Persiana – Sabrina Ghayour

Confession time.  I have a massive girl crush on Sabrina Ghayour, author of Persiana.  Not in some weird way, I just want us to be friends, maybe even best friends. Mainly so I could go round to her house and whilst we chatted about boys and bras, she could make me all the gorgeous things in this book.  I would bring wine.  Then I could sleep over and we could put curlers in our hair and have a pillow fight. 

This book.  OMG, this book.  Opening this book was like falling in love.  Seriously.  The photography is amazing.  This is hard core drool worthy food porn.  Persiana is my easily my favourite cookbook of the year; it may well become my favourite ever (sorry Nigella, I’ve got a new bestie…)

Recipes marked to cook: 75

Yep, pretty much all of them. 

I actually feel bad I haven’t made more things from  it.  Paleo got in the way.  but as at 30 November, this is the tally.

p10 Broad Beans with Garlic Dill & Eggs (made)

Loved it.  Except for double podding the broad beans which took forever!!!  Tried it with edamame and it was not so good.  Sadly, looks like I will be double podding for some time as this was amazing.

• p12 Aubergine Chermoula
• p15 Yogurt with Cucumber, Garlic & Dill / Cacik
• p17 Marinated Feta
• p20 Yogurt, Cucumber & Mint / Maast O Khiar
• p33 Turkish Feta Pasty Cigars / Sigara Borek Peynir
• p35 Salt Cod Fritters
• p36 Pistachio Feta Dip
• p38 Safavid-Style Beef Pastries

p41 Baked Eggs with Feta, Harissa, Tomato Sauce and Coriander (made)

Loved the flavour combination! This is pretty much my ideal meal.  One dish.  Eggs, Cheese, tomatoes, chilli.

 p45Lahmacun (made)

This one didn’t do it for me.  I like meat on my pizza to be quite chunky and even though I did not chop the meat through as much as Sabrina recommended it was still too paste like for me.  Use this same mix and make tiny little meatballs to scatter over the top of the pizza base and you’d have a winner from me.  On the other hand, he really liked it.

• p46 Spiced Lamb Kefta
• p48 Spice Salted Squid
• p53 Eastern Style Focaccia
• p55 Persian Flatbread  / Naan Barbari
• p60 Persian Bejewelled Rice / Morassa Polow

p 63 Persian Basmati Rice / Chelo (Made)

I love a claypot rice and this is very similar.  Mine didn’t work out exactly as per the picture but I think it was an ok first attempt.  And Sabrina does say even the experienced cook sometimes needs a bit of luck to pull this off.

Sabrina’s:

Mine:

•  p65 Rice With Lentils and Crispy Onions / Mojardara
• p68 Spicy Prawn Rice / Maygoo Polow
• p72 Lamb Biryani

p78 Spiced Vegetable Soup (Made)

Delicious!

• p83 Persian Saffron Chicken, Fennel and Barberry Stew

p85 Chicken, Walnut and Pomegranate Stew / Khoresh-e-Fesenjan (Made)

This photo does not do justice to this delicious dish.  Either in how good it tasted or how pretty it was.  Sorry.  But take my word for it.  This was really good!

• p88 Lamb Shank, Black Garlic and Tomato Tagine
• p91 Persian Dried Lime, Lamb and Split Pea Stew / Khoresh – e – Gheymeh
• p93 Seared Lamb and Apricot Stew
• p94 Lamb, Butternut Squash, Prune and Tamarind Tagine
• p96 Pomegranate Soup With Meatballs / Ash-e Anar
• p99 Seafood and Saffron Stew
• p104 Saffron and Rosemary Chicken Fillets
• p109 Ras el Hanout Chicken Wraps
• p110 Harissa and Preserved Lemon Roasted Poussins
• p114 Saffron and Lemon Chicken / Joojeh Kabab
• p117 Lamb and Sour Cherry Meatballs
• p119 Mechouia-Style Lamb Leg with Cumin Dipping Salt
• p120 Spiced Rack Of Lamb With Pomegranate Sauce
• p122 Turkish Adana Kofte Kebabs
• p125 Tray- Baked Rose Petal Lamb Chops With Chilli And Herbs
• p127 Lamb and Pistachio Patties / Fistikli Kebap
• p128 Spice Perfumed Shoulder of Lamb
• p130 Seared Beef with Pomegranate and Balsamic Dressing

p135 Cod in Tamarind, Coriander and Fenugreek Seeds (made)

