I dedicate this photo, recipe to all Galatasaray fans whose football team lost a game to Fenerbahce today. This was a curicial game; now Fenerbahce is declared as the winner of the 2004 - 2005 Turkish Football Leauge Champion. As a Fenerbahce fan, I really enjoyed eating these two colors side by side.

Hot days are here. If you are looking for a very easy to make, and refreshing dessert, its recipe is here, too!

The name “sorbet” is reportedly coming from Italian sorbetto and Turkish şerbet. In Turkiye, şerbet is nothing but a cold drink made using sweetened and diluted fruit juice. Somewhere along the way it got frozen; sobet came to life.

I got the idea of how to make this sorbet from Martha Day’s “The Complete Book of Desserts .” Last summer we had the mango sorbet many times. This time I changed the recipe a bit and adapted it to use the sour cherry as well. Not sure if you can find fresh sour cherries in US; try looking into Middle Eastern stores for it. That’s how I got mine. It is a very well known, loved fruit in Turkiye…

The recipe is similar for both fruits, I will just write it with “mango.” I assume this would be good for any fruit! Just keep in mind the 2 cups of fruit puree to 1 cup water/sugar syrup ratio.

What you need:

1. 2 mangos
2. 4Tbs orange juice
3. 1 cup sugar
4. 1 cup water
5. optional: orange zest

How to make it:

1. Stir the sugar and orange zest in water, heat and let it boil. Cool it down
2. Wash, peel and cube the mangos.
3. Put the mango cubes and orange juice in a food processor and blend well. This should make about 2 cups of mango puree
4. Mix the mango mix with the syrup, put in the fridge
5. After about 30 mins or so, put the mix in the freezer. Freeze until firm around the edges
6. Transfer it back to the food processor and process until soft. Put back into the freezer
7. Take it out of the freezer 10 mins before serving
8. Decorate with mint leaves; not only it looks good, but also it tastes great!

Note: Sour cherry sorbet is made in a similar way; no orange juice or zest is needed. Try getting the sour cherry in a jar, preserved with its juice + water. Add some of that juice while processing to get it smooth. Again, use about 2 cups of cherries to have 2 cups of puree.

This is another olive oil dish that is a part of the Eagean, Mediterranean cuisine, and I have learned it from my late aunt. I remember her buying artichokes when they are fresh and cooking all sorts of dishes with them. There were times she brought them all the way from Istanbul (about 780km away from where we lived!) if she happened to be there in the spring.

This year, I have planted two artichoke plants in the backyard. Waiting anxiously for them to grow and give their delicious fruit!

You may ask “what is a fava bean?” That was the question of two old ladies, in the farmer’s stand while I was buying these ones. Well, they are beans. ;) They are available fresh in early spring and they do go together with artichokes! You can eat them raw, with olives, too. But do not overdo it as it may cause some tummy ache.

If the fava beans are really tender and young, you can eat them with their pod, too. But for this recipe, we’ll only use the beans themselves.

The artichokes are in season, as well. But not only I have never cleaned one in my life (they actually sell them cleaned in the farmer’s markets in Turkey, so we are spoiled!) but also I am lazy; so I bought a can of artichoke bottoms.

The original recipe does not call for carrots, but I added them anyway. Just because I had them at home, and thought they might go well together. I was not wrong.

Dill is a must! If you have everything else but dill at home, you may want to consider making another trip to the grocery store.

And you should be eating this meal when it is cold.

All I needed for this recipe was:

1. 1 can of artichoke bottoms, 8 little bottoms
2. 1lb (1/2 kg) fava beans, or 1/2lb (250gr) shelled fava beans
3. 1 medium onion, finely chopped
4. 3 Tbs olive oil
5. 1 Tbs sugar
6. 2 tsp salt
7. 2 carrots, peeled and cut bite size
8. 1/2 lemon’s juice
9. small bunch of dill, nicely chopped

How to assemble them:

1. Drain and rinse the artichokes. If you are using fresh, I assume you know how to clean them and make them wait in the lemon + flour + water mixture until ready to use…
2. Shell the fava beans, discard the pods
3. Stir the onions with olive oil, until they are soften
4. Add carrots, if you are using them. Stir for about 2 - 3 mins
5. Add the sugar and salt, stir again
6. Add the artichoke bottoms, fava beans, lemon juice and enough water to cover them
7. Cover and cook about 30 mins.
8. When cooled, add the dill and serve

Note: You may find the fava beans shells hard to eat. Try peeling them as you eat.

Bon Apetit!