- [Announcer] "Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... - [Narrator] Aboard Oceania Cruises, we share a journey of culinary discovery.

From shore excursions dedicated to local food traditions to our hands-on cooking school at sea, our master chefs take inspiration from vibrant markets and flavors as they create the international dishes served to guests each evening.

That's the Oceania Cruises epicurean experience.

(tranquil orchestral music) - [Announcer] And By USA Rice.

(mellow upbeat music) - [Sara] Istanbul is an ancient crossroads between East and West, but also a crossroads for fish?

- Istanbul has immensely profited from fishing throughout centuries.

- [Sara] Today, cruising the Bosphorus for marine life.

And then... - This is a true delicacy.

- [Sara] A fresh catch- - Yes- - A Michelin starred chef and a unique kitchen at sultan's palace.

So if I stay here, I can be a sultan.

- Of course.

- And now I get to dine like a sultan.

- Exactly.

- [Sara] We did.

Making dramatic salt-crusted sea bream, and a traditional sea bass steamed over vegetables and broth.

- They're dried... - [Sara] In my new kitchen, a deeply flavored Moroccan chicken tagine.

- Moroccan cuisine is a lot about sweet and savory.

- [Sara] With three sauces on the side.

Heaven.

- [Kathryn] Chicken tagine with apricots.

- This is fun.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Sara] Eating along the ancient spice roots.

That's today on "Sara's Weeknight Meals."

(intriguing traditional music) East meets West in Istanbul, a crossroads of civilizations and continents where Europe and Asia collide at the Bosphorus Strait.

It is a water highway that also gives this city of 14 million an abundant diet of fish.

Culinary historian, Gamze Ineceli, grew up here.

- As a child of the Bosphorus, you become enchanted with the ways of the sea.

- The sea?

- Yes.

- This is the sea?

- This is the sea.

In Istanbul, the sea is splitting the city into two.

- Wow, okay.

And people eat the fish from this body of water?

- Yes, absolutely.

Because even though we are in the middle of the city, there are very strong winds and there is a constant current which flows.

So the fish are quite edible and safe to eat.

- Well, I live in New York City, I am not ever eating any fish from the East River.

I have to tell you, this is a whole different ball game.

I've heard there's migration of fish here too.

- Yes.

Around September, fish begin their descent from the cooling waters of the Black Sea to the warmer waters of the Mediterranean via the Bosphorus Strait.

During this time, there are many, many varieties, mullet, sea bass, bonito, the horse mackerel, and our treasured and beloved bluefish.

- [Sara] So I've seen people fishing off the edge and fishermen, are they all commercial?

- No, not at all, they are local residents awaiting their catch of the day, so they can have an equally lovely dinner with fresh fish.

Istanbul is a water city that has immensely profited from fishing throughout centuries, and it always will.

(mellow bright orchestral music) - [Sara] Our tour of the Bosphorus concluded at the Ciragan Palace Hotel, where we docked just in time to meet with Executive Chef, Alexis Atlamazoglu, who came with a delightful surprise.

- [Alexis] Wow.

- [Sara] Oh, wow.

Oh, hello, chef.

- Some fantastic bream.

- That is beautiful.

What have you got there?

- Yeah.

- I have a sea bream and a sea bass - [Gamze] They look so beautiful.

- Yeah.

- You know, this is a true delicacy, and the sea bream actually is quite rare to find in this water- - Oh.

- So you're very, very lucky.

- Oh, well, I'm ready.

- Yeah.

Shall we?

- Well, it's going to be absolutely delicious.

- [Sara] It was great to see you.

- It was so wonderful.

Come back to see us again soon.

- I will.

- And I'm leaving you in the very capable hands- - Good hands.

- Of our chef.

- Good hands.

- Thank you.

- Have fun.

- Yeah.

(mellow upbeat music) - [Sara] As we made our way to the kitchen, Executive Chef Alexis shared the rich history of the 17th century palace, once a royal residence reserved exclusively for sultans.

- We call our palace the Grand Dame of Bosphorus.

And now we can accommodate everyone, actually.

- So if I stay here, I can be a sultan.

- Of course.

- And now I get to dine like a sultan.

