Persian Recipe: Advieh Powder

Seasoning Mix

• 2 Tbsp dried rose petals
• 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbsp ground cardamom
• 1 Tbsp ground Cumin

Mix ingredients thoroughly and store airtight.

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Persian Recipe: Stuffed Peppers

• 8 small red peppers
• 1/4 cup long grained rice
• 2 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 T tomato paste
• 1/2 cup scallions, chopped
• 1 tbsp dried tarragon
• 1/2 tsp groun black pepper
• 1/3 cup frsh lime juice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp saffron threads, ground and dissolved in 2 Tbsp hot water
• 1/2 cup ghee
• 1/4 cup yellow split peas
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 cup parsley, chopped
• 1 tbsp dried mint
• 1/2 tsp Advieh powder (see recipe above)
• 1 cup tomato juice
• 1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 400

Prepare the peppers: Cut the tops off the peppers 1/2 " from the stems and set tops aside. Remove the seeds and ribs. Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the peppers and tops for about 5 minutes. Drain and shock the peppers in ice water to stop the cooking. Set aside.

Make stuffing: In a small pot, combine the rice, split pease, 2 Cups water and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Bring up to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, drain, and set aside.

In a large saute pan, heat 2 T of the ghee over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and beef and saute for 15 minutes until golden brown. Add the tomato paste and saute 1 more minute. Remove from head and add teh rice mixture, the herbs and 1 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 1/2 tsp advieh powder and mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Make sauce: In a small bowl combine the tomato juice, 2 T Ghee, lime, sugar, cinnamon, 1 tsp salt, and the saffron water. Reserve.

Stuff and Bake: Fill the peppers with the stuffing and replace their tops. Place the stuffed peppers side by side in an oven proof dish, pour the reserved sauce over the top. Cover with foil and bak for 1 hour or until very tender. When done, taste sauce and adjust seasoning with salt, pepper, or lime.

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Persian Recipe: Eggplant Khoresh

• 5 Tblsp. Ghee
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 lb. Chicken Breast sliced
• 1/2 tsp. saffron threads - ground and disolved in 4 Tblsp. hot water
• 3 Cups fresh or pureed tomatoes
• 1 Cup unripe grapes or 4 Tblsp. lime juice
• 1/2 tsp. Tumeric
• 3 onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 2 lbs. Eggplant, peeled
• 2 eggwhites, beaten

Preheat oven to 350

Brown the chicken: In a medium pot, heat 3 T. of the ghee over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and chicken and saute 15 minutes longer until golden brown.

Simmer: Add the salt, pepper, saffron water, tomato puree, grapes or lime juice and tumeric. Bring up to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Fry the eggplant: Cut the eggplant lengthwise into quarters. Brush eggplant with eggwhites to reduce teh amount of oil used. In a large saute pan, heat 2 T. of the ghee up over medium heat and fry the eggplant until golden on each side. Place on paper towels to drain.

Bake: transfer chicken and sauce to a deep oven-proof casserole dish and arrange eggplant on top. Cover and bake for 30 minutes, remove cover and bake 15 minutes longer. Adjust seasoning with salt and lime and serve.

We like to top this dish off with yogurt and chopped mint.

recipes from Culinary Communion

Persian Recipe: Cheese & Walnut Spread

• 1/4 lb. Feta cheese
• 1/4 Cup Scallions
• 1/4 Tarragon leaves
• 1 clove Garlic
• 1 tsp kosher Salt
• 2 Cups Walnuts
• 1/4 Cup Basil leaves
• 1/4 Cup mint leaves
• 1 Tbsp. Lime juice
• 1/4 Cup Olive oil

Puree: place all ingredients in a food procesor and process to a coarse textured spread. Taste and adjust seasoning.

Serve with lavash or flat bread. Serves 4.

