The Saffron Tales #2

Yesterday I talked about the book itself; today, it’s the recipes.

They, too, are great.

Sweets

Sour cherry and dark chocolate biscuits: the first time I made these I couldn’t find sour cherries; that has since been rectified. That first time I used dried blueberries, and they were ok. I really like them with sour cherries – these are some new favourites.

Persian love cake: even though I had no rose water, so I used orange blossom water, this was fantastic. And as Khan herself notes, the cake keeps quite well – I think we ate it over about five days and it didn’t go stale just under plastic wrap in the fridge.

Mains

Legume noodle soup: ludicrously healthy with red kidney beans, lentils, spaghetti, spinach and a bunch of herbs. My first use of fenugreek leaves AND dried mint! This was totally amazingly delicious and the floured-and-fried onions were a wonderful addition. This will absolutely be made again.

Garlicky beans with dill and egg: I didn’t use enough garlic or enough dill. But this is a very simple meal – cannellini beans and eggs, with some herbs – so it’s well worth knowing about.

Lamb meatballs stuffed with barberries and walnuts: declared by my beloved to be ‘one of the greatest meals in weeks, and we’ve eaten pretty well recently’. They’re large meatballs with barberries, onion, a prune and a walnut stuffed inside, cookies in a tomato and spice sauce. Seriously awesome.

Lame and mixed herb stew: declared by my beloved to be even better than the meatballs. Slow-cooked lamb (takes nearly two hours) with masses of parsley and coriander and spinach and herbs (more fenugreek!) AND – star ingredient here – dried limes. First time I’d cooked with dried limes, so I used four instead of six; I am now totally in love and can’t wait to use them in other dishes. This one is going straight to What To Cook To Impress People.

There are many other recipes in here that I am looking forward to making: roast chicken with pomegranate and za’atar glaze; chicken stew with spinach and prunes; date, almond and tahini energy balls… This cookbook is definitely a keeper. It’s available from Fishpond.