Andy Baraghani Talks Food, Identity in New Cookbook

Andy Baraghani describes himself as curious. He is interested in cooking, traveling, fusing those passions, and sharing what he has learned with others.

That curiosity underlies the philosophy behind it His next cookbook, “Cooking You Want to Be: Daily Recipes to Impress,” will be released on May 24th by Lorena Jones Books (Penguin Random House).

“I want to collect and process as much information and knowledge as possible and keep it, or better yet, be able to convey that information,” Barragany told Healthline.

Barragany, a cook, food writer, recipe developer, and former Bon Appétit and Saveur editor, is about to do just that with cookbooks. Guide your readers to cooking experience, nutritional knowledge, and cooking that requires less kitchen utensils.

Over 120 recipes are inspired by his identity as a first-generation Iranian-American in Queer and his experience traveling around the world and cooking at restaurants such as Shepanise and Estella.

To that end, cookbooks contain personal essays that explore those inspirations and provide practical advice on how to cook more easily.

“This book has personal stories and experiences I wrote, but I took the reader to accept those stories, accept those techniques, accept these recipes, and the knowledge they learned through me. Experience your life so that you can be more empowered in the kitchen and become the cook you want to be, “Balagarney said.

Cookbooks range from “mighty little recipes” such as sauces and dressings to shareable snacks (Borani, also known as the Queen of All Yogurt Dip), meat-based dishes, and desserts such as apples and tahini galettes.

But Barragany said, “This book is mostly vegetables.”

In fact, one of his favorite chapters is “Salad for Days”. As you can imagine, it’s completely devoted to innovative salads such as Eat-with-Everything Cucumber Salad and Fat Pieces of Citrus with Avocado and Caramelized Dates.

Another favorite chapter, “Mind Your Veg,” brings vegetables to the fore with recipes such as caramelized sweet potatoes with brown butter harissa and pea beans with feta cheese and large chunks of zhug.

“I really tried to give people choices and variations.” Barragany said. “I really tried to think of something that would not only make people easily accessible, but also make me feel better after preparing this meal.”

“We want food not only to taste good, but also to make us feel better.”

— Andy Barragany

As part of that effort, he said, it also includes writing recipes that readers don’t expect to use if they don’t need or have kitchen gadgets such as juicers and garlic presses at hand. Told.

The book contains a guide to kitchen utensils and utensils that people may find useful, but Barragany states that it is important to stay practical.

“I think there is this fear among many people who cook,” he said. “Adding all this equipment makes a task that isn’t quite complicated too complicated.”

So, in the days of YouTube chefs and TikTok recipes, Barragany was encouraged to publish printed cookbooks instead of sharing these recipes online.

He said the printed cookbook encourages the important thing that social media dishes don’t always leave space.

In addition, Barragany was given the opportunity to work with designers, photographers and other artists to lay out cookbooks, allowing the books themselves to contribute to storytelling in their own way.

“At least for me, there’s still something very satisfying, without cooking from a book, scrolling down pages or looking at the phone,” he said. “I want people to sit down with images. I want people to know the taste of types, titles, copies, headnotes, sidebars, recipes. I don’t think it happens often in digital media. increase.”

You can order “The Cook You Want to Be: An Impressive Daily Recipes” Lorena Jones Books via Amazon (Penguin Random House) Here.

“I certainly don’t promise that you will be the greatest cook in the world after this book,” Barragany said. “I promise you will learn at least one thing that makes you a more confident and curious cook.”

There are many recipes for pasta and sessi (chickpea pasta). Most of the things I’ve come across are soup-like broths. This recipe emphasizes both chickpeas and pasta, but is just as comfortable and creamy as the regular version. Much of the magic of this dish is to crush chickpeas, so chickpeas release starch and turn pasta water into a creamy sauce. Some chickpeas retain their shape, while others turn into delicious mash. Caramel lemon gives a chewy taste and brings back the boiled pasta. It’s incredibly satisfying. If you still need to convince you to make this, know that it was the first meal I made for my boyfriend and he has been attached to me ever since. — Andy Barragany

Saab: 4 (and maybe some leftovers, though I doubt it)

material

• Kosher salt
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small meyer or regular lemon, sliced ​​thinly and picked seeds
• 1 (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 large finely chopped shallot
• 1 rosemary twig or 4 thyme twigs
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 lb tubular pasta (Calamarata, Paccheri, Rigatoni, etc.)
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, chopped
• 1/2 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese, and for serving

direction

1. Put water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, then add a handful of salt (about 1/4 cup).
2. While the water is working, heat another large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and pour in the olive oil. Add lemon, turn the slices over with tongs and heat for 6-8 minutes until they turn light brown and begin to shrink. Using tongs, transfer the caramel lemon slices to a bowl and leave the oil in the pan.
3. Soak the chickpeas in oil and stir occasionally for 5-7 minutes to make them slightly crispy and golden. Add shallot, crush the rosemary to release the oil and drop it in a pan. Season with salt and plenty of pepper and stir everything. Heat for 3-5 minutes until the shallot begins to soften. In the meantime, add the pasta to boiling water and cook until the al dente is about 2 minutes shorter than the package suggests (the sauce finishes cooking).
4. Just before the pasta becomes al dente, scoop up 2 cups of pasta water. Add 11/2 cup of pasta water to a pan with chickpeas and simmer over medium heat. (It may look like a liquid, but it will thicken when you add the rest of the ingredients.) Add butter and stir, one at a time, until you have one pasta water and one butter.
5. Use a slot spoon to transfer the pasta to the sauce. Cook, stir frequently and sprinkle with parmesan cheese in small portions. (Do not add the cheese all at once. The sauce may crack and the particles may become coarse.) Continue to stir for about 3 minutes until the cheese melts and the sauce becomes creamy and clings to the pasta. If the sauce is too thick, add pasta water and dilute 1-2 tablespoons at a time (although a saucer is ideal as it will thicken as it cools). Turn off the heat and add the caramel lemon. Sprinkle with an almost ridiculous amount of pepper and more parmesan cheese before serving.

Rose Thorne is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Healthline Nutrition. Rose, a 2021 graduate of Mercer University with a degree in journalism and women’s and gender studies, has buylines such as Business Insider, The Washington Post, Lily, and Georgia Public Broadcasting. Her most proud professional achievements in her Rose include working for Fair Fight Action, the editor-in-chief of a college newspaper and a national voting organization. She covers the crossroads of gender, sexuality and health, and is a member of the LGBTQ + Journalists Association and the Transjournalist Association... You can find rose twitter..