food comas

As I was preparing my Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb with a Honey Mustard Glaze, I was trying to think of a lighter side dish to serve with it.  I recalled the first time I had made Baby Lamb Chops with a Cucumber-Mint Relish, I served it with a tomato, cucumber, red onion and mint salad.  It was a refreshing complement to the lamb and I figured it was worth repeating.  However, this time I found the proper origins of the salad in Persian cuisine.  I asked our friend Roza for the recipe, and as most family recipes go, the amounts were all very arbitrary.  Basically, she just said to chop some tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and mint and toss with a lemon vinaigrette.  So I attempted to measure and record the portions as I made it but of course it’s all up to personal taste!

The traditional Salad Shirazi contains only mint; however, I had a lot of parsley (and some recipes do ask for parsley) so I threw some of that in too.

Salad Shirazi

Yields: 6-8 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 English cucumbers (or 4 Persian cucumbers), peeled and diced
• 4 medium tomatoes, diced
• 1  medium red onion, diced
• 1/2 C fresh mint, finely chopped
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 T lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Chop all your vegetables and herbs and mix together in a large bowl.  Toss with olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!