Food, it is true, is my biggest passion. A celebration in every bite, and coffee counts as food, so we can savor every sip. One of my attractions to food is that I believe food to be a language, and across cultures this is especially true. As mentioned in a previous post, when my mother met my husband (who was my boyfriend at the time) she cooked herself into a frenzy, her way to express to him her delight and appreciation for his existence. In fact it is fair to say that since I was a wee girl sitting on the counter top of my Great Grandfathers kitchen while he stirred pasta fazule food has been one of my languages.
Special guest in March my dear friend Mary Jazayeri. Mary is a wonderful cook of all kinds of food. Married for more than four decades to a gracious, super-intelligent Iranian man who appreciates good food of all cultures, she shared the recipe below from the cookbook, In a Persian Kitchen Favorite Recipes from the Near East by Maideh Mazda. A recipe to give us insights into the Iranian kitchen every day, Nowruz and beyond.
A stew served over rice, is a very popular khoresh with all persons poor or rich, every Persian housewife serves this khoresh to her family at least once a week. Mary believes that the popularity of this khoresh comes from the fact that it really isn't a seasonal sauce. Although the main ingredients of this khoresh are vegetables and should be prepared when fresh vegetables are in season, the Persian housewife can use instead the dried vegetables which she always has on hand, economical and easy to prepare and delicious served over chelo (Persian white rice).