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Authors: Louisa Shafia

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BOOK: The New Persian Kitchen
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3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
½ cup finely ground walnuts
2 teaspoons crushed dried rose petals or dried whole rosebuds pulled apart and stems removed
2 cloves garlic, minced
About 2 cups loosely packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
About 2 cups loosely packed fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1 bunch scallions, green and white parts, finely chopped
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
7 eggs, whisked
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Heat an 8- to 10-inch ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, followed by the walnuts, rose petals, and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the ingredients start to release their fragrance. Add the herbs and scallions and cook for about 2 minutes, until wilted. Turn off the heat and season with salt and pepper. Let the pan cool for a few minutes, then gently stir in the eggs.
Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for 15 minutes, until the center of the frittata springs back when lightly pressed. To unmold, loosen the edge with a butter knife and invert onto a serving platter. Serve hot or cold.

Roasted Stuffed Artichokes with Mint Oil

roasted stuffed artichokes with mint oil
Mellow, bittersweet artichokes have a wild relative in cardoons, which are similar in taste but require hours of soaking and simmering to become edible. Cardoons have been eaten in the Middle East since biblical times and are much loved in Iran. With the flavors of mint and saffron and a scoop of fluffy ricotta filling, this dish takes its inspiration both from Persian cardoon cookery and from the flavors of Italy, one of the first European countries to embrace the artichoke wholeheartedly. Serve the artichokes in shallow bowls, along with bread to sop up the pan juice.
serves 2 as a main course
1 lemon
2 globe artichokes
½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon dried mint
¼ cup grapeseed oil
1 clove garlic, finely minced
Sea salt
2 ounces ricotta cheese, drained
Pinch of saffron,
ground and steeped
in 1 tablespoon hot water
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 egg, whisked
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 450°F.
Fill a medium bowl three-quarters full with cold water. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice into the water, and throw in the rind.
Slice off the top third of 1 artichoke with a serrated knife, and cut off the stem to make a flat base. Pull off the small leaves around the bottom, and snip the tips of the remaining leaves with scissors. Stretch open the center of the artichoke with your thumbs, and pluck out the inner yellow leaves. Pull out the purple choke, and scrape out the fibrous hairs with a melon baller, a grapefruit spoon, or a paring knife. Place it in the lemon water to prevent browning, and repeat with the remaining artichoke.
In a medium bowl, whisk the lemon juice with the mint, oil, and garlic. Add a pinch of salt, and set aside for a few minutes to allow the mint to soften.
Whisk together the ricotta, saffron, and lemon zest in a small bowl, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Mix in the egg. Spoon the ricotta into the center of the artichokes.
Place the artichokes in a rimmed baking dish. Pour the mint oil over the artichokes, drizzling it on the outer leaves as well as the filling. Add a splash of water to the baking dish, and cover tightly. Roast the artichokes for 1½ hours, until the flesh is very tender and the ricotta is firm and doubled in size.
Serve warm, topped with the pan juice. To eat an artichoke, pull off the leaves and dip the fleshy part in the pan juice. When you reach the center, cut into the ricotta and the artichoke heart with a fork.
 
Islam at the Dinner Table
While Iran has been a Muslim country for more than a thousand years, it was only in the sixteenth century that Iran’s ruling Safavid Dynasty officially declared its allegiance to the Shia sect of Islam. Until that time, Iran had been principally Sunni, like most of its Arab neighbors and like the majority of Muslims throughout the world.
So what sets Shia Muslims apart from Sunnis? The break between the two sects came some fourteen hundred years ago, when the Prophet Mohammed died. One group of the prophet’s followers believed that leadership of the community should pass to Ali, the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, and these people became the Shiites. A larger group, who would become the Sunnis, wanted the prophet’s friend Abu Bakr to lead. The Sunnis succeeded in electing Abu Bakr to the role of
caliph
, or supreme ruler of the Islamic empire, and although Ali eventually became the fourth elected caliph, he was assassinated, and the Sunnis won out once again. When Ali’s son Hussein—the prophet’s grandson—came of age, he tried to take back the caliphate, but he was killed in battle in Karbala, Iraq, by the Sunnis. Hussein became a martyr, and his death is commemorated yearly in Iran on the day of
Ashura
, when passion plays reenact the details of his demise, and men whip themselves in street processions in a ritual show of grief.
Still, like all Iranian holidays, Ashura is observed with celebratory eating. On the street, food is freely distributed in what resembles a giant outdoor festival stretching across neighborhoods, with candles lighting the way to huge vats of delicious Persian stew, which is spooned into hundreds of bowls for strangers and friends alike. The traditional foods served include
gheimeh
stew of lamb and split peas, rice or
adas polo
(rice with lentils), chicken,
sholeh zard
rice pudding
, and tea. Known collectively as
nazri
, these foods take on a special significance on Ashura, and are thought to bring blessings and fulfill wishes for those who prepare and eat them.
Along with their Sunni neighbors, Shiites celebrate the holy month of
Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. At Ramadan, Muslims fast throughout the daylight hours, in observance of the holy days when the words of the Koran were revealed to the prophet Muhammad. Interestingly, the date of Ramadan is not fixed, but travels the length of the calendar, moving eleven days earlier each year. According to tradition, it’s permitted to eat before dawn and after sunset, but between these hours even drinking water is discouraged.
The predawn meal during Ramadan is a very early breakfast eaten in the dark, called the
sahari
. For sahari, Iranians eat cold foods prepared beforehand, like the baked egg dish
Kuku Sabzi
,
kufteh
rice meatballs, flatbread, cheese, eggs, tea, and dates. Dinner, eaten after sundown, is called
iftar
. At sunset, the fast is broken with a glass of warm water or milk accompanied by a sweet date, the food eaten by Mohammad to break his fasts in the Koran. After that, iftar dinner is often a bowl of nourishing and hearty soup like
Ash-e reshteh
or
Halim
, while dessert is sticky-sweet
zulbia
and
bamieh
, two kinds of deep-fried pastries covered in sugar syrup.
Ramadan’s festive finale,
Eid ul-Fitr
, begins with the sighting of the new moon, and marks the end of a month of fasting. Eid is a time for elaborate feasting. Because the placement of Ramadan in the calendar changes from one year to the next, the holiday has no seasonality and therefore no specific food is attached to Eid. But this is an occasion for good cooks to outdo themselves, and you can always expect that the Eid meal will be impressive and include plenty of sweet treats to make up for four weeks of self-denial.
stuffed tomatoes with pistachio pesto
In these savory stuffed tomatoes, a lemony pistachio pesto melts into quinoa, tender white beans, and goat cheese. Make these tomatoes when you have leftover quinoa on hand, and serve them with flatbread and a simple green salad.
serves 4
4 medium heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes
⅓ cup pistachios
4 scallions, green and white parts, coarsely chopped
1 cup tightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus extra for garnish
Zest of 1 lemon
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Sea salt
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 heaping cup cooked quinoa
½ cup cooked white beans, rinsed and drained
⅓ pound chèvre-style goat cheese, crumbled
Freshly ground black pepper
Sumac, for garnish
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Slice off the top ½ inch of the tomatoes, and scoop out the insides (save the tomato scraps to add to soups and stews). Place the tomatoes close together in a rimmed baking dish.
In a food processor, combine the pistachios, scallions, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and 1 teaspoon salt. Pulse several times to form a coarse pesto.
Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the quinoa and beans and sauté over low heat for 10 minutes, until the garlic has mellowed. Stir in the pesto, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is heated through and fairly dry. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and fold in the goat cheese.
Spoon the mixture into the tomatoes, filling them just above the rim. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, and roast for about 25 minutes, until the filling on top is golden.
Carefully transfer the tomatoes onto a plate. If they’ve become very tender, you may need a couple of large spoons to move them without breaking. To serve, garnish with a sprinkling of sumac and a few torn parsley leaves.
 
