water and this also makes acceptable pastry, but it's not a light as the finger-tip method.  Most important is to wrap the pastry ball in film and chill for at least an hour.  While it's in the fridge, make the filling by cutting a cross in the rounded side of each chestnut. Place on a tray in an oven preheated to 200C for 20 minutes, turning each chestnut over after 10 minutes. Set aside to cool until you can easily handle them, but don't let them get cold because this makes getting the skins off  much more difficult.  Peal and chop the onions and fry until soft but not browned in a splash of olive oil.  

Roll the pastry as thinly as you can and either cut circles for a tart tin or line a large baking tray, you should have plenty of pastry over to keep in the fridge for another day.   Break the pealed chestnuts into smaller pieces and mix into the onions and either fill the tarts with this mixture or spread it over your pastry base.  Break the cheese up with a fork (I find rinsing feta in water before I use it improves the flavour) and sprinkle over the onion mix.  I bake this for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 200C. If you have the option to have the heat in the oven coming from the base, you will get crisper pastry.

If you can't find chestnuts or can't be bothered to prepare them, use 100 grams of pine nuts instead. 

Dad's Beatroot and Apple Bread

An attachment to beetroot must run in my family. My father makes a mean loaf and his favourite recipe is apple and beetroot. I'm in Dorset with my parents for a couple of days so have had a chance to witness the production of this super loaf first hand. The dough looks a bit strange as it's rising; the damp pink is more reminiscent of the butcher's slab than the baker's counter but after 30 minutes in a 180 degree oven the crumb turns a rich gold. If you're looking for a light slice, that stays fresh for 4 days, add a bit of fruit or veg to your usual recipe.

500g strong white flour 

30 g butter

1 packet instant dried yeast (10 g)

1 small apple peeled and grated

Half a tennis ball size beetroot, cooked and grated. 

2 tblsp sugar 

 1 tsp salt  

2 tblsp olive oil 

250 ml warm water 

Rub the butter into the flour and add the rest of the above ingredients. Knead well for an elastic dough and leave in a warm place to double in size. Knock back and allow to rise for a second time, then knock back again, divide in half and put into two well buttered loaf tins. When the dough has risen for the third time, pop the tins straight into the hot oven. I've eaten more bread in the last two days than the last two weeks. It's the saving of my waistline that I'm off to Scotland tomorrow.

Happy Baking

Courgette flowers - Welcome home.

I'm home at last and I can't think of a nicer way to be welcomed back than a plastic bag full of courgette flowers left on the doorstep.  Unfortunately they don't stay looking this good for long so I had to drag myself out of bed and get cooking.  Usually the flowers are stuffed with savoury rice, dipped in egg and flour and then deep fried but I fancied something a bit lighter so decided to bake them with a cheese filling.  For a plateful of flowers take one red onion and 4 cloves of garlic and chop as finely as you can. Mix with a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar and then leave for at least an hour to "cook". This process softens the onion and draws out the bitter juice, leaving you with onion that doesn't need frying. After the hour is up, rub the onions with your fingers to soften them a bit more, then empty into a sieve and rinse with fresh water, shaking to remove as much moisture as possible.  Blitz one slice of bread into crumbs, chop a handful of basil and crumble 100g of white cheese into a bowl, add the onion mixture and 1 dessertspoon of olive oil. Mix it all together and check for seasoning.  The cheese is quite salty so I didn't need to add any more salt.  If I'd had some pine nuts  I would have toasted these and thrown them in too, or a handful of walnuts.

Next comes the fiddly bit.  Open each flower and shake upside down to get rid of any insects (washing ruins the flowers).  I started using a teaspoon to fill the cavity but after a few, found it was easier to roll the filling into a little ball and then push it in.  Fold the petals over the top to seal. 

Lightly oil a clay dish and arrange all the flowers in a single layer. Brush each with olive oil, gently pour half a cup of boiling water into the dish to provide steam and cover tightly with foil  and bake in a preheated 170 C oven for 30 to 40 minutes, taking the foil off for the last 10 minutes.

They hold their shape well and would make a pretty addition to a canapé tray but we had ours with a dollop of yogurt and some stuffed peppers. 

It's obvious I've been cooking fancy food for the past couple of months isn't it.  I'll be back to the homely favourites and one-dish wonders as soon as I've unpacked my suitcase and settled back into village life.