Aegean-Style Koftes

Name: Aegean-Style Koftes
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Turkey
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon Marash or Aleppo pepper; 1 teaspoon Marash or Aleppo pepper; 1 pound ground beef or lamb; 1 pound ground beef or lamb; ½ cup crumbled crustless day-old bread; 1 garlic clove, crushed; ½ teaspoon ground cumin; ½ cup crumbled crustless day-old bread; ½ cup chopped scallion, white part only; 1 small mildly hot green pepper, such as Anaheim, chopped; 2 medium tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped; 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; ½ cup chopped onion; ½ cup grated sheep’s milk cheese, such as kasseri or kashar; ½ teaspoon dried Turkish kekik or Mediterranean oregano; ½ teaspoon dried Turkish kekik or Mediterranean oregano; 3 tablespoons sweet Turkish pepper paste; 1½ tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2009

About

I learned this recipe for light, juicy, butter-tender beef or lamb meatballs from a motel chef in the town of Assos on the North Aegean coast of Turkey. Motel chef? Yes, indeed. My friend Ayfer Ünsal took me to the Terrace Motel, assuring me that the chef, Ilker Kaya, was immensely talented and that his koftes were divine. How right she was.

In Ilker’s recipe, the koftes are very slowly poached in an onion sauce scente

Ingredients

Asia
Turkey
Main course
Mediterranean

Ingredients

Method