Özlem Warren’s Weeknight Shortcuts for Turkish Classics

This new book shares recipes for Istanbul’s greatest bites, including specialities that tourists might miss.

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“One of the reasons that I wrote Istanbul,” cookbook author Özlem Warren tells me, “was the fact that, you know, it really is not just kebabs and this and that, that you might just see superficially, perhaps in a touristy areas. You really need to dig deep. Go to different neighborhoods to check out delicious regional specialties.” The Turkish port city, she explains, is “a feast to all your senses.”

The book’s chapters hop around Istanbul’s many types of food destinations: the breakfast cafés, the bakeries, the meze-focused meyhanes, the buffet restaurants serving home-style food, and the streetside carts offering simit or gözleme or grilled mackerel sandwiches. You get a taste of everything.

Özlem paints a picture of restaurants focused around the grill, where your meal unfolds gradually. “You’re not rushing,” she says. First, “there’s this juicy sliced melon and crumbled cheese or brined cheese coming in. And then you start to order mezes.” That could mean smashed grilled eggplant or caramelized shallots with a drizzle of pomegranate molasses.

The chef at the grill will rub sumac into sliced onions, chop herbs, and start putting a few chicken shish on the grill. Out come lahmacun, layered with spiced lamb. “There’s some music at the background. There’s people clacking their glasses saying, serefe, cheers to your health.” A parade of Iskender kebabs follows.

In Istanbul, Özlem adapts those Iskender kebabs and chicken shish for the home kitchen, and offers both a more traditional and a super-quick way to make lahmacun. She tells me that when her daughter’s home on university breaks, they’ve been making all sorts of simpler versions of Turkish classics.

She loves making manti stuffed with ground meat, but “when I have less time,” she says, “I use shell-shaped pasta, which resembles mantis and really helps scooping out that gorgeous sauce. And what makes mantis really is that garlicky yogurt and that spiced oil over the top. So once you have those elements with your lovely meat sauce, you have mantis in less than 30 minutes. It comes a little bit out of necessity, really, and a pressure of time,” Özlem says.

I know we all feel that time pressure, so we’re lucky that what Özlem calls a “cheat’s version” happens to be truly delicious.

You’ll find the recipe below, along with Özlem’s fuss-free olive oil-braised artichokes. (The secret is starting with frozen artichoke bottoms, so there’s no peeling and cleaning required.)

For the full conversation, though, find The Dinner Plan on your favorite podcast app.

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Ozlem mentioned:

• Quick Yağlama (Özlem’s Turkish Table)

• Diana Henry’s Crazy Water Pickled Lemons (Bookshop here)

• Claudia Roden’s Med, (World of Books here), especially the lemon pasta

• Simit (Özlem’s Turkish Table)

• Menemen (Özlem’s Turkish Table)

• Gozleme (Özlem’s Turkish Table)

• Circassian chicken with walnut sauce (Özlem’s Turkish Table)

• Manti (Özlem’s Turkish Table)

• Pul biber

• Biber salçası—or use store-bought

• Mercimek Çorbasi / Lentil Soup (Özlem’s Turkish Table)

• Roopa Gulati’s Aloo Chaat—is this the right recipe?

• Grated zucchini with walnuts and yogurt (reprinted from Sebze by Nik Sharma)

• Alison Roman’s Salmon with Sesame and herbs (NYT Cooking; gift link)

• Nik Sharma’s Vegetarian Lasagna with Black Lentils

From the ad break:

• Made In Cookware: Head to madein.cc/dinnerplan to unlock your discount offer.

• Listen to Not from Concentrate or subscribe at CatherineSmart.Substack.com

Maggie mentioned:

• Midnight Cookies from Morning Baker by Roxana Jullapat

• Nik Sharma’s new book, Fundamentals of Flavor

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Photo: Sam A. Harris

Yoğurtlu, Kıymalı Makarna (Cheat’s Manti)

Excerpted with permission from Istanbul by Özlem Warren (Quadrille, May 2026)

I love mantı, but when I am short of time, I make this cheat’s version, using shell-shaped conchiglie pasta (which holds the sauce well and also resembles mantı). Kıymalı makarna is a staple in many households in İstanbul, including ours; it can also be found in eateries that serve home-style food. Topped with garlicky yoghurt and spiced oil, it is absolutely delicious and certainly delivers comforting mantı vibes in considerably less time.

