A Taste of The Middle East!

The other night I had the pleasure of having my beautiful Aunt and Uncle over for dinner. I decided to share with them the flavors from father's side of the family, so I cooked us up some Persian fare. I celebrated the traditional rich and exotic flavors found in Persian cuisine, but lightened things up by keeping the meal vegetarian.

For starters, I made a Watercress Parsley Salad with Pomegranate, Radish and Lavender Honey Infused Fromage Blanc. Typically, at a Persian table before dinner, you'll find a beautiful bed of greens with bright radishes nestled in between the leaves. We call this "Sabzi". Instead of serving bread to start with, we eat Sabzi to help invite our main dish. I thought it would be interesting to combine some of the greens found in Sabzi, and create this light and fresh salad to welcome our main course. 

For dinner, I served Herbed Basmati Rice (Sabzi Polo) and Pomegranate Saffron Red Lentil Stew with Oyster Mushrooms. (Khoresht Gheymeh). The oyster mushrooms have great texture, and are able to hold up against the rich lentil stew. 

Lastly, for dessert, I whipped up a Vegan Raspberry Elderflower Cheesecake with Pistachio Rose Crust. It was really good... And tasted extremely Persian.

It was a lovely night, and I think my family enjoyed the meal almost as much as I enjoyed sharing it.