- Exactly.

(tranquil bright orchestral music) - Well, here I am with Chef Alexis.

We're standing in front of this gorgeous hotel, former palace, so I assume we're making something very grand.

- Yes, we do two beautiful fishes, but now we will do the sea bream with a sea salt crust.

- [Sara] And tell me what you just did.

You cut off... - I cut off the gills.

I just want to make it a little bit handsome.

- A little bit handsome, it's handsome all by itself.

- Yeah, you're right.

- But you need to cut off all those fins?

- Fins, yes, yes.

- Yeah.

And you already cleaned it.

- Yes, and, actually, I haven't scaled it- - Oh, really?

- Because it's not necessary.

After we cook it with a sea salt crust, when you take the sea salt crust out, you just take the skin off.

- Oh.

- So it's not necessary.

- No need to scale.

- Exactly.

- So this becomes even easier for you guys at home.

You don't have to do that other stuff.

- The next step is we stuff it with some herbs.

When we cover it with the sea salt, we want all these aromas, all the fragrances to go through the fish.

- Permeate.

Oh, I can't wait, okay.

- Oh, yeah.

- So that looks like about one cup each of dill, parsley, and scallions.

So just enough till it's nicely filled.

- Exactly.

- Okay.

Now tell me about the salt crust.

- We have three kinds of salt.

- Okay, this one is... - [Chef Alexis] Yes, this is the medium-size.

- [Sara] The kilogram of kosher salt.

- What's this?

- Yes, this is the coarse salt.

- [Sara] That's 500 grams of rock salt.

And then we have a kilogram of table salt.

- You can do it with any kind of salt that you have, but from my experiences, it's good to stir all those three salts together.

Makes a nicer crust, and keeps the steam more inside the fish and make it more delicious.

- [Sara] Oh, this is sort of fun.

- Yeah.

- This is like coarse sand.

- Exactly.

- Huh.

So what we have here is the whites of eight eggs.

- [Chef Alexis] We can do it like this.

- Mm-hmm.

Wow, so really like almost beyond meringue, very stiffly beaten.

- Exactly.

We want the consistency of a snowball.

- Oh.

- So you will see- - That's fun.

- [Chef Alexis] We store a little bit of water as well.

- Should I just use my hands?

- Absolutely.

- Oh, this really... I have to say, this feels so good.

I feel like I'm at a spa.

- What we will do is to put some sea salt crust underneath, and then we place the fish on the top.

So we have a thin layer of salt underneath.

- Salt, okay.

- Yes.

And now we will place the fish on the top.

- [Sara] You made a little bed.

- Yes.

Now where the- - Now we're gonna tuck it in.

- Yes.

Where the joy starts actually.

- The joy?

- And we start- - Okay.

- To cover the fish with the sea salt crust like this.

And, because we have the scales on it, it doesn't absorb the salt.

The scale doesn't let the salt to get in.

- The salt go through.

- Yes.

- Okay, and what temperature and how long do you cook it?

- We cook it in 230 Fahrenheit, so we need one hour and 30 minutes.

- [Sara] Okay, well... - [Chef Alexis] We take our fish to the oven.

- Okay.

(mellow orchestral music) - And now we will be doing this steamed sea bass actually with vegetables, Sebzeli Levrek Bugulama.

You'll be dicing the tomatoes for me, I'll do the chopping of the potatoes, parboiled potatoes actually.

- Now why are they parboiled?

- Actually, we want the potatoes and the fish to be cooked in the same time.

- So give me the overview.

This is a dish that's layered with many different vegetables- - Exactly.

- And then topped with our impeccable fish.

- Yes.

Our sea bass is very fresh, it's filet.

- Yes.

- All the bones are removed, the skin is removed.

- [Sara] This is really a one-pot meal.

- It's a one-pot meal.

Olive oil, butter, fresh fish.

I mean, what else do we need actually?

- I know.

Now we have to chop the parsley too?

- Yes.

- All right, chef.

So where do we start?

- Super, let's assemble our dish.

We start layering the tomatoes first.

- Oh, tomatoes, okay.

- Yeah, yes.

- Then we continue with our potatoes.

