RECIPE: Make Zafron Restaurant’s Mirza Ghasemi
My friends, family and I love to eat at Zafron Restaurant in Sandy Springs. The people are great and the service is wonderful, but the food is what we keep going back for. One appetizer we especially love is the mirza ghasemi. We would love to have the recipe for this eggplant dish. Thank you! — Susan Cohn, Marietta
Peter Teimori, chef and owner of Zafron, says mirza ghassemi is an Iranian appetizer or main dish based on tandoori or grilled eggplant frequently found in northern Iran and the Caspian Sea region. The restaurant prepares this dish with five medium eggplants. We’ve cut that down for our home cooks. Serve the eggplant with flatbread as an appetizer or light lunch.
- 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced onion
- 1 1-pound eggplant
- 1 large tomato
- 5 garlic cloves, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- Large cherry tomatoes, halved, for garnish if desired
- In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons over medium-high heat. Add onion and fry, stirring frequently, until crisp and golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and set aside.
- Heat a gas or charcoal grill to very hot. Arrange the eggplant and large tomato over direct heat and grill until eggplant skins are blackened and flesh is softened all the way through, about 20 minutes, and until tomato until skin is blistered and flesh is softened all the way through, 5 to 10 minutes. Let cool.
- Remove the charred and blistered skins from eggplant and tomato and roughly dice the flesh. Set aside.
- In a large cast-iron skillet, warm remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil over low heat. Add garlic and saute until translucent, stirring constantly, about 5 minutes. Do not brown garlic. Add diced grilled eggplant and tomatoes and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover and cook 10 minutes.
- If you wish, serve the eggplant directly from the skillet, topping with reserved fried onions and garnish with cherry tomatoes, if desired. Makes 1 cup.
Nutritional information
Per serving: Per 1/4-cup serving: 162 calories (percent of calories from fat, 73), 2 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 14 grams total fat (2 grams saturated), no cholesterol, 35 milligrams sodium.From the menu of ... Zafron Restaurant, 236 Johnson Ferry Road, Sandy Springs. 404-255-7402, persianrestaurantsandysprings.com.
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