- Note: when we made this recipe, we found we had to add an additional lime (not an additional Tablespoon - an additional LIME) to pull the top notes. That may have something to do with the cheese we used which had a very deep full flavor (deeper than most feta).

recipes from Culinary Communion

Culinary Communion: Persian Cuisine

For our first anniversary, my gift to Aaron was to take him to a class on cooking Persian food last night. The class was offered by Culinary Communion, and took place in the home of Chef Gabriel Claycamp. There were 7 students and the chef so it was a very nice intimate group. The class was fun, and we both learned alot, not just about Persian food, but cooking in general.

What did we learn?
- Saffron is water soluble, not oil soluble. Thats why you really need to dissolve it in hot water before you add it to the dish. If you just toss it in with what ever you are sauteing, it will give it a beautiful color but it just wont give up the love. Also, if you think you don't like saffron because it tastes metalic, try Persion saffron rather than Spanish, its a whole lot cheaper and the flavor is much less tinny.
- Eggplant is like a sponge and soaks up a lot of oil. If you brush the eggplant with eggwhite before adding it to the pan the eggplant will soak up a significantly smaller amount of oil.

- Juicing citrus - roll or knead the lime to break it down inside and then zap it in the microwave for 20 seconds to increase viscosity before slicing and juicing the fruit - you'll get out a whole lot more juice with a whole lot less effort.

- When cooking basmati rice - the old saying about washing the rice 5 times is there for a reason. I was the one that washed the rice, and it was amazing by the time I got the the third or fouth washing the aroma was really starting to come out. The five washings really help to release the aroma and flavor of the rice.

On the menu we had:

• pistachio soup
• feta and walnut spread with lavash bread
• stuffed peppers
• Eggplant Koresh
• Dill and Fava Polow
• Lamb Kababs
• Saffron Brownie (halveh)

The food was great, but maybe not to the level of Alborz or Caspian Sea. I loved the pistachio soup, the cheese/nut spread was good be we found we needed to add a whole extra lime and a lot of extra plack pepper and mint to hit the right note. Bell peppers are never my thing, so as a whole the dish meant nothing to me, but the filling was quite succulent before in went into the pepper (after of course it was completely infused with the pepper flavor which I just don't like). I may have to think of something else to stuff - because the filling was really quite tasty. The dill and fava palow was good, and we even made it with the tadiq which was especially cool as most restaurants don't even serve that. The lamb kebabs were amazing and I seriously recommend you try the recipe when I get it posted. The saffron brownies were a variation on halveh which is common throughout the middle east, I dodn't think much of this particular recipe but I'll post it anyways.

Romance on Rails

For our first wedding anniversary celebration, Mr. H took me out on the Spirit of Washington dinner train.

He thought of everything. Before we boarded the train, he helped me complete my look with a Holly Yashi necklace and earring set. Then there were roses waiting for me when we got to our table on the train.

The food was excellent. I had prime rib and he had the salmon. The wines were exquisite - I particularly enjoyed the whidbey port.



Mr. H, my dear husband, I don't have enough words to tell you how much I love you. You made me very, very happy tonight.



I love you more every day and I'm so thankful that I get to spend my life with you.

Wedding Ceremony: September 5, 2004

VOWS OF MATRIMONY

I, Aaron,

accept you, Judy,

to be my wife.

I promise to live with you,

to trust and to cherish you,

to be your constant friend,

and faithful partner in life.

I promise to love, honor,

and respect you always,

as long as we both shall live.

I, Judy,

accept you, Aaron,

to be my husband.

I promise to live with you,

to trust and to cherish you,

to be your constant friend,

and faithful partner in life.

I promise to love, honor,

and respect you always,

as long as we both shall live.

RING CEREMONY

I, Aaron,

accept you Judy

to be my wife

and in doing so

I commit my life to you.

I embrace the sorrows and the joys

the hardships and the triumphs

in the experiences of our lives together.

As we grow in our roles

as life long partners,

so will we always remain best friends.

With this ring,

I make this commitment

in love forever.

I, Judy,

accept you Aaron

to be my husband

and in doing so

I commit my life to you.

I embrace the sorrows and the joys

the hardships and the triumphs

in the experiences of our lives together.

As we grow in our roles

as life long partners,

so will we always remain best friends.

With this ring,

I make this commitment

in love forever.