- And this, for people at home, is in Idaho or a baking potato, high starch.

- High starch, yes, high starch potato.

And then we continue layering our vegetables with onions.

It is a one large onion.

- One very large onion.

- Exactly, yeah.

- [Chef Alexis] Let's go with the peppers.

- Okay, and these are five small green peppers.

- Yes.

Let's go with the peppers.

Some parsley.

- Okay.

This is half a bunch.

- Yes.

Let's go with the parsley, we give it a fast stir at the end.

- [Sara] Mm-hmm.

- [Chef Alexis] Some garlic.

- This looks to be about four cloves sliced.

- Yes.

- Mm-hmm.

- [Chef Alexis] Some chili flakes, because we love chili flakes.

And now we will layer our lemons.

We will place the fish filets on top of the lemons.

- [Sara] Oh, that's such a beautiful fish.

- [Chef Alexis] Yeah.

- Oh, so you put one on top of each lemon.

- Yeah.

(mellow orchestral upbeat music) And then we do the bay leaves and the peppercorns.

- Okay.

These are Turkish bay leaves, obviously.

- Yeah, they are, yes.

Some bay leaves, fresh bay leaves.

They give very nice aroma.

- That's interesting, whole peppercorns.

- Yes.

Actually, we can use some ground peppercorns, and we will actually, but the aroma of peppercorn is much better, much aroma, - The whole thing.

- Yes, exactly.

- Okay.

- And if you can chop me a little bit of thyme... - [Sara] Little bit of thyme.

- [Chef Alexis] Yes, I'll do the seasoning.

- Oh, boy.

There we go.

- [Chef Alexis] And then we do our thyme, then we go with the olive oil.

- Mm-hmm, and just a little bit.

- [Chef Alexis] Actually, we love olive oil.

- I know that.

This seems to be a theme in this part of the world.

- Exactly.

- [Sara] And butter?

Oh my goodness.

- [Chef Alexis] Gives this creaminess- - [Sara] It probably thickens it like a sauce.

- Exactly.

- About quarter cup.

- [Chef Alexis] Yes.

And to cover it- - Vegetable stock.

- Vegetable stock.

Yes.

- Yeah.

Why vegetable stock?

Why not fish stock?

- [Chef Alexis] To me, the fish stock is too strong for this.

- Too strong?

- Yeah.

So we are done.

- That's it?

- Yes.

Medium heat.

- [Sara] Okay.

- And it's gonna take us almost 20, 25 minutes.

- Okay.

And now we'll make the salad.

This is a Turkish salad, I understand.

What makes it Turkish?

- Arugula, mint.

- [Sara] That looks like about two cups of chopped mint.

So it's these two things together.

- [Chef Alexis] Yes.

- [Sara] Okay.

- [Chef Alexis] We need to add also some red onions that we have chopped.

- [Sara] It's nice color too.

About a half a cup of sliced onion.

- Yes.

We have a juice of a whole lemon.

Some olive oil.

Four to one.

- Okay, four parts olive oil- - Four to one.

- To one part lemon juice.

- Olive oil to one of lemon juice, yes.

- [Sara] Look at how pretty that oil is.

- [Chef Alexis] And then we will add our chili flakes and the sumac.

- Everybody at home's going like, "Oh no, that's poison!"

This is a different kind of sumac.

- Yes, it's a berry.

Turkiye, they use it a lot with meat.

- Oh.

- So it breaks all the fat and gives you a fresh taste, actually.

- Oh.

- [Chef Alexis] And some chili flakes.

Let's check actually our fish.

- [Sara] Mm-hmm.

Oh boy.

- The color has changed, it became very soft.

Now we can serve it, it's very nice.

- Okay, let's go.

- Okay.

Okay, let's start serving.

- To the table.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

(mellow tranquil upbeat music) - Wow.

- [Chef Alexis] So here we go, in sea salt bass is cooked.

- Okay.

- Now we are breaking the salt to get the fish.

(tool clacking) (salt cracking) - If you didn't have your special salt breaking tool, you could just use a rolling pin, right?

- Yeah, exactly.

You need something hard actually.

But we have this beautiful fish cooked- - Perfectly.

- Cooked through, yes.

