This week’s menu has been a few weeks in the making, and even longer in the thinking. Meaning that I’ve been thinking about the flavors and techniques featured here for a while. They’re not quite entirely or even slightly authentically Persian, but definitely inspired by the ancient cuisine of that region – one influenced by millenniums of cooks working and living at one of the great crossroads of the world.
This is a long way of saying I wanted to mess about with making a variation of the famous crispy rice dish known as Tahdig. Basically – I built the rest of this meal around that.
Well, around that, and around what I had in the fridge and freezer. One of those things was a fabulous locally raised duck from our friends at WIT Farms.
Everything else was just me making it up as I went.
Cucumber and Tomato Salad
I know I know. Yes. It’s another cucumber salad – though in some ways this one is almost more like a salsa. It’s somewhere between a salad and a sauce and a condiment. It’s also a great, simple accompaniment to a rich dish like the spice roasted duck you’ll find below. The acidity and crisp texture pair perfectly with the fatty richness of the duck – but of course it’s also good with lamb, chicken, pretty much whatever you want.
4 Persian cucumbers or 1 English cucumber
1 large tomato
1 medium red onion
1 tbsp julienned fresh mint
½ tbsp kosher salt
1 tbsp lemon juice or a mixture of lime and lemon
Peel, trim, and finely dice the onion.
Seed, trim, and finely dice the tomato.
Seed, and finely dice the cucumber/s.
Add all ingredients – except the mint - to a non-reactive bowl and toss well.
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and stir in the mint immediately before serving.
Broccolini with Caramelized Onions, Tomatoes, Yogurt, and Honey
In some ways, this dish is similar to another I’ve done previously for this newsletter. That wasn’t entirely intentional – to be honest I’d forgotten that dish when I stared working on these dishes a few weeks ago. But now – having gone back and searched the archives (just to be sure) I realize that even if I’d forgotten it, the basic idea is a good one because the flavors work well together. The bright acidity and creaminess of the yogurt compliments the bitterness of the broccoli and makes it seem almost sweeter – the same trick works for the more aggressively bitter Brocoli Rabe.
Unlike that last dish – which mostly just used char to flavor the broccoli, here we’ll make a tomato and onion relish to add some sweetness and richness.
1 bunch baby broccoli or broccolini
1 large tomato
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic
½ cup whole milk yogurt
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ tsp ground coriander
½ tsp minced fresh ginger
½ tsp kosher salt plus additional salt to taste
1 tsp dried red chili flake (opt)
Prepare a large pot of heavily salted boiling water and an ice bath.
Blanch the broccolini for 1 minute, then shock in the ice bath.
Drain well, and set aside.
Peel, trim, and mince the garlic.
Peel, trim, and finely dice the onion.
Trim, seed, and finely chop the tomato.
Add the olive oil to a prying pan over medium heat.
Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, until the onions are a deep brown.
Add the ginger and garlic (and chili flake if using) to the pan and cook for 1 minute.
Add the coriander, tomato, and salt. Cook until the tomato is complete broken down, begging to darken, and most of the moisture is cooked off.
Add the broccolini to the pan and cook until heated through.
Spread the yogurt on a plate, top with the broccolini, the tomato mixture, and then drizzle with honey.
Tahdig Style Jeweled Rice
Almost all cultures where rice is a staple have some form of crispy rice. The same way the the firm edges of a brownie, or the lacy cheese that’s dripped out of a sandwich are the best parts, crispy rice dishes take what was probably once a delicious accident and turn it into a repeatable technique to give you the best part every time and in every bite.
2 cups basmati rice
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp neutral oil
1 tbsp julienned orange zest
1 medium shallot
½ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp grated cinnamon
¼ cup dried cherries
2 tbsp whole milk yogurt
4 threads saffron + 2 tbsp boiling water
¼ cup pistachios
Gold Foil (opt)
Prepare a large pot of heavily salted boiling water.
Add the rice and stir well to ensure there are no clumps.
Cook the rice for 5 minutes at a low boil, stirring occasionally.
Drain the rice, then rinse under cool water.
Peel, trim, and finely mince the shallot.
Coarsely chop the pistachios.
If the dried cherries are particularly large, chop them coarsely – you can use smaller cherries whole.
In a non-reactive bowl, combine the yogurt, and 1 cup of the par-boiled rice.
In a second, larger non-reactive bowl, combine the cherries, orange zest, spices, the remaining rice, and the saffron water.
Place a large, lidded non-stick pan over medium heat.
Add the oil and butter.
Once the butter Is melted, add the yogurt and rice mixture, using a spatula to spread it into a thin, even layer.
Layer the spiced and fruited rice on top.
Sprinkle 1/3 cup of cool water over the rice, and cover tightly.
Cook on low heat until the rice is tender, and a crisp browned crust has formed on the bottom.
Invert onto a plate and serve garnished with chopped pistachios.
Spiced Roasted Duck – lime, ginger, coriander, honey, and sumac
Roasted duck is one of my favorite dishes – but sometimes it’s a little finicky. It’s hard to get that balance of crispy skin and rich moist meat without ending up with bird that’s either chewy or dried out. The fact that it can be an expensive protein makes that seem even that much more intimidating.
The thing is, even that sort of chewy, possibly dried out duck will still have all the wonderful flavor of duck – rich, slightly gamey, full and round in a way that’s hard to explain. And like anything else that requires practice and repetition – you’ll get closer to your own sort of perfect every time you try.
Basically what I’m stumbling to get at which this rambling failure of an inspiration screed is that you shouldn’t be afraid of duck. Duck is wonderful. Eat duck.
The trick to this recipe – if you want to call it a trick – is using boiling water and an overnight rest to tighten and dry out the skin of the duck prior to seasoning and cooking it. Then a slow roast followed by a quick pass in a hot oven to crisp everything up.
1 whole duck
2 cloves garlic
Zest of 1 lime
1 tbsp honey
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp sumac
½ tsp ground coriander
Clean the duck.
Pour two cups of boiling water over the skin, then blot dry.
Refrigerate uncovered for 8-12 hours to dry the skin.
Add the lime zest (or dried lime if using), garlic, honey, salt, ginger, coriander, and sumac to the container of a small blender, mortar and pestle, or spice grinder.
Process until a smooth paste forms.
Spread this paste evenly over the skin of the duck
Preheat your oven to 300°F.
Roast the duck at 300°F for 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the breast reaches 140°F.
Raise the oven temperature to 400°F and cook until the skin is crisped and browning.
Remove from the oven and allow to rest 10 minutes before carving or portioning.
Optionally, garnish with gold foil, herbs, and nuts.