I rarely eat the same thing twice. A food or drink has to be really and truly insanely delicious for me to make it more than once; I guess that says a lot about this shake since I blended it up four times last week.
The shake recipe comes from a wonderful new book (that’s officially out today!) called The New Persian Kitchen
. I received a review copy from Ten Speed Press a couple of weeks ago and I simply can’t get enough of author Louisa Shaffia’s beautiful writing, or her food.
This is Louisa’s second book. I adored her first one (Lucid Food: Cooking for an Eco-Conscious Life
), too. In fact, I wrote extensively about Lucid Food in a series of posts back in 2010: this granola is one of the recipes I featured.
One of the things I like best about The New Persian Kitchen is how Louisa weaves exotic, traditional Persian ingredients into contemporary dishes. Some of the recipes I most look forward to making include:
Cold Pistachio Soup with Mint and Leeks
Whole Roasted Fish with Oranges and Saffron
Sour Cherry and Rose Preserves
Herb Frittata with Walnuts and Rose Petals
Grilled liver with Cumin, Garlic, and Fresh Basil
Pomegranate Semifreddo with Blood Orange Compote
No-bake Persimmon and Goat Cheese Cheesecake
Don’t these recipes sound amazing? I am also a big fan of the ways in which Louisa shares cultural and historical information in this book. And the photography? It’s positively dreamy, as is always the case when Sara Remington is behind the lens.
I simply can’t say enough good things about this book, and I am pleased to let you know that Ten Speed Press has generously offered to send a copy of the New Persian Kitchen to one of my readers! You’ll find the information about how to enter the giveaway at the end of the post.
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To enter the giveaway for a copy of The New Persian Kitchen:
Mandatory entry: Leave a comment on this post from now through Monday April 21st, 2013 at midnight (I won’t accept entries after that time).
Optional: For an extra entry, join my community on Facebook and then leave me a comment telling me you did so. If you’re already a fan on Facebook, let me know in the comments section.
Optional: For a third entry, you can sign up for my blog’s email updates (you’ll find the sign up box in the top right sidebar of my blog). Once you are signed up, just leave a comment letting me know.
So that’s it! There are up to three entries for each person and I’ll choose a winner via random.com next Tuesday morning. I will notify the winner by email so make sure I have a valid email address for you. US readers only, please. Good luck!
Recipe for Date Shake with Toasted Nuts
Ingredients
Shake:
- *1 banana peeled and frozen
- *8 Medjool dates pitted
- *1/2 cup plain yogurt not thick
- *1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- *Pinch of ground cinnamon
- *Pinch of sea salt
- *2 cups ice cubes
- *3/4 cup to 1 cup water
Toppings:
- *1 tablespoon toasted unsweetened coconut flakes
- *1 tablespoon toasted almonds coarsely chopped
- *1 tablespoon toasted walnuts coarsely chopped
- *1 tablespoon toasted pistachios coarsely chopped
- *1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Cut the banana into 1-inch-thick slices and place them in a blender. Add the dates, yogurt, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, ice cubes, and 3/4 cup water and blend until smooth. Add an additional 1/4 cup water if the shake is too thick. Pour into glasses, top with rows of coconut flakes, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, and sesame seeds, and serve.
