Photographer and food writer Saghar Setareh’s Pomegranate and Artichokes book is the story of her culinary journey from Iran to Italy, in which she describes the many parallels that link Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food cultures. Divided into three sections representing stops on Saghar’s culinary “road trip”, the book is filled with beautiful photography and equally delicious recipes. Here we sample a few dishes that conjure up Italy, Greece and Iran.
1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the pumpkin and shallot on a large baking tray with ½ teaspoon of the salt, 2 tablespoons olive oil and the rosemary sprigs. Toss to coat the vegetables, then arrange them on the tray so they’re not overlapping. Roast for about 30 minutes, or until the shallots are soft with some brown edges. Remove the shallots and, if necessary, roast the pumpkin for another 10-30 minutes, until soft with some brown edges.
2. Meanwhile, cook the farro in a saucepan of boiling salted water according to the packet instructions; this usually takes about 30 minutes. Drain the farro, place in a large bowl and toss with about 1 tablespoon olive oil, so it doesn’t dry out.
3. Toast the hazelnuts in a hot frying pan for just a few minutes until lightly browned, and fragrant with an earthy aroma. Remove immediately to a chopping board so the nuts don’t burn, leave until cool enough to handle, then coarsely chop.
4. Add the toasted hazelnuts to the farro with the roasted pumpkin and shallot (discard the rosemary twigs). Toss with the lemon zest and juice, white vinegar and another 2 tablespoons olive oil, then season to taste with salt and black pepper.
4. Pile the salad on to a shallow platter. Crumble the cheese into large chunks over the salad and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar; of course, another drizzle of olive oil never hurts. You can keep this salad in the fridge for a couple of days; save the cheese for serving.
Stuffed bell peppers with Greek-inspired meatless filling. Photo / Saghar Setareh
Stuffed bell peppers with Greek-inspired meatless filling
Makes 4 large stuffed bell peppers, or 6 smaller ones
4 large red, yellow or orange bell peppers, or 6 smaller ones, about 1.5 kg in total
3. To prepare the bell peppers: Cut the top off each bell pepper, to use as a lid. Remove the seeds and white membranes from inside each bell pepper. Pour the hot water into a small bowl, add the remaining ingredients and mix well.
4. Sprinkle the cavity of each bell pepper with some extra salt, then fill each pepper with your filling. Make sure you only stuff the bell peppers two-thirds full, as the rice will swell during baking. Also, make sure you add enough of the liquid into each bell pepper, so the filling doesn’t dry out, and to ensure the rice is fully cooked. Feel free to add a splash more water if needed. Put the lids back on and secure them with a toothpick.
5. Arrange the bell peppers snugly in a saucepan. If there’s too much space left, fill it with a peeled potato or two, so that the peppers stay upright.
6. Gently pour in the tomato paste mixture, from the side of the pan. Cover and cook over medium–low heat for about 1 hour, or until the bell peppers are soft on the top, and the skin is wrinkled. Add a little more water if needed.
7. Remove the lid and let the bell peppers rest a bit before serving.
1. Several hours before cooking, or even the night before, pat the chicken dry with paper towel. Rub the salt on the chicken skin and in the cavity. Squeeze the lemon juice into the cavity of the chicken and leave the squeezed lemon inside the cavity. Leave to rest in the fridge, preferably uncovered.
2. About 2 hours before cooking, bring the chicken out of the fridge and let it reach room temperature. Discard the lemon.
3. For the stuffing, soak the prunes, apricots and cranberries in water in separate little bowls for 15-30 minutes.
4. Melt most of the butter in a pan. Drain the prunes, apricots and cranberries, then add to the pan with the walnuts and sultanas.
5. Add the golden onion, saffron infusion, salt and pepper. Give it a stir for 2 minutes, then take off the heat.
7. For the saffron butter, melt the butter and mix well with the saffron infusion and salt.
8. To prepare the chicken for the saffron butter rub, first put it on one side, then use a sharp knife to score three deep incisions on one leg. Turn the chicken around and repeat with the other leg. This will allow the legs and breast to cook at the same time.
9. With the chicken legs facing you, gently pull the skin at the end of the breast towards you with one hand, then insert two fingers of the other hand between the breast and skin. Repeat this carefully and gently, as much as you can, to separate the skin from the meat without tearing it.
10. Fill the cavity with about half the stuffing, reserving the rest for serving. Tie the chicken legs together with butchers’ twine and place it in a baking dish. Using a pastry brush, rub as much as the saffron butter as you can on all sides of the chicken, and under the skin.
11. Transfer to the oven and roast for about 1 hour 20 minutes, brushing the chicken with more saffron butter every 30 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove from the oven and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.
12. To serve, strain the juices at the bottom of the dish, and use about ¼ cup to heat the remaining stuffing to use as a garnish. Pour the remaining juices into a gravy boat to serve alongside the chicken. Serve with plain rice or roast potatoes.
Oil, for deep-frying (the quantity will depend on the size of your pan)
2 onions, halved, then sliced 5mm thick
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1. In a large pan suitable for frying, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Make sure the onion half-rings are separated from each other. When tiny bubbles appear in the oil, add one slice of onion to check the heat. If the oil around the onion bubbles and the onion comes to the surface, the oil is hot enough; otherwise, wait until this happens.
2. Usually, two sliced onions can be fried in two or three batches, in a 23cm pan. If your pan is smaller, you should fry the onions in more batches. This is actually time-saving, contrary to what you may think, because one layer of onion fries more quickly, and piled-up onions become soggy and take more time to become golden and crunchy.
3. Fry each batch over medium–high heat for about 8–12 minutes, or until the onion has shrunk down and is completely golden. At the last moment for the first batch, add all the turmeric, stir around a bit, then with a slotted spoon transfer the onion to a large dish lined with paper towel. The onion will darken once removed from the pan, turning golden brown on the paper. Add another batch of onion to the pan and repeat.
1. Grind the saffron strands with the sugar in a small mortar.
2. Boil the kettle, then let it sit for a few minutes. Tip the powder very gently into a small glass teacup, then gently pour 3 tablespoons of the hot water over it. (Never use boiling water, or you’ll “kill” the saffron.) Cover the cup with a lid or saucer and let the mixture ‘brew’ for at least 10 minutes without removing the lid, to release the colour and aroma of the saffron. After this time your saffron infusion is ready to use.
Edited extract from Pomegranates & Artichokes by Saghar Setareh, photography by Saghar Setareh. Published by Murdoch Books, RRP $55.
