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Recipes & pairings

A Persian table at 19:30

Tahdig, an aubergine stew that wants twenty minutes more than the recipe says, and a glass of Saffron Gin with tonic and orange peel. A first-Tuesday-of-the-month menu we serve at home.

A Persian table at 19:30 — cover

First Tuesdays at home: tahdig, a slow aubergine stew, flatbread torn rather than cut, and one drink before sitting down. The tahdig is non-negotiable. It is the entire reason a flat in Amsterdam-West needed a heavy-bottomed pot.

For the drink: 50ml Saffron Gin, 150ml premium tonic, a long curl of orange peel expressed over the glass and dropped in. The peel matters more than the tonic does. The orange oil hits the saffron at exactly the angle that makes both ingredients sit forward.

The aubergine stew (khoresh bademjan) wants twenty minutes more than every recipe says. The aubergines should be collapsed, not just soft; the tomato should be jam, not sauce. Saffron in the rice for tahdig, never in the stew — they fight in the same dish.

After dinner we open a Shiraz Red and let it breathe in glasses, not a decanter. We are not staging a dinner. We are eating one. The wine is bottled at 13.5% because that’s where we want to be on a weeknight.

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