Serves 4–5

For the garlic yoghurt:

• 400 g (14 oz) full fat Turkish or Greek yoghurt

• 2–3 garlic cloves, crushed with salt and finely chopped

For the cheat’s manti:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion, finely diced

• 1 small carrot, finely diced

• 2 sivri biber or 1 medium green (bell) pepper, deseeded and finely diced

• 450 g (1 lb) ground lamb or beef

• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 1 tablespoon tomato purée (paste)

• 200 g (7 oz) can chopped tomatoes

• 200 ml (7 fl oz) water

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

• small bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

• 400 g (14 oz) dried conchiglie or pasta of your choice (use gluten-free, if preferred) salt and

• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the spiced oil:

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 teaspoon pul biber

• 2 teaspoons dried mint

1. About 40 minutes before you plan to serve, take the yoghurt out of the refrigerator and place in a bowl. Stir the garlic into the yoghurt, then taste and adjust the seasoning, if needed. Cover and set aside to bring to room temperature.

2. Pour the 3 tablespoons olive oil into a wide heavy pan and place over a medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, then stir in the carrots and peppers and sauté for a further 2–3 minutes. Add the ground meat and garlic and sauté for 4–5 minutes until the meat is browned, stirring continuously.

3. Add the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes and water, swirling a little of the water in the can to get any remaining bits of tomato. Season with cumin, salt and black pepper, stir to combine and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20–25 minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will have thickened; check the seasoning and add more salt or black pepper, if needed. Stir in the parsley and turn off the heat.

4. About 10 minutes before the meat sauce will have finished cooking, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, then add the pasta and cook according to the packet instructions. Drain the pasta then return it to the pan and drizzle over a little olive oil, so the pasta doesn’t stick.

5. Pour the 4 tablespoons of olive oil into a pan, place over a low-medium heat, stir in the pul biber and dried mint and gently infuse for 35–40 seconds.

6. Distribute the pasta amongst your serving bowls. Ladle over 3–4 serving spoonfuls of the meat sauce then scatter over dollops of garlic yoghurt. Drizzle over some spiced olive oil and serve immediately.

Photo: Sam A. Harris

Zeytinyağlı Enginar (Artichoke Bottoms Cooked in Olive Oil with Carrots, Potatoes and Peas)

Excerpted with permission from Istanbul by Özlem Warren (Quadrille, May 2026)

Enginar (artichokes) are always a welcome sight when they arrive in İstanbul’s pazar in spring. Many vendors clean and prepare the artichoke bottoms, keeping them in buckets of lemony water, so there is no excuse not to make this much-loved delicacy. As it’s not always easy to find fresh artichokes, I’ve used frozen artichoke bottoms here, which are available online and from Turkish, Greek and Italian stores. Poached in a lemon and olive oil sauce, with a little sugar to balance the flavours, it is a delicious, substantial dish, though it is lovely as a starter (appetiser) or side to grills such as Izgara Levrek too. Traditionally, it is eaten either at room temperature or cold.

Notes: This is a great dish to prepare ahead as it keeps well in the refrigerator, covered, for 3 days. If you would like to use fresh artichokes, cut off the stalks and pull off all the leaves. Dig out the hairy choke from the centre with a spoon, then cut away any hard bits with a sharp knife and trim into a neat cup shape. Rub the artichoke bottoms with lemon juice to prevent them from discolouring.

Serves 4 as a main or 8–10 as a starter

• 630 g (1lb 6 oz) frozen artichoke bottoms (no need to thaw)

• ¼ lemon

• 4 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

• 70 g (2½ oz) carrots, trimmed, peeled and diced

• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

• 155 g (5½ oz) white potatoes, cleaned and diced

• 60 g (2 oz) fresh or frozen peas

• handful of finely chopped dill leaves, to serve

• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice (use more if you like lemon)

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 340 ml (12 fl oz) hot water

1. Place the artichoke bottoms in a bowl and rub with the lemon to prevent them discolouring. Set aside.

2. Pour the olive oil into a large, wide pan (one with a diameter of 28 cm/11 in and depth of 6 cm/2¼ in works well) and place over a medium-high heat. Stir in the onion and sauté for 5 minutes, then stir in the carrots, garlic and potatoes, season with salt and black pepper, sauté for a further 3 minutes, then turn off the heat. Spoon the vegetable mixture into the artichoke bottoms, leaving a little bit of space for some of the peas to be added later on. Place the stuffed artichoke bottoms in the pan, in a single layer, leaving the vegetable mixture that couldn’t be spooned into the artichokes remaining in the pan.

3. Combine the sauce ingredients in a jug, season with salt and black pepper, and stir to dissolve the sugar. Pour the sauce gently over the stuffed artichoke bottoms and vegetables. Cover the pan with a lid and bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 30–35 minutes, occasionally spooning the juices over the artichokes. Stir in the peas, some over the artichoke bottoms, and some around the vegetables, replace the lid and cook for a further 3–4 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to rest, covered, for 15 minutes. Sprinkle over the dill just before serving.