- And moist.

- And moist, exactly.

- I mean, I think that's the point of the salt.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

- That was what we wanted to do.

I'm just gonna take skin out very easily.

- [Sara] Oh, wow, you're not kidding.

- You can see how easily... - [Sara] It's very flaky.

- [Chef Alexis] Yeah.

- [Sara] Oh my gosh, that looks so beautiful.

- [Chef Alexis] Put a little bit olive oil on top.

- Of course, as you do always.

- Yes.

- [Sara] As if that wasn't good enough.

- [Chef Alexis] Yes.

Sea bass casserole.

- That is different.

Mm-hmm.

Oh, goodness, look at that.

- [Chef Alexis] Yeah.

Just... - [Sara] Also perfectly cooked.

- Yes, perfectly cooked.

Thank you.

- I can't believe I was just served by the Executive Chef of this amazing palace/hotel.

- My pleasure, my pleasure, Sara.

- Okay, so what do we eat first?

- Let's go with the sea salt crust.

- Okay.

- Let's go with the sea bream.

- [Sara] And you said the reason we have a salad is 'cause there's no other vegetable or anything with it.

- Exactly.

It's the best companion actually.

- Wow.

I really am picking up on the herbs that were in the middle too.

Oh, that's so good.

Okay, I'm gonna go in on the second one.

Wow.

It really developed a lot of flavor, everything infused everything else.

- You feel the peppers- - Mm-hmm.

- You feel the onion, you feel the parsley.

- Mm-hmm.

Mm-mm!

- You know, having a fresh fish with a nice salad, to me, is the best.

Lunch or dinner or anything, that is my favorite.

- How about on the Bosphorus with a palace behind us?

- I thank you for being here.

- No, no, thank you, thank you, thank you.

Yay.

- Cheers.

Cheers.

(mellow orchestral upbeat music) - Hey!

- Cheers!

(group cheering) - My best, Kathryn Kelly, has been all over the world, but there is one place that keeps drawing her back: Morocco.

The Berber people, the beautiful markets, the dramatic countryside, and especially the food, are an intoxicating mix.

For years, she has been involved in an equine rescue of donkeys used for hikers in the Atlas Mountains, teaching best practices to treat them humanely.

As a chef and culinary instructor, she's collected some killer Moroccan recipes, like this one.

(intriguing orchestral music) And here I am with Kathryn Kelly.

I am so excited to make Moroccan food.

- Oh, good, good, good.

- So tell me, what are we making?

- Well, we're gonna make one of my very, very favorite dishes, but I'd have to say that this is my son-in-law's favorite dish.

So if I ever ask him, can I cook for you?

He's like, "Will you make a chicken tagine?"

So this is a chicken tagine with apricots.

- And so, where do we start?

- So Moroccan cuisine is a lot about sweet and savory.

And so, we have a spice mix that we make that's classically Moroccan.

So we're gonna take about a teaspoon of each.

This is turmeric, our anti-inflammatory, but beautiful color.

- Yeah, lovely color.

- All right.

And then we have allspice.

It's just got this incredible aromatic, and it's like the warm spices, if you will.

- Yeah.

Now this is white peppers, it's a little bit zingier, it's a little milder.

It just has an interesting kind of kick.

- Just kinda citrusy.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- And then we have cinnamon, which is lovely.

This is ground ginger- - Okay.

- Powdered ginger.

- All right.

- So we're gonna mix this all up.

Now, if you mix this up and you had a little extra, which we won't have here today- - Sure.

- Just put it in a jar and- - And you said it in all sorts of things.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Like, what else could you use it in?

- I love to put it in pot roast, that's right.

- Wow.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.

- So I'll grab the chicken here.

And we have bone in skin on.

This appears to be two breasts cut down the middle and six thighs.

So I'm gonna put this in here.

- [Kathryn] Okay.

- What else besides pot roast?

Now I'm intrigued.

I can see Christmas gifts coming from there, little stocking gifts.

- Yeah.

I like it just with the roast chicken, but I've also put it on fish.

So, yeah.

- Oh.

- So we're gonna use about half of this.

- Okay, I'll do that.

- Sara, you're gonna do the tongs.

