Turkish Delights in the O.C.

Anatolian Food & Culture Festival

Good Food Producer, Gillian Ferguson headed to Orange County for the Anatolian Food & Culture Festival.  This is a taste of her culinary journey.  (I wonder if the Obamas are eating this well.)

A visit to the Anatolian Food and Culture Festival offers a whirlwind of flavors from a region whose long history and vast landscape are too often summed up by kebabs and baklava.  The festival showcases more than 40 vendors, many who were flown from Turkey for the occasion, and provides an overview to a culinary history seldom experienced in the United States.

Manti

While the hearty doner kebab and the glistening mounds of baklava are no doubt delicious, the true gems lie in the lesser-known delicacies.  Manti, a traditional dumpling stuffed with ground beef, is topped with garlicky yogurt and a spicy red sauce with hints of parsley, mint and paprika.  Each bowl is made to order.

Aryan is everywhere; the salty yogurt drink, like a savory lassi, is unlike anything I had ever tasted.   The kofte are a must.  Both the Icli Kofte (bulgur stuffed with ground meat and deep fried) and the Mercimek Kofte (a spicy lentil and bulgur patty) are sublime.  For a taste of Turkish comfort food try the Yayla soup, a

Yayla Soup

deliciously subtle soup of yogurt and rice. 

And not to be missed are the Gozleme, balls of dough rolled paper-thin and stuffed with your choice of ground meat, feta cheese or spinach and made fresh on the premises.   For those with a sweet tooth the options are endless. 

Rose Cookies

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My personal favorites were the Quails Nest and the Rose Cookies, both named for their appearance.  The

Quail's Nest

flaky puff pastry of the Quail's Nest, nestled in a bath of sweet syrup and topped with ground pistachios, is the perfect accompaniment to a Turkish Coffee from famed Masal Café.  For a heartier dessert, Ashure, or “Noah’s Pudding” is said to have 40 ingredients.  While each recipe varies, the pudding served at the fair incorporated chick peas, white beans, apples, walnuts and cinnamon to name a few.

Turkish Coffee

The list of delights is endless and one could easily spend a full (no pun intended!) four days exploring what’s on the menu, but fortunately for those of us who can only make it for an afternoon, or who like me have eyes bigger than their stomach, most dishes are available to go as well.