Just when you think that there is nothing more to be said or written about the cooking of the Middle East, because Claudia and, latterly, Yotam and Sami, aided by Diana Henry, have so definitively made that turf their own, along comes a book that shows you that the riches of Middle Eastern cooking may indeed be depthless.
“Persiana”, by Sabrina Ghayour, is that book.
Ms Ghayour runs the Persian Supper Club, organises pop-ups, and appears in the English food media. I knew absolutely none of these details about her, and it didn't matter, for Persiana stands alone as a brilliant work of creativity. Even before I had cooked anything from it I found I was recommending it to people, for it has that rare gift of being a captivating work, helped by some terrific photography by Max and Liz Haarla Hamilton.
And when you do cook from it, you find that Ms Ghayour's food is wonderfully logical and clean, and very approachable: the recipes run one to a page, with an accompanying photo, so even if you are unfamiliar with rose petals, and pul biber, and sour cherry meatballs, the book makes you want to dive straight in and get that za'atar and that tamarind paste and get those flavours on the plate.
Whilst Ms Ghayour is based in London, her background is Iranian, and it is the fusion of these two voices, the stereophonic collision of culture and creativity, that makes the book zing. “Persiana” is special.
(Mitchell Beazley, £25stg.)
