Our Last Meal for 2008

How about that, my first post for 2009 is still all about 2008!

Garandee wanted to end 2008 with a bang. Since we're both crazy about Turkish food, she pulled out her favorite cookbook and cooked up these outrageous Turkish dishes for our last meal for the year.

Our Starter:

Deep Fried Mussels in Beer Batter with Garlic-Flavoured Walnut Sauce
This became an instant favorite! I mean, who doesn't like beer battered seafood? I'm a big fan of fish n' chips, but using mussels instead of cod blew me away! Best when served during drinking sessions.


What really makes this appetizer stand out from all its other beer battered counterparts is the exotic sauce that's paired with it. Its light nutty taste and semi-crunchy texture complemented the strong "oceany" flavor and chewy texture of the mussels.


Our Main Dish:


Lahmacun
An Anatolian snack with a thin crispy base smeared with a lightly spiced minced lamb on top. Eat it with fresh parsley and a generous squeeze of lemon. We didn't have lamb so minced beef was a good substitute. We also tried using lime instead of lemon for added flavor and we were oh so right to do that!


Chargrilled Chicken Wings in Pomegranate Marinade
Originally a recipe meant for quails, Garandee used chicken wings instead since it was the only poultry we had in the freezer. After marinating, she baked it in the oven a bit before grilling it on an open flame. Since pomegranate is rarely available in Manila (so we think), Garandee told me that this could be the last time she's making it. Sniff... sob...


She was pleasantly suprised to find some of the fruit in SM Makati, and bought one immediately. I've never heard the fruit, so I was looking over her shoulder the moment she opened it up to make the marinade. As she left, I stole a spoonful to get a taste. It felt like eating sweet & sour papaya seeds...


Our Dessert:


Garandee's Low Calorie 4 layer Milk Chocolate Cake
Beeyootiful! Melted semi-sweet milk chocolate mixed with cream sqeezed between 4 layers chocolate sponge cake. If that's not enough, she used the filling to coat the cake too. No butter was used in the filling, significantly reducing the calories of this monstrosity. Once you take it out of the chiller, the coating and filling hardens up a bit, but not too much that it cracks when you slice it.

For the record, she finished up to 70% of this cake. Seriously.

Anyway, I placed bookmarks on all these dishes in her cookbook. Hopefully it will convince her to make them all again this year.


Garando mode:
I hardly have 2 days of vacation left...