The New Persian Kitchen (12 page)
Read The New Persian Kitchen Online
Authors: Louisa Shafia
3 or 4 medium unwaxed cucumbers (1 pound), sliced in half lengthwise
2 medium to large tomatoes (1 pound), diced
½ white or yellow onion, diced
2 tablespoons dried mint
½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Seed and dice the cucumbers, and combine them with the tomatoes and onion. Hold your hands over the salad and rub the mint between your palms so that the oils in your skin activate the flavor.
Add the lime juice, season with salt and pepper, and stir gently to mix. Serve immediately.
shavedcelery root and pomegranate salad
During
Hannukah, it’s customary to eat fried foods to commemorate the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days and nights. According to historians, that precious substance was olive oil, which has been produced in Israel for thousands of years. In addition to fried latkes—
the
traditional holiday favorite—try this crisp, palate-cleansing salad that’s dressed with olive oil and features Iran’s most storied fruit. It’s so tangy and fruity, you may even want to put it right on your latkes.
Hannukah, it’s customary to eat fried foods to commemorate the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days and nights. According to historians, that precious substance was olive oil, which has been produced in Israel for thousands of years. In addition to fried latkes—
the
traditional holiday favorite—try this crisp, palate-cleansing salad that’s dressed with olive oil and features Iran’s most storied fruit. It’s so tangy and fruity, you may even want to put it right on your latkes.
serves 63 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon honey
Sea salt
1 large celery root
Freshly ground black pepper
In a large salad bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, honey, and 1 teaspoon of salt.
Rinse the celery root and slice off the rough outside layer. Using the large holes on a box grater, or the grater attachment of a food processor, grate the celery root and add it to the dressing. Add the pomegranate seeds and toss until they’re well coated with the dressing. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and serve.
roasted peach and corn salad in tamarind vinaigretteCorn and peaches are among my favorite summer flavors, and I like combining them in both desserts and savory dishes, like this one. Roasting fruits and vegetables brings out their natural sugars, and that sweetness is perfectly complemented by the tart taste of tamarind. For a deliciously smoky taste, grill the corn and peaches instead of roasting them. Nectarines, apricots, and plums are all good stand-ins for the peaches.
serves 4 to 63 sweet, ripe peaches
3 large ears corn (2 to 3 cups kernels)
3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 shallot, minced
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 small heads of butter lettuce, torn
Preheat the oven to 425°F.
Peel the peaches and cut the flesh into coarse chunks. Slice the kernels from the corncobs, and combine them with the peaches in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and a pinch of pepper, and toss well. Spread the peaches and corn on a baking sheet, and bake, stirring every 10 minutes, for 20 to 30 minutes, until the corn begins to brown and the peaches are very soft. Cool slightly.
While the peaches and corn roast, make the dressing. In a serving bowl, combine the shallot, tamarind, vinegar, and the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Season with 1 teaspoon salt, and marinate until the corn and peaches are done.
Add the lettuce to the dressing, followed by the warm peaches and corn, and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve.
How to Open a Pomegranate
If you buy a pomegranate, buy one whose ripeness has caused it to be cleft open with a seed-revealing smile. Its laughter is a blessing, for through its wide-open mouth it shows its heart …
—Rumi,
Mathnawi 1
, translated by Kabir Helminski and Ahmad Rezwani
Mathnawi 1
, translated by Kabir Helminski and Ahmad Rezwani
The sensuous pomegranate is an ancient Persian ingredient and an iconic part of its cuisine. One of my favorite things about teaching Persian cooking classes is giving people their first taste of a pomegranate. There’s a look of puzzled delight when they bite down on the tart, juicy arils (seeds) and hit the pith at the center. I’m frequently asked, “Do I eat the whole thing or spit it out?” My answer is always, “Eat the whole thing!”
Before eating the pomegranate, though, you have to get it open and extract the seeds from the lacy white pith in which they’re embedded. Ideally, you’d like to do this without spraying yourself and your entire kitchen with the pomegranate’s sticky red juice, which is known to stain clothes. The successful accomplishment of this operation is a topic shrouded in mystery and confusion, but here are a few tried-and-true methods.
Fruit Platter Method
My cousin Ali, who is an excellent—and very technical—cook, showed me this method of preparing pomegranate sections for a fruit platter. Using a very sharp or a serrated knife, slice off both the crown and stem ends of the pomegranate, then cut off the rind the way you would peel the skin from an apple, starting at the top and working your way around and down. Now, at the top of the pomegranate you can see six seams that separate the pomegranate into six sections. Starting at a seam, make a shallow incision with your knife and drag it all the way down
to the bottom of the pomegranate. Repeat at each seam, then gently break apart the sections. Peel off any membrane still clinging to the fruit, and break the sections in half or leave them intact. They will be roughly triangular in shape. Serve like orange sections. (See photo sequence below and at left.)
to the bottom of the pomegranate. Repeat at each seam, then gently break apart the sections. Peel off any membrane still clinging to the fruit, and break the sections in half or leave them intact. They will be roughly triangular in shape. Serve like orange sections. (See photo sequence below and at left.)
Juice Method
Firmly roll an unpeeled pomegranate around on a cutting board, feeling the seeds break inside the skin. When you’ve rolled the entire fruit and it feels soft all over, put it in the sink and cut a small circle out of the skin. Bring the fruit to your mouth and suck out the juice.
Spoon Method
Hold the pomegranate on its side on a cutting board, with the crown and stem ends facing north and south. Slice the pomegranate in half vertically. Turn the halves cut side up and make four or five shallow incisions, about 1 inch in length, around the cut edge of the fruit. Loosely hold a pomegranate half from the bottom, cut side down, so that your palm is touching the seeds. Over a large, deep bowl, bang the skin firmly with the back of a heavy spoon to knock out the seeds. Repeat with the remaining half.
Water Method
Fill a large bowl halfway with cold water. Slice off the crown and stem ends of the pomegranate. Stand the pomegranate on one of the flat ends, and divide the fruit into quarters by slicing four shallow incisions in the skin from the top to the bottom. Break the fruit into quarters. Submerge the fruit in the water and pull out the seeds. The seeds will sink, while the pith and skin float to the top. As soon as you’ve seeded all four quarters, skim the waste off the top, and pour the seeds into a sieve.
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