- Mm-hmm, okay.

- Now you're gonna wanna mix that very well, make sure to coat.

Sometimes I even massage it in to just make sure that gets- - Do you want me to do it?

- Yeah, I think, yeah, go for it.

- Okay, I'm gonna do it.

I'm going in.

- Go for it.

But I think it's important when you're marinating with like the dry spices, that you get it in with the skin, you wanna make sure it gets a little bit under the skin.

- [Sara] Then you said bone and skin on.

And why the bone and skin?

- It just flavors it better.

- Well, the bones, because they give off collagen, which will give a nice texture to the sauce- - Yes.

- And the skin has fat, and fat is good for flavor.

- Yeah.

- Okay, so now I'm gonna pop it in the fridge.

- Yes.

- And wash my hands.

- For about four hours, usually, Sara, or you could do it overnight.

- Yeah.

Okay, so, what's next?

- Oh, the base of the tagine is the onion.

So those are thinly sliced onions about two cups- - Two cups, right?

- Yes.

And so we have here the tagine.

And I'm gonna use butter, about four tablespoons.

And we cook with a lot of butter in Moroccan cuisines.

- Really?

- Sometimes with olive oil, but this dish is really just lovely and rich with butter.

And then I'm gonna add some bay leaves.

So we're gonna put those in, and we've got a medium-heat here, because our goal is just to basically sweat them, get a lot of the moisture out, but leave them almost on the whitish side.

- [Sara] Right, okay.

- In order to enhance the flavor of the tagine, we're gonna use the rest of that spice mix.

- Spice mix.

- And I'll tell you what's really great about the amount of butter, 'cause it seems like a lot maybe, is that that fat, when it hits the spices, is gonna bloom them and helps them just really- - Really be stronger.

- Just amp up that little flavor, okay?

- Right, right.

- And then we're gonna turn this on low and cook it for about 45 minutes.

- [Sara] Okay.

Let's talk about this weird shaped pot.

- The dish is called a tagine, and the pot that we're making it in is called a tagine.

And it's shaped this way, conically, so that the moisture goes up to the top and kind of drops down.

- What if you don't have a conical lid?

- So this is the same shape, we made this out of aluminum foil, and then you literally just put it on top of your pan.

Okay, and then I think, next, with the onions ready, we'll put in the chicken.

- Chicken.

- We have indeed marinated this chicken for 24 hours, and I'm gonna let you do the honors.

- Oh, okay.

So what we're gonna do, now, remember, we have breast pieces and thigh pieces, and we want a single layer.

So we don't wanna stack these.

So I like to make a little circle on the outside, and then put the ones on the inside.

We don't need to do it skin side down, 'cause we're not browning anything.

- Got it.

So this sort of stews in its own juices- - Yes, yes.

- Is the idea.

- Yes.

- So which means we're gonna have a lot of flavor.

- [Kathryn] We're gonna add a little bit- - Oh, we're gonna add the marinade.

- A little bit of marinade, and we're gonna add a little bit of orange juice later on.

- [Sara] Okay.

- And then we just have some of the juices, 'cause we just don't wanna give any of that flavor away.

- No.

- And then what we're going to do is put the lid back on, and it's gonna cook for two to four hours.

- Two to four?

- Really?

- Right, yeah.

The tradition here is that this is cooked over an open fire.

The Berber people might be out, many of them have goats and sheep that follow them, so they're nomadic people, so they're moving around all the time, but they carry with them the tagine, making everything in that one pot, all right?

- Yeah, great.

- So that nothing is wasted.

If there's ever something hot, if there's ever a fire- - They adjust.

- There's something on it.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Yeah.

And we'll make that adjustment.

- We're so spoiled, we just go "Woo-woo."

- Yes, yeah.

Okay, so this is what it should look like when it's about- - Wow.

- Two hours cooked.

So we're gonna take some chickpeas, garbanzo beans, it's about a cup, Sara, and we're gonna put them all kind of scattered around.

And this gives some beautiful fiber, but also that kind of doughy, nutty taste, which is great.

And then we're gonna add some orange juice, because what's great about Moroccan cuisine is that it lives in the land between sweet and savory, and this is about a half a cup.

