When Iranian writer and photographer Saghar Setareh moved to Rome in 2007 to study at the Fine Art Academy, she was inspired by the rich food culture of her new home. This sparked a curiosity in the cuisine of her homeland and the surrounding countries of the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean.
Divided into three sections representing stops on Saghar's “road trip”, the book covers Iran, “In-Between” and Italy, and features more than 80 recipes. Saghar also runs Persian and Italian cooking classes in cities across Italy.
ORANGE-SCENTED RICE CAKE — ITALY TORTA DI RISO AL PROFUMO D'ARANCIO
There is something universal about cooking rice in milk that translates to instant comfort — a soothing embrace that goes beyond borders and cultures and unifies them in silky sweetness. People everywhere make some form of rice pudding. Some more runny, some more dense. Some served cold or at room temperature, some warm. Rice pudding goes by a literal name almost everywhere: shir berenj in Persian, riz bel halib in Arabic, sultac in Turkish, rizogalo in Greek, and budino di riso in Italian.
More than the density or the temperature it's served at, what makes the rice pudding of each region distinct are the aromatics and spices used. In Iran, rosewater is often used; and when made with saffron, the rice pudding is cooked in water rather than milk and becomes sholeh zard. Sometimes a few cardamom pods are added too; my mother would use only cardamom and almost no sugar and serve the pudding cold with sourcherry jam. In Lebanon, Syria and other parts of the Levant, rosewater, orange blossom water or both are used. Orange zest, a continuation of orange blossom water, also starts appearing here, with citrus coming forth more often in southern Italy and Spain, as a souvenir of the Arabs who first brought them here. The more we travel west, the more present vanilla becomes.
The following recipe is, by all accounts, just another rice pudding, with an addition of eggs, then baked. I am not sure about its origins, but I have eaten similar cakes both in [Italy's] Bologna and in the region of Campania.
When it comes to orange-f lavoured cakes that lie halfway between a cake and pudding, I can't not think of the famous almond and orange cake of the legendary Claudia Roden. She first wrote about it in , and it has inspired and obsessed many home bakers and cookery writers alike — including me. Two oranges are
