For two years in a row, I found myself in Kaş. For those of you that aren’t familiar with this wonderful place, Kaş is located on the Mediterranean sea in southwestern Turkey. If you draw a line south (down) from Istanbul you’ll hit Kaş, actually you’d hit Fethiye, a town over west along the coast but close enough. The village is on the ancient port city site of Antiphellos where you can still find ruins from then including an amphitheater built in early 1st century BC. It was restored in 2nd AD after a massive earthquake that devastated the area and then a more modern restoration was completed in 2008. It’s a small amphitheater and some experts say it is unremarkable compared to many others but considered unique because it faces the Mediterranean sea. Our travel to Kaş was during the month of September both times, first in 2020, to escape fire, smoke, violence, and covid related hell. The second time around in 2021, was partially to escape again (covid hadn’t been fully managed but I was vaxxed), and partially to join a group converging in Kaş to celebrate a friend’s birthday.

Because I had been there the year before, I had the luxury of choosing the things I wanted to do and not cramming everything during our stay. One of the things I wanted to try on our first visit but wasn’t able to do was to take a proper cooking class focusing on the local cuisine. I figured it would be a fun group activity and everyone who was there (at the time) participated. I got in touch with Christine Walsh, an expat Brit who has been living in Turkey for 15+ years and teaching Cooking in Kaş- Making Mezes Easy. I met Christine and her Turkish husband, Cüneyt (pronounced june-eight), the year before but didn’t take her class because covid precautions limited our activities to outdoor pursuits of visiting ruins, and swimming in the sea, basically minimizing interaction with other people.

Christine had been teaching for a while but didn’t have any classes in 2020, covid hit and then her Turkish assistant moved to the U.K. This class in September 2021 was the first class since covid AND we were the first to use her new kitchen/cooking class setup. There were 9 of us in the group and on the morning of our class two vehicles arrived to transfer us up to the mountain village of Ahatli, about a 25 minute drive (depending on who is driving) from where we were staying in Cukurbağ peninsula just outside the village of Kaş. The set up was delightful, situated in Christine and Cüneyt’s garden. They used to live in Kaş, but now they live in a charming and comfortable home they built in the mountains. To get started, we were all given aprons and we took turns washing our hands in an outdoor stone sink Christine and Cüneyt had sourced in an antique shop in Kaş. The set up was perfect, it was all outdoors set under a big tree, off to the side of their front yard with a nice view of the surrounding hills. There were 3 stations consisting of long wooden tables, each with 3 sets of cutting boards, knives, spoons and bowls. It wasn’t too hot, there was shade and a pleasant breeze and Haz, their dog hanging out keeping us company. Christine was full of information: tips, history and stories, which made it fun and informative. For instance, she explained to us what to look for when purchasing pomegranate molasses or the various qualities of biber salçası, a red pepper paste which is a must in the Turkish pantry. During the class, we did a blind olive oil tasting, and some of us learned that courgettes are zucchinis. We were given different individual tasks like peeling, chopping, and grating various vegetables plus charring eggplants. Some tasks, like stuffing grape vine leaves and peppers or rolling cheese rolls were prepared by all. We learned about Turkish village life and how some women can deftly roll the vine leaves with one hand, and that they catch up on juicy local gossip while making them. Of course, several of us tried the one hand job -fail. And gossiped - success!

We collectively cooked 7 dishes (listed below) and Christine cooked one extra dish with fresh borlotti beans. Once all the food was cooked and the table set by Cüneyt, we sat down to eat along with some good local white wine. (there are wineries in the area like this one Likya Şarapları - and yes, the Turkish language has a letter ‘i’ without the dot ). For dessert we had some big fat juicy figs that Christine and Cüneyt’s neighbor brought over for us.

Here’s what we cooked:

• Yaprak Sarma - stuffed vine leaves

• Deniz Börülcesi - samphire with garlic, lemon and olive oil

• Biber Dolmasi - stuffed peppers

• Patlicani Yoghurt - aubergine & yogurt dip

• Barbunya Pilaki - borlotti beans in sauce

• Sigara Böregi - ‘cigarette’ shaped cheese rolls

• Mücver - courgette (zucchini) fritters

• Havuçlu Yogurt - carrots with yoghurt

• Ezme- spicy tomato dip

It was a really fun way to spend the morning learning how to make mezes and leisurely enjoy the fruits of our labor under the arbor in Christine and Cüneyt’s garden.  If you find yourself in Kaş. I heartily encourage you, DO take her class, it’s great; informative and delicious. You can get in touch with Christine via email or WhatsAPP.

Cooking in Kaş - Making Mezes Easy cookinginkas@hotmail.com +90 530 237 27 47