Almost Turkish Recipes

Green Olive Rolls (Yeşil Zeytinli Rulo)


























In Turkey patisseries are real life savers with their wide range of offerings that include baklava, böreks, cakes, cookies, meringues, milk puddings, poğaças, syrupy desserts, Turkish delights, etc. When you're late for work or school and do not have enough time for breakfast; when you're in need of sugar; when you want to bring dessert to a dinner party; when you are having people for a tea party; or when you just want to have some sort of pastry, you know there is a patisserie around the corner. Although they may differ in terms of their specialties--for example, one patisserie may not carry baklava and syrupy desserts and the other may not offer eclair and puddings, without exception all patisseries would serve small savory and sweet snack pastries. These butter loaded crispy pastries are generally referred to as kuru pasta in Turkish, which translates as "dry pastry." Even the smallest, not too fancy neighborhood patisserie would have at least six different kinds of pastry, 3 savory and 3 sweet that are usually baked in the afternoon just in time for the tea parties.

The olive roll pastry was my neighborhood patisserie's specialty, in those good old days when I used to live in Ankara. Hand fulls of buttery crispy rolls with pitted black olives in the middle were what we used to grab from the patisserie twice a week on our way to the coffee house that I and my friends frequented after school to play backgammon and cards.

I replicated the recipe, but was too lazy to pit olives, so in stead of black olives I used cocktail olives. The result was delicious. However, the dough should be a bit thinner than it is in the pictures. Not surprisingly, I didn't do a good job rolling the dough.


























makes approximately 50 rolls

3 1/2 cups flour
2 sticks butter
1/2 cup crumbled white/feta cheese
1/4 cup plain yogurt
~ 50 cocktail olives
1 egg yolk, beaten
nigella and/or sesame seeds



























-Make a smooth dough with flour, melted butter, feta, and yogurt.
-Roll the dough to o.2 inch thickness (don't take my rolls as an example, I couldn't locate the roller so had to use a glass jar!).
-Cut 1 X 3 inch rectangles.
-Place an olive on the rectangle shape dough and roll. Place the rolls on a greased pan making sure the fold would be at the bottom.
-Brush the rolls with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle nigella and/or sesame seeds.
-Bake in preheated oven at 350F for 25-30 minutes.

9 comments:

  1. Burcu, I love this snack, meze, or cocktail hour offering.

    I will certainly try these out.

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  2. I'm tempted to run out for olives and feta just so I can taste these. Just heavenly! Thanks for sharing this recipe.

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  3. They were really great. I took half of them over to a party and they were gone in an hour. I ate the other half at home all by myself!

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  4. Gosh, they look so darn cute and sound like they'll taste wonderful. Look forward to making these as a meze.

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  5. Ooh, I love these, Burcu! Easy, delicious, and fun to eat. What's not to love?

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  6. Your pictures are fantastic..myself and the members of recipebuddys.com are looking for unique recipes...maybe you can post some of your recipes on the site... I am sure the members would be very greatful...thanks


    Andy
    www.recipebuddys.com

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  7. I just found your blog with a search for a halva recipe(out of curiosity). This olive thing looks amazing and oh, so easy!! Yum!! Too bad I used the last of my olives yesterday on a wrap or I'd be making these right now.

    Molly

    ps, the lentil soup is on my menu for Thursday night too!

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  8. These are beautiful...I love the history behind them too.

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