An Exaltation of Soups by Patricia Solley

Author:Patricia Solley
Language: ru
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: food
ISBN: 9780307523136
Publisher: Three Rivers Press
Published: 2004-12-28T10:00:00+00:00

IRAN (PERSIA)

NOODLE SOUP

SH-E RESHTEH

Now the New Year reviving old Desires,

The thoughtful Soul to Solitude retires,

Where the white hand of Moses on the bough

Puts out, and Jesus from the ground suspires.

—OMAR KHAYYAM, eleventh-century Persian poet, from THE RUBIYAT, verse 4

Serves 6 to 8

THIS ANCIENT SOUP to celebrate No Ruz (New Year) on March 21 began life in Zoroastrian Persia, made then of spinach and clover that was freshly sprouting in mid-March and thickened with a paste of flour and water. Over time, the flour-and-water paste thickened into dumplings, and by A.D. 500, at the court of Sassanian King Kobad, tales from Old Persian literature indicate those dumplings had forever turned to noodles, 700 years before pasta turned up for the first time in Italy. This recipe is rich in native Iranian ingredients, but also reflective of its central position on the hump of the Silk Road, with traders and their fabled foodstuffs endlessly peregrinating through it, east to west and west to east and back again.

sh-e reshteh is a glorious soup, stuffed with grains and greens, multicolored, multitextured, and oh-so-exquisitely aromatic for all the stumpingly hearty foods in it. You can ladle it into separate bowls and garnish individually, but it’s really lovely in one big tureen ladled out to hungry guests who are anxious for a lucky New Year. Be sure to have warm bread and lemon juice on the side.

¼ cup dried red kidney beans

½ cup dried chickpeas

¼ cup dried white navy beans

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, sliced in half from stem to top, then thinly into half-moons

Pinch of saffron threads, crushed to a powder with a few grains of sugar and dissolved in 2 teaspoons of hot water

½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper

8 cups (2 quarts) Vegetable Stock

¾ cup brown lentils

1 lemon, juiced

½ teaspoon dried dill, crumbled between your palms

1 cup chopped fresh parsley

1 cup chopped green onions, white and some green parts

2 cups fresh spinach, washed, stemmed, stacked, and thinly sliced

Salt to taste

1 cup Persian noodles or linguine, broken into short lengths

2 tablespoons sour cream (a substitute for Persian kashk, or dried buttermilk)

GARNISH

¼ cup na’nâ dâgh (1 small minced onion and 1 teaspoon dried mint fried in 1 tablespoon oil)

Dollop of sour cream (or kashk)

Sprinkling of turmeric

RESHTEH AND NO RUZ

Reshteh, the name of this flat noodle, actually means “string” or “reins of life” in Persian, and it is traditionally cooked into dishes when momentous ventures are to be undertaken. Not just at No Ruz, when families wish to “cut the knots of trouble” in their lives and at the same time “tie themselves together,” but also before journeys or when important decisions are to be made—in fact, at any time when a fresh start in life is needed.

As for No Ruz itself, it has always been a time of renewal and family celebration. From earliest times, homes were scrubbed, ceramic pots broken and replaced (hygienic reasons!), and fires lit on roofs to guide one’s ancestors safely home from heaven on the cusp of the New Year to feast with the family for the next ten days.

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