Andy Baraghani doesn’t miss. I know this is a very “duh” statement, but it feels worth reiterating given his string of recent recipes that have already racked up five stars: chicken and red lentil soup with lemony yogurt; charred cabbage with miso browned butter; and this extra-green pasta salad that’s the cover girl of our spring pasta special.
He’s now assembled an absolutely stunning menu to celebrate Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which begins today and runs for 13 days. “Each dish,” Andy writes, “each ingredient symbolizes something greater: herbs for rebirth; fish for prosperity; sweet, sticky confections to usher in a year of joy.”
His fish is a beautiful slow-cooked white fish with citrus and herbs, a luscious combination of leeks, garlic, lemon and clementine. Imagine setting that next to a platter of his fluffy sabzi polo (herbed rice with saffron) showered with crushed dried rose petals. The petals are optional, but that contrast between the golden rice and the pink petals feels pretty necessary to me.
I’m sorry, I interrupted. Please continue, Andy! “If there’s one dish that feels like it belongs to me, it’s kuku sabzi,” he writes. “It was the first Persian dish I truly felt confident making on my own. My recipe continues to evolve, as I fine-tune the balance of fenugreek, turmeric and eggs, making sure the texture is just right. Some families add walnuts and barberries, but I keep mine simple, letting the herbs take center stage.”
Featured Recipe
Kuku Sabzi (Herb and Scallion Frittata)
Before the wrap-it-up music comes on, one more note from Andy about his kuku: “For a perfect bite, wrap it in lavash with a dollop of yogurt, slices of salty feta and crisp radishes, which balance the richness with bright, fresh flavors.” Yes, please.
It’s still plenty chilly where I live, but I have to say, this springtime sunlight — and the fact that the sun is setting well past 5 p.m. now — has made my shoulders drop from my ears a bit. Inspired by Andy’s celebratory menu, I’m thinking joyful dishes with a sense of ease are the move today. Cue up “Here Comes the Sun.” Let’s cook.
Hetty Lui McKinnon’s spinach and ricotta lasagna is a lighter, fuss-free version of Garfield’s favorite food, designed for those blocks of frozen spinach in your freezer. It’s billed as a weeknight dish, but I think it’s perfect for those weekends when you’ve worked up an appetite after a day spent under blue skies.
In this same category of Fast But Festive-Feeling Dinners, David Tanis transforms weeknight-friendly boneless, skinless chicken breasts into Saturday night fare in his recipe for spiced chicken breasts in pastry. They are essentially very posh Hot Pockets, and I say this as a compliment.
Doughnuts — or, more specifically, these bomboloni from Dan Pelosi — are an unapologetically happy food, bursting forth with sweet pastry cream. I made a huge batch of Kyo Pang and Kiera Wright-Ruiz’s kaya jam last weekend and am thinking that might make a super bomboloni filling.
But in case you’d like your sweets to involve less deep-frying, here are Naz Deravian’s shirini gerdui, flourless walnut cookies for Nowruz. Her recipe needs only five ingredients — egg yolks, powdered sugar, vanilla, walnuts and pistachios — and results in lightly sweet, chewy, crisp-edged treats, just the thing to nibble on in the park with a coffee or tea.
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