A Savory Prescription for
Health
The true nature of Persian cuisine is fresh, unprocessed, and vegetable-centric, with a variety of ingredients that are carefully balanced within virtually every recipe and menu. The Persian diet leans toward the same heart-healthy, low-cholesterol guidelines that all Mediterranean diets do, but Iranians are perhaps more enthusiastic about their
vegetables than other cultures—after all, this is a land where boiled beets are among the most beloved of street foods!
Vegetables, both cooked and raw, are
eaten daily in Persian homes. When guests come to visit, it’s typical for Iranians to put out a bowl of fresh fruit studded with small,
sweet cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Most Persian meals are accompanied by a platter of
sabzi khordan
, “herbs for eating,” laid with piles of fragrant mint, chives, basil, dill, fenugreek, cilantro, tarragon, and parsley, along with feta cheese and flatbread. You might even say that Persians are infatuated with green herbs; at
Norooz
(Persian New Year), it’s customary to serve an entire dinner devoted to them.
Contrary to popular belief, meat is traditionally used in modest quantities, as native philosophy stipulates that eating too much of it can throw the body off balance. In fact, kebabs are not a typical Persian meal, but are generally considered restaurant food. The reason kebabs have come to represent Persian cooking to so many people, it’s argued, is because women are masters of the more complex stews and rice dishes and kebabs are easy-to-make “dude food.” Since women do the cooking at home and men cook in public in restaurants, tourists who eat exclusively in restaurants don’t know that there is so much more to Persian food than kebabs! In fact, most Iranians consider a home-cooked meal far superior to one that’s cooked in a restaurant. Yes, there are some great Iranian restaurants out there, but what you really want is an invitation to dine in a Persian home—or to do the cooking yourself.
A protein you will see a lot of in Persian homes is the humble bean. Inexpensive and full of vitamins,
beans are eaten almost daily. As in Indian cuisine, they are usually cooked with turmeric to help make them more digestible. Another source of protein is
nuts, which contain unsaturated fat and are linked to the prevention of heart disease. Pistachios and walnuts are native to Iran, while almonds come from nearby in the Middle East, so Iranians have had eons to integrate them into their food. Popular Persian snacks include creamy fresh walnuts soaked in saltwater and crunchy green almonds eaten fresh from the pod.
Although Iranians love rich ingredients like nuts, Persian food is generally low in cholesterol. There are few dairy products used in Persian cooking, with the exception of
panir
, a fresh white cheese similar to feta, and yogurt, which is easy to digest and full of beneficial bacteria.
Persians rarely eat dessert. Of course, for special occasions both store-bought and homemade pastries are served, but the typical way to end a Persian meal is with nuts and fruit. Maybe it’s because Iran has such a long history as an agrarian country and remains one of the world’s leading producers of fruit, but Persians have a genuine sweet tooth for juicy, pungent fruits like watermelon, pomegranates, grapes, cherries, oranges, and tangerines. Stores specializing in dried fruits and nuts are as popular in Iran as pastry and candy shops are in America, but instead of doughnuts and chocolate bars, Iran’s “sweet shops” feature jewel-toned dried fruits like figs, raisins, mulberries, lemons, peaches, mangoes, and, of course, dates.
BOOK: The New Persian Kitchen
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