Chef is fierce in her love for Turkey, its food

ISTANBUL, Turkey — No mistaking when you meet Semsa Denizsel. She is the real deal: a female chef in a place where that’s unusual enough, self-taught, outspoken in her opinions, fierce in her love for Turkey and its food. She’s been called the Alice Waters of Istanbul. Not only do they share a farm-to-table philosophy, but they also have the same uncompromising sensibilities.

Her cooking at Kantin, her simple but sophisticated restaurant in Istanbul, is lusty, exuberant, real. The plating is natural, unforced, a woman’s eye.

“I don’t like fussy. It’s not my style,” Denizsel says. “I don’t try to be something else I’m not, which is very important. This is the food I know. This is the food I feel comfortable cooking. This is the food I like to eat.”

And after one bite of any of her dishes, you trust her completely.

Most of the news about Turkey lately has focused on the sporadic anti-government protests that have been going on since late May. But life goes on, Denizsel says, and her restaurant is definitely open.

“Yes, we all are concerned about our future, we don’t want to be told how to live our lives, we protest against this, always peacefully,” she wrote in a recent email. She is dismayed that the news may have scared off anyone who was planning to visit Istanbul this summer. “That shouldn’t be so, because the inhabitants of this city keep on living their daily life as usual.”

And for Denizsel, that means cooking. A spontaneous cook, the fiery redhead starts with an idea or a feeling. Hers is more a performance art.

“I never cook with recipes. When we’re cooking something new for the first time, I pull off everything at the very last minute.”

She may have a certain mise en place in mind, then ask her staff to assemble the ingredients and, most important, to weigh everything. When she steps to the stove, she starts cooking without stopping to measure anything. When she’s done, her staff scrambles to do the math, weighing everything that’s left and assembling the first draft of a recipe. It’s as elusive as trying to notate dance.

Denizsel comes from a family that has been in Istanbul for seven generations, and everyone on both sides of the family cooked. Her father’s family was more traditional Turkish. Her mother cooked Russian, Chinese — anything but Turkish, she says. “I was her kitchen slave. She’d leave me a list of mise en place to have ready when she came home from work at 6:30.”

When Kantin first opened, Denizsel did everything: the shopping, cooking, taking the orders. She had six dishes on the menu every day. Back then, she says, the only herbs she could find were parsley, dill and mint. She went to farmers markets and started talking to growers, and eventually they started coming to her with special herbs and greens and other ingredients.

After a flood damaged her tiny downstairs kitchen, she redesigned it, allowing her to expand the menu to 14 dishes. “Dishes change according to the season and my whims,” she says with a laugh, adjusting a cashmere shawl around her shoulders. Spring, her favorite season, brings deeply flavored artichokes from Izmir and succulent baby lamb intestines braided around sweetbreads.

Now, from 7,000 miles away, I find myself longing for her Turkish comfort food — maybe her meatballs with potatoes, Swiss chard and masses of dill, or her Izmir artichokes with olive oil, onion, garlic and rice. Flavors that are simple, alive, satisfying.

Artichokes Alla Romana Alla Turca

1 hour, plus cooling time. 10 servings.

1/4 cup medium-grain rice, such as baldo, well washed

1 lemon

15 large artichokes

1 1/4 cups extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1 onion, very finely diced into 1/8 -inch pieces

Salt and freshly ground pepper

12 to 15 cloves garlic, chopped or thinly sliced, divided

Leaves from one bunch parsley, chopped

Soak the rice in hot water for 30 minutes, then drain.

Meanwhile, peel the rind from the lemon into thumbnail-sized pieces and halve the lemon, squeezing the juice into a bowl of water.

Prepare the artichoke: Peel, trim and clean the artichokes down to the bottoms; each bottom should be 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Cut each artichoke into five to six pieces (four pieces if the bottoms are a little smaller). Hold the artichokes in the bowl of lemon water to prevent browning.

In a shallow pot, combine the olive oil and onion over medium-high heat until hot. Cook until the onion is softened, careful not to brown, about five minutes.

