Dill Potatoes Au Gratin

Again, as part of my "first meal cooked in Turkey" experience, I had to make something nice and simple. These take a long time to bake, but are easy to prepare provided you aren't trying to peel potatoes with an enormous chopping knife (only to later discover that you had a potato peeler in the drawer all along).

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes, cut into 1/4 inch slices
salt and pepper to taste
3 T. butter
2 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. flour
1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
2 cups cheese (cheddar or Gruyere or Swiss, depending on taste; I used some random Turkish cheese that I only later found out doesn't melt. Oops.)


Directions:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (convert to Fahrenheit if you have to, I'm lazy).

1. Butter a baking dish (like a small lasagna pan) and place the sliced potatoes in them. Season with salt and pepper and toss with your hands, then spread evenly.

2. Melt butter in saucepan, then add flour; whisk constantly for a few minutes until it turns golden.

3. Add the milk and salt and pepper to taste. Cook on medium-high, stirring quite a bit, until it thickens.

4. Add the cheese and the dill and cook until the cheese is melted.

5. Pour mixture over the potatoes, then toss it in the sauce until the potatoes are more or less evenly coated and the potatoes are distributed evenly in the pan. At this point I like to add a little more freshly ground pepper (and maybe a little salt).

6. Cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until potatoes are nice and soft on the bottom and the top potatoes are nicely browned.

Easy Pepper Steak

This is not the same as "Steak au Poivre". This being my first ever meal cooked in Turkey, I had to make due with what I have, which isn't much. There is no sauce, just a truly yummy, easy to make steak that takes less than 10 minutes and is completely delicious. The ones I used were cut really thin, we're talking about 3/4 of an inch (welcome to Turkey!) Therefore I'm not entirely sure on cooking times.

Ingredients:

4 steaks
Freshly ground black pepper (important that it's freshly ground!)
Salt
Worcester Sauce
2 T. butter
1 T. olive oil

Directions:

1. Take steaks out of fridge at least 30 minutes (preferably about an hour) before you intend to cook them.

2. If they are wet looking, pat them dry with a paper towel.

3. GENEROUSLY crush black pepper over the steaks, then sprinkle with salt (about 3/4 of a teaspoon for 4 or 5 steaks). Press the peppercorns and salt into the steak.

4. Turn the steaks over and repeat step 3 on the other side.

5. In a large frying pan on medium-high heat, place 1 T. of butter and the olive oil until the butter is melted and it's starting to smoke.

6. Place the steaks onto the frying pan and cook until the edges are starting to look done.

7. Before you turn them, sprinkle some Worcester sauce over the steaks and rub the other tablespoon of butter of the top. Then turn them over.

8. Sprinkle some more Worcester sauce on the steaks before you take them off the grill. Cook for another couple of minutes until they are cooked to your likeness! Serve immediately.