#Recipe

Potato and vegetable enchiladas

Though I don’t think I’ve ever told her, my friend G’s cooking has been hugely inspirational to me. In college, G lived in a communal-type household. Everyone there agreed to live intentionally, cooking meals together and living their lives in a more harmonious way. They were a big bunch of friendly hippies and I just loved spending time there. Most of them were vegetarians, meaning that if I ate with them there wouldn’t be any meat products on the menu. The meals never suffered from this.

Roasted chickpeas

I am not what you would call a huge snacker, especially if I am kept entertained (I’m like a baby, I cry if you don’t feed me and play with me at regular intervals). But if I’m bored for a long period of time, or if I have an especially trying project at work, I tend to start feeling nibbly. Not hungry! Just nibbly - my mouth starts to crave action and stimulation. This is usually solved at work by delving into a coworker’s candy jar, but sweet doesn’t really do it for me. Give me salty, give me savory - but please don’t give me chips, they make me feel gross! What else is there around that is salty?

Dried Fruit Haroseth

Last week wasn’t just Persian New Year, it was also the beginning of Passover. Since Daniel is Jewish, I wanted to mark the occasion somehow. I almost always mark occasions with food! This year I tried my hand at making haroseth, a spiced fruit and nut concoction that was completely new to me and will henceforth be in my refrigerator often!

This recipe is so easy it’s embarrassing. You really just chop a bunch of dried fruit up (and to be honest, you can use whatever dried fruit you like) and mix it with some flavorful juice and spices. That’s it. I am told the traditional way to serve haroseth is on matzo at your Passover seder. However, I had two other favorite ways of serving it that were by no means traditional. One: early in the morning when no one is looking, take that matzo, crumble some feta on it and scoop up the haroseth. Salty and sweet were meant to be!. Two: try it on your breakfast yogurt – it was a revelation as a condiment.

This week was Persian New Year - Salleh no mobarak! (which is “Happy new year” in Farsi!) I’m celebrating this weekend with the family - I’ll post pictures of the food and decorations next week. It’s a big party not to be missed!

I grew up in a mixed household – half Iranian, and half American. I’m a true mutt. As a result, my idea of comfort food sometimes differs from my peers. Though I’ll go to town on mac and cheese with the best of them, I also regularly crave feta with walnuts for breakfast and complicated layered rice dishes for dinner. I generally only get to indulge when I visit my family. Most Persian recipes have imported ingredients I have to go out of my way for. This lazy home cook hates making extra grocery trips, so I just…wait for my mom to cook for me. Usually.

What is one to do when one wakes up at 7 am on what was supposed to be a very lazy Saturday morning? Boyfriend is still sound asleep (and is egregiously hogging your pillow might I add) so he’s no help for entertainment. Staying in bed any longer will touch off a headache for sure. Your solution? Tackle an old enemy who has been preying on you for years – finding the recipe for the Perfect Biscuit. Perfect details include height, flavor, fluffiness and (for extra credit) ease of creation.