And then the dried fruit is very popular in Moroccan cuisine.

And when I cook this with my grandkids, they get to kind of place their 10 apricots, and we wanna sort of nestle them down in here because they're dried, and we want that liquid to help it get super soft.

- To resuscitate 'em.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, juice 'em up.

- Then we're gonna put the lid back on and let it cook for 20 to 30 minutes.

- Okay.

- Okay?

- [Sara] Great.

- Okay, so while that's cooking, what we're gonna do is make some sauces.

We serve the tagine today with three sauces, but we're gonna make one, okay?

- Okay.

- So what I want you to do is chop up some walnut, just kind of rough chop.

- Okay.

- And then the base ingredient is the strained Greek full-fat yogurt, but you know that it's good if you can stand a spoon up in it, okay?

- Whoa.

- That's how thick we want it.

- I mean, the point of Greek yogurt I thought was 'cause it was already so thick and strange- - Yeah, yeah.

- And so, this is the whey that's underneath it, right?

- Yeah, that's underneath, yes.

And so what we wanna do is put that in the bowl.

Now, here, we're gonna add about a cup of walnuts.

- I just love walnuts.

- Me too.

- So the whole thing?

Does that look about right?

About a cup?

- Looks about right.

About a cup.

- All right.

- Okay.

And then we have cilantro and parsley.

- [Sara] How much do you want?

- [Kathryn] I want about a quarter of a cup.

- Okay.

- And then, just a tiny, tiny bit of cayenne pepper.

So then what we're gonna do is we're gonna mix this.

- That is so thick, it's almost like cream cheese texture.

- Okay.

- Oh my God, this looks yummy all by itself.

- [Kathryn] Right.

And then we're gonna check our chicken.

- [Sara] Okay.

- [Kathryn] Oh, look, see how it's bubbling away there?

- [Sara] Yes, yeah.

- So I think we're ready.

- Okay, let's go eat.

- [Kathryn] Okay.

- [Sara] Wow.

- There we are.

- That smells and looks so wonderful.

- So we're gonna have with our side some couscous.

- [Sara] Yeah, the pearl couscous.

- Yeah.

So let me give you a couple pieces there.

But also we have this lovely broth, so we wanna make sure that we get that.

One of our sauces is a green sauce that has an herby flavor, if you will, and some olive oil and a little bit heat- - Okay.

- From a pepper.

And then we made our yogurt sauce.

And that is creamy and thick and nutty and has a little bit of herb.

- Oh, yeah.

- Now this is my son-in-law's favorite sauce.

But this is called a sultana sauce, and it has golden raisins, lime, and butter.

So you get this sweet punch, and then you get the zing of the lime, okay?

- Of the lime.

Oh, terrific.

- So we love this.

And the trick is that you take a little piece of chicken and then a tiny bit of one of the three sauces, and then the next bite you have, you take another one.

- Oh, I love this.

All right, onto yogurt.

- [Kathryn] And let's do the yogurt.

- Mm.

- You got the creaminess, but you got a little bit of that herb, cilantro.

- Mm-hmm, this is fun.

- Yeah, yeah.

No Moroccan meal would be complete without mint tea.

The way we make it in Morocco is with the actual mint leaves.

We steep the tea in warm water over the fire, as the embers are dying at night.

And Moroccan tea, there's usually a lot of sugar.

- Okay.

(Kathryn laughs) All right, well, a toast to you, Kathryn Kelly, for coming on my show and showing me what it's like to be in Morocco.

- The most magical place on the Earth.

- [Sara] I guess so.

(tranquil orchestral music) - [Announcer] For recipes, videos, and more, go to our website, saramoulton.com.

"Sara's Weeknight Meals" is made possible by... - [Narrator] A journey aboard Oceania Cruises is designed to cultivate curiosity.

Guests can explore local treasures and epicurean traditions.

Staff and crew are dedicated to guest interests, relaxation, and entertainment.

Evenings offer craft spirits, international wines, and dishes prepared by our master chefs.

That's the Oceania Cruise's small ship experience.

- [Announcer] And by USA Rice.

(bright chiming music) (triumphant music) (intriguing techno music)