Herb Me Right

As you might have learned by now, Persians take their herbs very seriously.  If you take a trip to Iran, you will notice a lot of pharmacology stores where they sell all sorts of dried herbs, teas, dried nuts and dried fruits as well as herbal water (herb infused water).  Back in the day, these stores acted as pharmacies.  People believed in natural remedies and the power of herbs and their effects on human health.  My grandmother is still a huge believer.  I remember when we were kids, she would make these drink mixes all from herb extract fluids and add some sugar (for flavoring) and serve us.  She explained that each herb had its own positive effect on your body.  For example mint water was meant to have a cooling effect (perfect for summer time) and is also a digestive agent; dill water was great for weight loss; orange blossom water was used to cleanse and moisturize the skin; pussy willow water is meant o a have a calming effect on the stomach and people believe it has a soothing effect on those with heart problems.

Couple of years ago, when I started growing my very small herb-box garden just outside of my kitchen, I was inspired to make some of these tasty drinks that my grandmother used to prepare for us.  I also wanted them to be tasty and not-so-flavorless.  I started by making simple syrup (equal ratio of water to sugar) and infused it with different herbs.  One in particular, is my mint syrup that I use all the time.  You'd be surprised how easy it is to make and how many different uses you can have for it.  I bottle these syrups and keep in the refrigerator.  Since I end up making about 4 cups at times, it keeps well in my fridge for a year.  Because of the concentration, you only need to use 1-2 tablespoons of the syrup and then add water or whatever else you'd like.  You can make a lemonade/limeade and add this syrup for some extra flavor or even make yourself a Mojito!

Here's how you make them:
Start out by making simple syrup.  Boil 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sugar together in a sauce pan, until the sugar is completely dissolved and the mixture starts to boil.  Add about a bunch of washed mint to infuse the syrup and let it simmer.  You don't want the mint to turn so dark because it will give syrup a bitter taste.  Just watch and stir every now and again.  Then take the mint out.  You should be able to smell a minty mixture in your sauce pan.  Let cool and pour in a glass bottle then store in your fridge.

Watermelon-Mint Smoothie

1 cup seedless watermelon cut in cubes
2-3 tablespoons mint syrup (depending on the sweetness you desire!)
4 ice cubes

Blend all the ingredients in a blender and pour into a glass.  This should give you an 8oz glass of smoothie.  Drink up in this summer heat and cool yourself off!

Have a fabulous rest of the week.

Feeling Hot Hot Hot

It is hot, humid, sticky AND stinky here in NYC, but who's complaining...

Summer has officially arrived as of last week and it's quite brutal here.  In weather like this, not much cooking happens in this household.  Who wants to heat up the house - even more - by turning the stove on?  We tend to grill a steak outside and have a giant bowl of salad to chase it with.  Or buy a pack of frozen dumplings to steam and make a couple of different sauces to go with them.  But let's be honest, I'm not here to blog about frozen food or even a grilled steak.  So, read on as I prepare a dish that is tasty, light, and can be stored in your fridge for up to 3-4 days!  You can have this as a sandwich with potato chips or simply serve it at your next summer get together with crackers, chips or sliced baguette.  How awesome is that?  Make one dish, then shut the kitchen down for a few days in the heat.

I know Americans like to have their egg salad separate from their chicken salad and their potato salad.  Not Persians!  We don't discriminate... we mix them all in a bowl and even add more ingredients to make it tastier.  You guessed right: I'm going to make Persian Chicken Potato Salad.  Instead of heavy, greasy mayonnaise, I am using plain yogurt.  This will definitely cut back on guilt of eating this dish, not to mention that you will not feel so heavy afterwards.  I still use mayonnaise for binding purposes, but the main dressing is yogurt.  Didn't I tell you Persians love their plain yogurt?

Persian Chicken Potato Salad

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken cooked (recipe to follow)

1 box frozen peas – blanched and cooled

1 hard-boiled egg peeled and diced

3 large sour pickles in brine

2 baking potatoes cooked, peeled and diced

1 medium carrot cooked, peeled and diced

1 ¼ cup yogurt

¼ cup mayonnaise

¼ cup olive oil

Zest & juice of 3 large lemons

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

In a large bowl, shred the chicken by hand or chop it fine with knife.  Make sure all the ingredients are cool before you start peeling and dicing.  Peel and dice potatoes, carrots, pickles and egg in small pieces.  Add the blanched peas.  Make sure they are completely drained and not wet.  In a separate bowl, combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Mix well and then add to the other ingredients.  Either using your hands or 2 forks, toss the mixture until it’s well mixed.  Cool in the refrigerator and then serve.

