http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/137599018.html
BY CATHERINE DEHDASHTI , Special to the Star Tribune
A world of flavor accompanies this story of exile in an Iranian-American chef's memoir.
"Donia" is the Persian word for "world," and an apt name it is for Donia Bijan, author of "Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen" (Algonquin Books, $19.95, 250 pages). From Iran to Majorca, from California to France, Bijan was shaped by the kitchens of all of those places.
Of the dozen or more Iranian-American women's memoirs I've read, this is the first I've seen with recipes. Her 30 recipes go far beyond the traditional Persian dishes. That's because Bijan's story is one of a chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, interned at two- and three-star restaurants across France, and ran her own San Francisco Bay Area restaurant, L'Amie Donia.
"Maman's Homesick Pie" doesn't focus on Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, but the revolution does put in motion Bijan's entry to the United States at age 15. Her mother's political connection to the shah's regime and work as a women's advocate meant that the family could not return safely from a vacation in Majorca after revolutionaries came to power.
A different path
After finishing college at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Bijan realized she wanted to be a chef instead of following in her father's footsteps to become a doctor as he had expected her to do.
Her father mocked his daughter's "cookery scheme," noting the resemblance of ratatouille to a common Persian eggplant dip. "So this is what you've learned?" he asked her. "Your grandmother could have taught you this."
As much as she wanted to win her father's approval, Bijan knew that, like the chefs with whom she apprenticed in France, she couldn't choose any other career, and her mother supported her decision.
French recipes such as duck à l'orange and Persian-French creations like stuffed quince follow recipes for a persimmon parfait and a fava bean omelet from Bijan's childhood in Tehran and vacations by the Caspian Sea. The memoir is largely a tribute to her mother, who threw herself into American cooking in order to adjust to U.S. life, thus a recipe for apple pie keeps sync with the story.
When Bijan opened L'Amie Donia, she enhanced its French-American cuisine with ingredients such as pomegranate, saffron, quinces and cardamom. She writes that she drew from her Persian, French and American pantry "not for the sake of novelty, but because I couldn't help being a sum of those cuisines."
"I began to imagine the marriage of French and Persian flavors, conjuring wild menus in my head, like seared duck livers with sour cherries, or cardamom crème caramel with pistachio tuiles," she writes.
By channeling the Iran of her pre-revolution childhood, the California of a family in exile and the France of a budding chef, Bijan builds a bridge of commensality.
Although there is stinging loss and sadness in her story, I closed the book feeling like the author had just been sharing memories and recipes with her many friends of the world, and that I was now one of them.
Catherine Dehdashti, a freelance writer from Eagan, can be reached at cdehdashti@yahoo.com.
Recipe: Braised chicken with prunes
Serves 4.
Note: Serve this simple dish with soft polenta, couscous or saffron rice. From "Maman's Homesick Pie: A Persian Heart in an American Kitchen," by Donia Bijan.
• 4 whole free-range chicken legs
• 3 tbsp. olive oil, divided
• 1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
• 1 tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 2 whole cloves
• Juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2 c. water or chicken broth
• 11/2 c. pitted prunes
• Kosher salt and fresh-ground pepper
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Season the chicken legs well on both sides with salt and pepper. In a cast-iron skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat, brown the chicken, skin side down, in 1 tablespoon olive oil. Briefly turn the chicken legs to brown on the other side. Remove the chicken legs and arrange them in an ovenproof dish.
Discard the fat, and in the same skillet, sauté the onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil until soft and translucent. Add honey, cinnamon, cloves, lemon peel, lemon juice, and water or chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add the prunes and check the seasoning, adding more salt or lemon juice according to your taste.
Carefully pour the broth with the plums over the chicken legs. Cover and braise in the oven for 1 hour. Remove the chicken pieces and prunes, arranging them on a platter and covering them with foil to keep warm.
Simmer the remaining broth until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, spoon it over the chicken and serve.
Nutrition information per serving:
Calories 490 Fat 21 g Sodium 110 mg
Carbohydrates 51 g Saturated fat 5 g Calcium 64 mg
Protein 29 g Cholesterol 105 mg Dietary fiber 6 g
Diabetic exchanges per serving: 3 fruit, 1/2 other carb, 4 medium-fat meat.
