When I read the prompt for round 2 of Project Food Blog I knew exactly which culture I wanted to draw from…
It had to be Turkey! I traveled to Turkey last summer and fell in love with the country. From Istanbul to Ephesus, I loved everything about Turkey. I saw ancient ruins, beautiful mosques, and went wild in the Spice Market.
More than anything, I loved the food! Lets be real, any culture where it is encouraged to eat cheese for breakfast is fantastic. I ate tons of eggplant, hummus, thick yogurt, cucumbers, lamb, beef, cheese, nuts, olives, and of course baklava!
After returning from Turkey I missed the food, but never attempted to recreate it myself. Well, the time has come and I decided to make baklava!
What I love about baklava is that there are so many ways to customize it to your tastes. I decided to make pistachio, walnuts, and walnuts with dates because the only thing I miss more than baklava are Turkish delights. The ingredients for this recipe are almost all local. The only ingredients that aren’t local are the sugar, nutmeg, and the phyllo dough. Yesterday morning I went to the Santa Monica Organic Farmer’s Market to pick up my ingredients and then I set off to making baklava!
To save money I bought whole walnuts and then chopped them myself.
After consulting with the honey man at the farmers market I decided to use orange blossom honey in my baklava.
Delicious honey syrup!
Mid way through construction…
and all together:
Delicious, mouth watering, and sticky sweet.
Yes, I ate all three. I have no self control when it comes to phyllo, nuts, sugar and honey.
Are you convinced that you have to make this right now?
Baklava
Sauce:
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup orange blossom honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice (from the lemon)
1/2 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of grated nutmeg
Baklava
3 cups of chopped nuts (I used 2 cups walnuts, 1 cup pistachio)
1/4 cup sugar (divided between the nuts)
1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon (again, divided between the nuts)
8 oz. phyllo dough
3/4 cup melted butter
1 small hand full of dates, chopped, make sure there are no pits
For the sauce
Combine the water and the sugar and bring to a boil. Once boiling reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 mins. After 15 mins take off the heat and combine honey, nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon juice. Return to medium heat and cook for 5 mins, stirring throughout. Take off the heat and cool completely to room temperature. Set aside.
For baklava:
Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the chopped nuts with the sugar and the cinnamon. Stir and set aside.
Melt the butter. Unroll the phyllo dough. Be careful! Keep the dough covered with damp towels at all times or it will dry out! I used a casserole dish that is the same size as the phyllo dough. If yours isn’t the same size you will want to cut it down. Lay a layer of phyllo dough in the dish and brush the melted butter on the sheet. I used by fingers, it was like finger painting with butter! Repeat this 4 times alternating butter and phyllo. Then, layer half of the nuts and dates as you wish! Continue layering the phyllo with the melted butter for two more layers. After adding two more layers of butter and phyllo add the second half of the dates and nuts. Top with four more layers of butter and phyllo dough. Make sure that you generously apply butter to the top layer of the phyllo dough.
Cut into slices with a serrated knife. You must do this before cooking because you will be unable to cut it afterwords. Bake for 30 mins.
Once the baklava is done baking take it out of the oven and pour the cooled syrup over the baklava. Let the baklava cool completely.
Enjoy and afiyet olsun!
Left Coast Contessa 
sounds delicious! congrats on pfb round 2!
Thanks!
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Nice entry. Isn’t Ephesus amazing?
You’ve got one of myvotes.
Epahsus was probably the most amazing place I’ve ever visited. Thank for voting!
Beautiful post and now I want some baklava. You have one of my votes. Good luck in the next stage of the competition.
Thank you for voting for me!
I’m a fan of Turkish Delights too, so from one enthusiast to another, I wanted to let you know that the middle eastern market around the corner from me sells them in the deli case. I’m sure there are other places too, but I know about this one for sure.
Looks SOOOO delicious!
[But I have to admit, the reason I want to vote for you is that you used the phrase “let’s be real” and I thought for a second I had written this. ;)]
Isn’t “lets be real” the best ever? If you use that line I must become a reader of your blog!
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Looks great! And your Turkish adventures looked like so much fun. Did you know that you can make your own Phyllo dough? I discovered that while making Moroccan food for my own entry. It’s really fun! – http://www.delightfulcountrycookin.com
I love baklava! 🙂 Nice post. Good luck in challenge 2 of PFB! I’ll send a vote your way.
Thanks for voting!
Great post! That looks SO good. I voted for you!
Good luck! =)
You can check out my PFB post at :http://www.foodbuzz.com/project_food_blog/challenges/2/view/864
thanks for your vote!
This is a favorite! Vote for you! If you have any awesome savory Turkish recipes to share, please do. We’ll be playing around with spices from Turkey in a couple of weeks.
Thanks for the vote! I don’t know that many Turkish dishes but anything with lamb and spices would be so delicious!
I thought about making Baklava for this challenge too, since I’ve never worked with phyllo dough, but I decided any dessert wasn’t far enough from my comfort zone. But this looks delicious, and I’m adding it to my list! you’ve got my vote!
Thanks for you vote!
this looks delicious 🙂 Good luck with project food and you got my vote for this one! Feel free to drop by 🙂 Good luck and best wishes for making to the top !! WOOHOO
jen @ http://www.passion4food.ca
I love turkish food too! Bulgaria and Turkey have a very love/hate relationship, but they share many regional dishes and baklava is one of them.
Very true about the history. Food is something we can all agree on 🙂
Your baklava looks amazing! I’ve never had it with pistachio’s before, and now I am very curious to taste it. I just might have to make some this weekend. 🙂
I love your pictures from Turkey, I’ve always wanted to go there. I’m glad you had an amazing trip.
Anyways, you’ve got my vote.
Thanks for your vote! Turkey is amazing. When you go you will have an awesome time.
You’ve got my vote! I had a friend that went to Turkey this summer, and I’ve also got a friend whose favorite dessert of all time is baklava. I don’t blame her! It’s so delicious and satisfying. Using pistachios and walnuts is such a great decision.. it makes me wonder how that baklava would’ve tasted with a hint of rose water. Better yet, like you said.. served with some delicious cheese on the side 😉
XOXO Best of luck!!!
Thanks for your vote! And yes, cheese is good with everything!
Delicious! I want some right now! And another piece! It’s been great to relive some of my favourite travel memories through all these wonderful foods. Apple tea, iskender kebab, baklava, yum!
Yum! Apple tea! Now I want some!
This looks so decadent and delicious! Kudos for trying a difficult dish for this challenge!
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I would have eaten all three, too! This looks fantastic… great job with this challenge 🙂
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Baklava is simply the best dessert! Good choice choosing this recipe and cultural inspiration. I actually just posted my own recipe for Baklava Cigars; but I think I like your more traditional method of layers better
Well done! Your baklava sounds heavenly and I’m so happy you went for this very difficult treat! I’m Turkish and live in Istanbul but I would never dream of attempting something as difficult as baklava! And its wonderful that Turkish cuisine is finally getting the recognition it so rightly deserves…thank you Left Coast Contessa!
Thanks for your comment! You’re so sweet.
Yours look fantastic.
Mine is
My previous comment didn’t work for html 😦
Mine is here:
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