 

Whole cooked chicken

1 – 3lb chicken

1 large onion – peeled and diced

1 medium carrot – peeled and diced

1 celery stalk – peeled and diced

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

9 cups of water

Put all the ingredients in a pot and cook for about 2 hours until the chicken is fully cooked and tender.  Pull the chicken out and place on a plate until is cool.  Meanwhile, you can make a stock out of the remaining liquid.  Pull the bay leaf out and blend the remaining.  You can keep the stock in your freezer and use when you are making soup next time.

If you really want to eat this the Persian way, make yourself a sandwich on a baguette and top it with plain potato chips.  Yes, put the chips in your sandwich!  Sounds weird, but oh so good.  Be sure to eat it quickly before the chips start getting soggy.  No one likes soggy chips ;)

 Yummy Sandwich

P.S. If you are having a "lazy" day, feel free to buy an already made roast chicken and go on from there.  We won't judge ;)

Note: in Farsi we call this salad "Salad Olivieh." 

Dream on, Dreamer

I don't know about you, but I fantasize a lot about a lot of stuff.  Sometimes, these fantasies are bigger than life (and I know it); therefore, they are parked on the back of my mind and every now and again bring a huge smile on my face... then I carry on!

I am a huge fan of the food network and cooking channel - of course.  I don't watch nearly as much as I used to since I don't have a lot of free time anymore.  It's usually my late night/falling asleep on my bed indulgence!  Over the past few years, I've known a lot of these TV chefs/personalities and some I truly admire.  Don't worry, my dream is not to be a TV chef, but I would love to work with one.  As you all know already, I don't have any formal training in cooking, I just love and enjoy it.  So, I dream about teaming up with a couple of these people to write my book!  Is that so wrong?  These people have made it big... One - in particular - is not a chef (anymore), but rather a food writer.  She has written so many cookbooks many of them in collaboration with some of New York’s most celebrated chefs. She is also a food columnist for the New York Times as well as other magazines.  I have been told that she lives in or around my neighborhood.  So you can imagine how badly I want to run into her!  Although, not sure what I would say to her... "Will you please co-write my cookbook with me?!"  Writing with someone like her will be a huge opportunity.  Can you imagine?  Once her name is on my book, my book will get not just noticed but will probably sell pretty well too.  Who needs a publicist when you can co-write with a well-known author?

Yes, this fantasy is definitely sitting on the back of my mind...

Hungry anyone? 
Remember how I told you about my grandmother and her fabulous cooking?  Well, she sometimes took the easy route and made things that were simple in the process but so tasty.  She was so creative with the items in her pantry and could easily come up with a dish based on whatever ingredients she had in the fridge/pantry.  There was always a surprise factor for me and my cousins when we were at her place.  I'm definitely not claiming that she came up with the following dish.  All I'm trying to say is that she was really good at creating dishes that were really tasty yet simple.  This dish is very simple to make, but hard to pull off!  I have made it a few times and each time it came out very different.  Temperature, texture and technique play a huge role here.

Potato Pancake

4 large baking potatoes

2 eggs - cold

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

¼ teaspoon turmeric

Pinch of ground saffron

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup vegetable oil for frying

In a large pot, steam the potatoes over medium heat until baked.  Let cool completely and then peel them.  In a bowl, using either a potato masher or food mill, mash the potatoes with a medium-size grate.  

 Potato Masher

Add eggs, salt, pepper, turmeric, saffron, baking powder and baking soda.  Mix well by using your hands.  Heat the oil in a non-stick pan.  Meanwhile, scoop out the mixture with a large ice cream scoop and make round patties about ¼” thick.  Fry them for 3-5 minutes on each side over medium heat until golden brown.

This recipe makes 15 patties.

 Potato Pancakes

These will make a great lunch or an appetizer platter.  You can serve these patties with salad, especially the Persian Cucumber Tomato salad. I had mine with Spinach Yogurt (June 7th blog - Yogurt Is a Must).


Have a wonderful weekend!