Rosemary Two Ways

The night we arrived back in the city, we had a visit from our friends V. and R. They brought gifts: a rosemary cake baked by V., which she calls her "wake-cake" because "rosemary is for remembrance." It was moist and delicious, with a spring of rosemary embedded in the top crust and the whole thing dusted with crystallized sugar. (There's a tiny bit left -- and teatime is coming up.)

Then R. held out his hands, which contained a round paper box. Inside was a nest of fresh herbs, plucked generously from their garden, and in the curled green nest were two opened hazelnut burrs, looking like green sea anemones - not to eat, but to admire. The herbs -- tarragon, sage, rosemary and thyme -- begged to be used in their freshness, so the next day I added some parsley and dill, some sauteed mushrooms, onion, and walnuts, with saffron, lime and spices, and turned them into a favorite Persian dish, kuku sabzi, a kind of oven-baked frittata. Kuku is the persian word for these sorts of baked egg dishes, and sabzi means herbs, which are eaten in great quantities in that wonderful cuisine. Iranians will tell you that the best herbs, with the most flavor, are grown in the sea air on the sides of their mountains, and from the dried samples I've tasted I think they may be right. But these Montreal-grown herbs made a wonderful kuku, which we ate fresh from the oven with yogurt and tomato salad, and then the next day sliced cold inside pita sandwiches. Delicious!

Comments

[dale]

yum!

[Kaycie]

Sounds delicious.

Last night I roasted chicken with potatoes and onions from the farmer's market as well as Greek oregano and rosemary from my little garden. I seasoned it simply with sea salt and cracked black pepper then doused it with a bit of good olive oil. A different sort of meal, but satisfying and like yours, made with fresh ingredients.

[Peter]

Tonight was our seventeenth anniversary, and we ate at a seafood place. Good food, but not as pretty or as interesting as yours!

[marja-leena]

I can just smell and taste this! You have made me hungry and to try make some kuku sabzi.

[zuleme]

Could I get those recipes? I have rosemary growing and other herbs. We love zucchini sauted with butter, olive oil and lots of rosemary.

[Nancy]

In Hindi/ Urdu, sabzi means vegetables generally; sabz is Urdu for the color green. These are obviously Persian imports, with the meaning slightly altered. I must try making rosemary cake! It sounds wonderful. Your meal looks beautiful too.

[beth]

In Farsi (Persian, Iranian) "sabz" also means "green". I believe that sabzi means, literally "greens", which can be generally "vegetables" or, in some Persian dialects, as specific as "spinach." Urdu is full of borrow-words, isn't it, Nancy? so these seem to have come directly from the Persian.

I'll try to get the rosemary cake recipe - it's very good.

for the kuku sabzi:

Boil some water and grind up a small amount of saffron threads, then pour 1/4 cup of the hot water on the saffron in a small glass or jar, and immediately cover with a saucer or lid and allow to steep for ten minutes while you do the rest of the preparation.

You'll need 4 eggs, beaten with a tablespoon of flour, and a teaspoon, more or less, of species: you can use a mixture of cinnamon, coriander, all spice, and cumin, and some powdered dried lemon if you have it, plus 1/2 t salt and some freshly ground pepper.

Separately, saute a handful of mushrooms and a generous amount of onion (I use Spanish onions - you can also add green onions or chives or leeks to your mixture.) Loosely chop up whatever herbs you have to give a couple of cups of greens - you can also use spinach. Mix the greens and sauteed vegetables into the eggs, and add 1/4 cup chopped walnuts. Add 1 1/2 T of the saffron water, plus a tablespoon of lime juice.

Turn the mixture into an oiled round baking dish - I prefer glass-like dishes like pyrex or glazed terracotta - I use olive oil and then dust it with breadcrumbs to give a nice crust. Bake at least half an hour, or more, until the top is golden and the eggs are puffed and set. In my dish it takes about 45 minutes. You can also cook this on top of the stove in a cast iron pan but the texture will be bit different.

[Rana]

Reading this made my stomach growl! :)

[kathy a.]

that looks and sounds so wonderful.

[Robb]

Kia ora Beth,
Beautiful post and those photos rate among some of the best food shots I have seen. I am hungry as well! Kia ora.
Rangimarie,
Robb

[beth]

Thanks, all - let me know how your cooking comes out.

If you want to see some REALLY enticing food shots, try this post from Istanbul:
http://szerlem.blogspot.com/2008/08/istanbul-food-porn.html

[Fred Garber]

Looks and sounds yummy!!! When I was a kid and lived in Spain we enjoyed rosemary blossom honey! Didn't some large rosemary plants hide Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus from the pharoah's soldiers?

[Mouse]

Here in this Backwater of Brittany edible gifts are the norm rather than the exception. There is not a day goes by in summer that I do not find a bag of garden produce hanging from my gate and when people visit they bring such delights that The FVH kitchen looks like a harvest festival altar
I shall miss this when I return to England, sigh...