Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & Beyond

If you’re not sure what to get me as a gift then let me tell you I’m a sucker for cookbooks, especially ones with amazing photography, as well as awesome recipes, so I was delighted to get Persiana: Recipes from the Middle East & Beyond by  Sabrina Ghayour for my birthday.

I cook a lot of turkish/cypriot food, and many middle eastern countries share influences and culture which are reflected in their recipes. Browsing through I was happy to see some of my favourites but also inspired by the other recipes too so I couldn’t wait to try them out.

Following a traditional Christmas roast on Christmas Day we invited the family over a couple of days later for a Persiana inspired me and as you can tell from the photo below they were happy with the menu!

The Menu

The menu consisted of Lamb and Apricot Tagine, Tomato Bulgar Wheat, Tomato and Pomegranate Molasses Salad, Flatbreads, Cacik, and Houmous. Lovely! Then for dessert I made Pistachio and Orange Ice cream!

I spent a long time preparing, but it was great fun, and the recipes were easy to follow. It was also a benefit to have such lovely photography for each recipe in the book as this served as a handy guide for presentation and knowing what the food is meant to look like.

I’ve got a well stocked spice rack but still needed a few ingredients, Pomegranate Molasses anyone? But with some forward planning I was able to get all I needed.

Below is the Tomato and Pomegranate Molasses Salad, which was very simple to make but made a change from traditional salads and I can see myself making this again and again with a variety of different meals. I would’ve taken more photos but was too busy eating it all!

Get the Book

If you want to be inspired and get a taste of the Middle East and Beyond then you can order this book in hardback on Amazon for only £9.99.

Hear from the author in the video below and get inspired!