Free The New Persian Kitchen by Louisa Shafia Page A

revealed to the prophet Muhammad. Interestingly, the date of Ramadan is not fixed, but travels the length of the calendar, moving eleven days earlier each year. According to tradition, it’s permitted to eat before dawn and after sunset, but between these hours even drinking water is discouraged.
    The predawn meal during Ramadan is a very early breakfast eaten in the dark, called the sahari . For sahari, Iranians eat cold foods prepared beforehand, like the baked egg dish Kuku Sabzi , kufteh rice meatballs, flatbread, cheese, eggs, tea, and dates. Dinner, eaten after sundown, is called iftar . At sunset, the fast is broken with a glass of warm water or milk accompanied by a sweet date, the food eaten by Mohammad to break his fasts in the Koran. After that, iftar dinner is often a bowl of nourishing and hearty soup like Ash-e reshteh or Halim , while dessert is sticky-sweet zulbia and bamieh , two kinds of deep-fried pastries covered in sugar syrup.
    Ramadan’s festive finale, Eid ul-Fitr , begins with the sighting of the new moon, and marks the end of a month of fasting. Eid is a time for elaborate feasting. Because the placement of Ramadan in the calendar changes from one year to the next, the holiday has no seasonality and therefore no specific food is attached to Eid. But this is an occasion for good cooks to outdo themselves, and you can always expect that the Eid meal will be impressive and include plenty of sweet treats to make up for four weeks of self-denial.

stuffed tomatoes with pistachio pesto
    In these savory stuffed tomatoes, a lemony pistachio pesto melts into quinoa, tender white beans, and goat cheese. Make these tomatoes when you have leftover quinoa on hand, and serve them with flatbread and a simple green salad.
    serves 4
    4 medium heirloom or beefsteak tomatoes
    ⅓ cup pistachios
    4 scallions, green and white parts, coarsely chopped
    1 cup tightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley, plus extra for garnish
    Zest of 1 lemon
    3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
    Sea salt
    3 tablespoons grapeseed oil
    3 cloves garlic, minced
    1 heaping cup cooked quinoa
    ½ cup cooked white beans, rinsed and drained
    ⅓ pound chèvre-style goat cheese, crumbled
    Freshly ground black pepper
    Sumac, for garnish
    Preheat the oven to 425°F.
    Slice off the top ½ inch of the tomatoes, and scoop out the insides (save the tomato scraps to add to soups and stews). Place the tomatoes close together in a rimmed baking dish.
    In a food processor, combine the pistachios, scallions, parsley, lemon zest and juice, and 1 teaspoon salt. Pulse several times to form a coarse pesto.
    Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add the quinoa and beans and sauté over low heat for 10 minutes, until the garlic has mellowed. Stir in the pesto, and cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is heated through and fairly dry. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off the heat and fold in the goat cheese.
    Spoon the mixture into the tomatoes, filling them just above the rim. Drizzle with the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil, and roast for about 25 minutes, until the filling on top is golden.
    Carefully transfer the tomatoes onto a plate. If they’ve become very tender, you may need a couple of large spoons to move them without breaking. To serve, garnish with a sprinkling of sumac and a few torn parsley leaves.
     
    A Savory Prescription forHealth
    The true nature of Persian cuisine is fresh, unprocessed, and vegetable-centric, with a variety of ingredients that are carefully balanced within virtually every recipe and menu. The Persian diet leans toward the same heart-healthy, low-cholesterol guidelines that all Mediterranean diets do, but Iranians are perhaps more enthusiastic about theirvegetables than other cultures—after all, this is a land where boiled beets are among the most beloved of street foods!
    Vegetables, both cooked and raw, areeaten daily in Persian homes.