Final day—cooking class — this encore life

Our fellow Turkish traveler Tom is eager to discover every aspect of the Turkish culture, and he found a cooking school that was a brief walk from our hotel. So four of us decided to try it out on this, our last day in Turkey.

Following breakfast and after partially packing (we’re leaving at midnight for the airport), we strolled past the Blue Mosque, eventually finding our way to Cooking Alaturka. We’d chosen to cook a noon meal, and from 10:30 to 2:30, enjoyed not only making dishes, but then eating them and drinking wine as well.

We were met by the hosts, chef Rocco and his wife Leyla. A couple from Boston joined the four of us and after tea, Chef Nazli welcomed us into her kitchen. Our menu this day consisted of Yayla corbasi (meadow soup), Zeytinyagh tanze fasulye (green runner beans with onion, garlic and tomato), Karniyarik (eggplant stuffed with meat), Kabak mueveri (zucchini patties with herbs and cheese), and for dessert—Incir tathsi (walnut-stuffed figs in syrup).

Fun owners of Cooking Alaturk, Rocco and Leyla

So...we got busy. Nazli showed us how to remove the flesh around the end of the eggplant to expose a woody stem. We then cut an opening in the eggplant and after slathering it with olive oil, baked it.

The eggplant stem—used for holding it and moving it from pan to pan

We prepared the meat mixture to put in the eggplant, cut up beans, began the soup, learned how to use a crazy looking knife to mince onions and a flat heavy mallet to crush black pepper. The chef explained the technique and we then helped with the preparation. Lots of kidding and merriment, and a congenial pace.

Four types of bulgur—we used the one on the lower left

A few of the dishes are Ottoman favorites and the spices are some we had gotten at the spice bazaar—like pul biber, the shaved red pepper.

Check out this knife for mincing onions....!

Jane and clowning Leyla mincing lamb and beef for the eggplant dish

Following our “hard work” in the kitchen, we enjoyed the meal and wine. A lovely way to end our tour of Turkey.