Stir in the rice and cook for a few minutes, then add the lemon rind. Add the artichoke bottoms and season with 3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste. Reduce the heat and gently cook, covered, stirring occasionally to make sure every piece of artichoke cooks evenly until tender, 20 to 25 minutes. About halfway through cooking the artichokes, add half of the garlic.

When everything is cooked, remove from the heat, and stir in the parsley and the rest of the garlic. Season with freshly ground pepper and additional salt, if desired. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a serving platter and cool to room temperature.

Before serving, drizzle over a little more olive oil.

PER SERVING: Calories: 367; Protein: 6 grams; Carbohydrates: 29 grams; Fiber: 16 grams; Fat: 28 grams; Saturated fat: 4 grams; Cholesterol: 0; Sugar: 2 grams; Sodium: 288 mg.

Meatball Haslama with Tahini Liaison

1 hour, 45 minutes. Serves 10.

3 to 4 slices (3.2 ounces) stale bread

3/4 pound ground beef

1/3 pound ground lamb

1 egg

1/2 small onion, finely grated

1 to 2 cloves garlic, mashed, plus 2 cloves sliced, divided

1 to 2 bunches dill, stems removed and sprigs chopped (about 1/3 cup), plus 2 to 3 ( 2/3 ounce) bunches dill, sprigs only, divided

About 3/4 bunch parsley (2 1/2 ounces), stems removed and chopped (about 1/4 cup)

1 1/2 bunches basil ( 2/3 ounce), stemmed and leaves chopped (about 1/3 cup)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

About 8 1/2 cups (2 liters) chicken broth, more as desired

Scant 1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) extra-virgin olive oil, divided

2 pounds boiling potatoes, diced to walnut-sized pieces

40 pearl onions, peeled

5 egg yolks

Juice and zest of 2 lemons

5 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)

14 ounces Swiss chard, stemmed and leaves torn

1 pound, 1 1/2 ounces sugar snap peas

Sea salt, for garnish

Fresh basil and dill,

for garnish

Extra-virgin olive oil, for garnish

Soak the bread in water until softened, about five minutes, then drain, squeezing out any water. Remove the crust and place in a large bowl. Stir in the ground beef, lamb and egg, along with the onion, mashed garlic, chopped dill, parsley and basil, 1/2 plus 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes.

Form the mixture into golf ball-sized pieces and set aside. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bring the chicken broth to a boil. Reduce to a gentle simmer and season to taste.

Heat a saute pan over medium-high. Add 3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil and saute the potatoes just until crisp on the outside, 10 to 15 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the potatoes to the broth to finish cooking until tender. Likewise, saute the pearl onions until golden brown, six to eight minutes, then add to the chicken broth to continue cooking until tender.

Fry the meatballs, in batches as necessary, until browned, eight to 10 minutes per batch. Place the meatballs on a rimmed baking sheet and continue cooking in the oven until the meatballs are cooked through, about five minutes.

Prepare the liaison: Blend the egg yolks, lemon juice and zest, 1/4 teaspoon salt, a few grinds pepper and sliced garlic using an immersion blender. Slowly add the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in a stream, then the remaining dill sprigs and tahini, to form a smooth liaison. Add a ladleful of hot broth to the liaison while beating to temper it. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired.

Add the Swiss chard, sugar snap peas and meatballs to the chicken broth in the pot (add extra chicken broth if needed to cover) and bring to a boil to heat everything through. When the broth is boiling, remove the pot from the heat and gently whisk in the tahini liaison so it does not curdle.

Serve immediately in warmed bowls, garnished with a sprinkling of sea salt, fresh basil and dill, and a drizzle of olive oil.

PER SERVING: Calories: 531; Protein: 18 grams; Carbohydrates: 36 grams; Fiber: 5 grams; Fat: 36 grams; Saturated fat: 7 grams; Cholesterol: 144 mg; Sugar: 6 grams; Sodium: 1,121 mg