Our March, 2010, Persian Dinner

It's probably no surprise to the members of our cookbook club but I'm always amazed by what great cooks we are! I must first admit that I wasn’t excited about this dinner after going through the two cookbooks. I checked out the Taste of Persia from the county library and then borrowed Sharon’s book, New Food of Life, both by Najimieh Batmanglij.

I tried a few of the recipes at home but was not enthralled with the results. It could be that I am not familiar with Persian dishes beyond kabobs so I don’t know how the dishes were supposed to taste. I like the rice dishes the most of what I tried.

Imagine my surprise at our dinner! Not all the dishes were to my personal taste but each was prepared so well that I liked them more than I thought I would. We started the dinner with Sandi’s “Nan-o-Panier-o-gerdú”. The cheese & walnut spread was on the tart side because of the yogurt and while not my favorite taste, was very good spread on pita triangles. She also made Cevizla Panyir, a Turkish hummus spread for comparison’s sake, that I liked better. I didn't catch the source of this recipe. Bill found a bottle of Tio Pep Palomino Sherry, from Jerez, Spain to pour with the appetizers. It went really well with the walnut flavors. He referenced a book, From Persia to Napa also by Najimieh Batmanglij. This book, if you love Persian foods, is a “must have” book to pair Persian foods with the perfect wine accompaniment. Every choice that Bill made as a result of consulting this book was the right compliment to the food. It’s also a beautiful book in terms of the information, images and photos.

We then went on to Jeffrey’s Mung Bean Soup from the book A Taste of Persia. Jeffrey had trouble choosing a recipe to prepare and so he did what I call the “I Ching method.” While not exactly throwing the book at a wall to see what page opens up, he did a random thing and decided he would just open the book and cook whatever page opened. I think it was meant to be because it was the Mung Bean Soup AND he had dried mung beans in his pantry. How serendipitous is that? The soup is finished with a garnish of fresh mint, garlic , olive oil and tumeric. It was delicious and if I didn’t know better, I would have had more of it. . .but I knew, from past dinners, that if I didn’t control myself, I’d never make it to the end of the dinner. Bill served the recommended Pinot Gris, 2007 bottle from King Winery in Oregon.

Marianne made another dish that I didn’t know would taste so good! It was a Persian Chicken Salad from A Taste of Persia. It didn’t taste like what I thought Persian foods tasted like. It was a creamy chicken salad….a rich version of the chicken salad that you might find in an American restaurant. Maybe Persia was the originator of what has since been adapted to American palates. I definitely liked the Persian version better! Bill picked out a 2008 Stanza Gerwurtztraminer from Monterey to compliment the salad. The flowery bouquet of the “Gerwurtz” and the acidic overtones of the wine went well with the richness of the salad.

We then had a Butternut Squash Koresh that Tina made from the book, New Food of Life. She also made a Saffron Basmati Rice dish to go with the dish is that is a kind of Persian stew. Although the koreshes don’t mention meat in the title, they all have either lamb, beef, chicken or duck in the stew. Tina chose tender filet mignon to make her Koresh, along with the butternut squash. A very tasty combination! The Saffron Basmati Rice dish must be beheld before digging into to it. It is such a pretty presentation with the rice crust that is intentionally created by putting a layer of rice that is combined with yogurt and spices on the bottom of the baking dish. Willie’s photographic skills really show how beautiful this dish is. And, of course to enhance the dish even further, Bill served a Mount Eden Vineyard 2004 Pinot Noir, one of my favorite pinots! And if you get either the Wall Street Journal or the SF Chronicle, there were great articles on Jeffrey Patterson and the Mt. Eden Vineyard winery. Go-o-o Jeffrey!

We had two koreshes this evening and Annie prepared the Fresh Herb Koresh. This dish had a dark green sauce because of all the herbs Annie used to make this chicken dish. She chose drumsticks for the meat part of this Koresh. The drumsticks were good choices because they have more flavor than chicken breasts. It was a rich dish that was set off by plain steamed basmati rice that Willie made. Having the plain rice was perfect because the koreshes are so rich. Bill chose a 2001 Ravenswood Zinfandel with grapes from the Dickerson Vineyard in Napa. Bill Dickerson’s vineyards produce wonderful zinfandel grapes that are some of the best in the region. He was not only a great vineyard master (and psychiatrist) but a very kind man who, unfortunately, died in the Phukat Tsunami disaster. His wines are a tribute to his vineyard practice. The Herb Koresh was served along side of the dish our hostess, Sandy, made, “Kufteh Berenji” - Rice Meatballs. She followed the directions that created “hulk” sized meatballs, as you can see by the photo. Her Persian neighbor told her to put a dried prune in the middle of each meatball. What a nice surprise to find this in one my bites! She served each of us just a quarter of a meatball because we were all getting pretty full and had two more courses to go! I really liked the flavors and texture of the meatballs. The meat and rice is processed to almost a smooth paste with egg as the binder. Yum! The wine we had with this course was a Leasingham 2005 Shiraz from Claire Valley, Australia. The Shiraz was a great foil to the rich meatballs and added a touch of fruit that complemented the prune too!

We’re almost done and pretty full by now. Even though we try to pace out the meal so there is some space in between the courses and serve small portions, it’s still is a lot of food! Lisa made a vegetable side dish, Spinach and Yogurt Salad that I thoroughly enjoyed. The spinach is par-boiled and the onions are also cooked prior to assembly so it’s a cooked salad rather than a raw one. I usually think of a salad as a raw dish but this one was a pleasant surprise. A very rich dish that is made with a yogurt dressing. Even though I was getting full, I ate it all because I liked it so much. Again, we turned to one of our favorite wines to serve with this dish, Mount Eden Vineyard 2004 Estate Chardonnay. The acid balance in this wine was perfect with the rich yogurt sauce.

Ahhh, finally dessert! I made the Persian style Baklava. Baklava is a dish that is enjoyed in many countries, from Greece to India! The Persian version uses cardamon and rose water in the sugar syrup that soaks into the layers of filo and ground blanched almonds. The recipe gives the directions for making your own filo but I used purchased filo. I can barely make pie crusts, so rolling something out as thin as filo was beyond my skill level! The recipe basically has two layers of filo with the almonds in the middle but I used a trick learned from the Fine Cooking magazine and created 4 layers of 10 filo sheets each and 3 layers of the almond mixture sandwiched in between. A very rich dessert to finish off a very rich dinner. Bill chose a wine that really shows off the almonds and cardamon in the Baklava, Setubal Muscat, Jose Maria da Fonseca, Portugal. Everyone really liked this wine that tasted more like a tawny port and the perfect finish to a meal to celebrate the eve of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, a major celebration among Persians.

I think we all staggered home…but as the cookbook author states at the end of each of her recipes, Nush-e Jan!