I made this during my weeks of Paleo.  I just left out the flour and pinch of sugar from the original recipe.  I don’t think the flour made much of a difference except for maybe bringing our the turmeric colour in the sauce, but my sauce was very tamarind tangy.  Which I love.  Even when I was a little girl, when my mum would make a curry I would dip a spoon in the tamarind and just eat it straight off the spoon.  If you’re not equally minded, add the sugar!  Also, we  don’t have cod so I used monkfish.  I loved this!!!

• p136 Prawns With Sumac, Coriander, Lemon and Garlic
• p138 Citrus Spiced Salmon
• p140 Belly Stuffed Rainbow Trout / Mahi Shekampor
• p143 Scallops And Shaved Fennel With Saffron, Honey, & Citrus Vinaigrette
• p144 Za’atar Cod With Relish
• p147 Bandari Monkfish Tails
• p150 Blood Orange and Radicchio Salad
• p152 Barley Salad With Griddled Broccoli and Za’Atar

p154 Radish, Cucumber and Red Onion Salad With Mint And Orange Blossom Dressing (Made)

Lovely!!! Fresh and Zingy!

• p157 Puy Lentil And Quinoa Salad With Lentil And Sumac
• p160 Tomato Salad With Pomegranate Molasses / Gavurdagi Salatasi
• p163 Turkish White Bean Salad / Piyaz
• p173 Chicken And Artichoke Salad With Yogurt Dressing
• p176 Fennel And Apple Salad With Dill and Pomegranate Seeds

p178 Shirazi Salad (Made)

Totally Yum!!!!

• p181 Red Rice Salad With Barberries, Grilled Vegetables And Toasted Almonds
• p183 Fattoush Salad

P184 Chargrilled Aubergines With Saffron Yogurt Parsley and Pickled Chillies (Made)

The very first thing I made and one of my favourite things ever!

• p186 Date And Tamarind Sauce
• p193 Harissa Marinated Asparagus
• p198 Butternut Squash With Pistachio, Pesto, Feta and Pomegranate Seeds

p201 Turmeric and Cumin Roasted Potatoes (Made)

I could not find the photo’s of these.  They were pretty good though!

• p204 Za’atar Roasted Squash With Spiced Yogurt And Pickled Chillies

P209 Spiced Carrot, Pistachio and Almond Cake With Rosewater Cream

OMG.  One of the best things I have ever eaten. I got so giddy over this cake I tweeted Sabrina to tell her about it.  She didn’t tweet back so maybe that best friends thing is a non-starter.  However, in a year of good cakes, this and the Amanda Hesser Almond Cake are standout winners.  This is how good this cake is….I cut some slices of this to take to work and I started eating the crumbs.  Then I had a piece,  Then another.  I had three pieces of carrot cake for breakfast that morning and I am completely unrepentent. It’s that good.  Also, the most compliments I have ever received from the work crew about my baking.

You MUST make this! Sorry for the shitty photo though.  Too busy shoving this glorious thing into my face to take anything decent.    

• p210 Baklava
• p216 Pistachio and Lemon Shortbreads
• p217 Strawberry and Pineapple Carpaccio with Basil And Mint Sugars
• p221 Cinnamon and Citrus Almond And Pastry Cigars
• p223 Eastern Mess
• p226 Pistachio, Honey And Orange Blossom Ice Cream

p229 Pistachio Rose And Rasberry Madeleines (Made)

Superb!

• p232 Syrup Poached Apricots With Walnuts and Clotted Cream

I am so looking forward to cooking so much more from this!!! Let me know what you like on the list and I will cook it sooner!

You can find the recipes for a few of the things I have cooked and some on the list here:

The Guardian Persiana Recipes

If you have Persiana or you cook any of these recipes please let me know how they turned out, I would love to see them!  And let me know if you love this book as much as I do!