Market love and a great gozleme recipe - boyeatsworld (2024)

Oh, how we love a market! Wherever we are in the world we always try to make one our first stop to get a feel for a town. We can roam for hours just looking, smelling and eating up the local culture. Quite literally. You see, we’re not ones for hunting out bargains, pre-loved wares or cutesy crafts. No, no, no. We’re after the food! Every. Single. Time.

There’s no better place than a local market to pick up on a towns vibe, witness local culture and customs, uncover local food secrets and just enjoy a great cheap feed in what is, more often than not, a friendly community atmosphere. Market days have made for some of our favourite and tastiest holiday memories.

Raffles still talks about buying raspberries by the bucket in Croatia’s Old Dubrovnik Market and filling our backpacks with fresh bread, stinky (but yummy) cheese and chunks of saucisson at market after market on our travels through France’s Dordogne.

Me, I have fond recollections of lingering over fresh fruit and vegies at the Rialto markets alongside the canals of Venice; perusing tables of seafood so fresh they’re still pulling them out of the fishing boats in Bali; and sampling the wares at Cambodia’s Kandal market where among the papaya, stinky durian and pineapples were platters of fried co*ckroaches, crickets and spiders!

As luck would have it on this recent Jervis Bay jaunt Huskisson’s monthly produce market, held in the pretty grounds of the Lady Denman Museum, was in full swing and while it was bereft of edible bugs and stinky cheese there were tables of bursting ripe fruit, mad musos, and plenty of great regional food made by gorgeous people from all over the world. Perfection.

One of those lovely locals was the friendly Raz, who was making her very first appearance as a stallholder at the laid back market. Raz was here to introduce her homestyle Turkish treats to Husky. There were platters of Turkish delight and tasty baklava she’d made the day before and the tastiest gozleme I’ve ever eaten (and let me tell you there have been a few in my life) made fresh to order.

The kids enjoyed watching her roll and stuff and fold the savoury pastries as much as they loved gobbling down their fresh fried goodness while I scored a few inside tips on making great gozleme.

And, having hit the kitchen with the kids and tried making them at home, I can attest that Raz’s tips were as golden as this great gozleme recipe! Our only issue, deciding whether we prefer the spinach and feta or the luscious lamb filling… or both!

THE RECIPE

Turkish Gozleme

Ingredients:

Dough:
3 cups unbleached plain flour, plus extra to dust
1 cup self raising flour
1 tsp salt
1 ½ cups of warm water

Cheese & Spinach filling:
1 cup roughly chopped baby spinach leaves
1 cup roughly chopped silver beet
½ cup roughly chopped parsley
½ cup diced brown onion
200 grams crumbled feta
1/2 cup of grated mozzarella
½ cup grated cheddar
Salt and pepper to taste

Lamb filling:
500 gm organic lamb mince
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 tsp Ground Cumin
½ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp chilli flakes
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp of paprika
Salt & pepper to taste
2 tbs of pureed tomato
2 tbs finely chopped parsley

1 cup Olive oil (for frying)
Lemon, to serve.

Method:

1. Sift flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Add water and stir into flour gradually working in from sides until it forms a ball.
3. Remove dough and knead for about five minutes.
4. Place dough in clean bowl, cover with cloth and set aside for an hour.
5. Separate into six equal portions and roll out until dough is round (like a pizza) and thin.
6. Heat a large frypan or hotplate to a medium heat and add a tablespoon of oil.
7. Place filling of your choice to one side of dough round then fold pastry across top and seal edges tightly.
8. Place gozleme carefully on heated surface and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden.
9. Serve with fresh lemon.

An award-winning travel writer and photographer, Aleney de Winter was fresh from school when she first set off to explore the far reaches of Australia with a two-man tent and a beaten-up Kingswood for company. Three decades, and two kids later, and she's still on the go, with her itchy-footed offspring in tow.