Pomegranates and Artichokes: Recipes and memories of a journey from Iran to Italy by Saghar Setareh

  • The typical Iranian breakfast platter (Sobhaneh)

    The typical Iranian breakfast platter (Sobhaneh) (page 28)

    from Pomegranates and Artichokes: Recipes and memories of a journey from Iran to Italy Pomegranates and Artichokes by Saghar Setareh

    • Categories: Breakfast / brunch; Iranian; Vegetarian
    • Ingredients: feta cheese; clotted cream; honey; cucumbers; butter; flat bread; tea; sugar; black tea; tomatoes; jam; hard boiled egg; walnuts
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  • Show all Recipes...

Notes about this book

  • SULibraries on October 18, 2025

    641.5676 S495p 2023 (LOU)

  • dangtangy on February 20, 2023

    I was kindly given an advanced copy of this book by NetGalley. The pictures and text are both mouthwatering, and the recipe instructions are very clear without being too over the top. I've cooked Imam Bayildi. Setareh asks you to cook the onions more thoroughly than other recipes. I think that makes it more flavourful and unctious. I've also cooked the Sheermal -- a leavened milky flatbread which is delicious. I just put everything in the bread machine rather than following her precise instructions. It also looks really pretty. The Muhammara -- smoked red pepper and walnut dip with pomegranate molasses has a very moreish grainy texture, well balanced sweet and sour and real depth of flavour.

Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Chicken braised with pomegranate (Khoresh-e nārdoon)

    • Clumsykristel on November 19, 2023

      This was a messy make - turmeric and pomegranate juice everywhere - but very flavourful and worth the trouble. I served with storebought naan because I had it but wished for mashed potatoes to drizzle the sauce over. Rice would probably be more traditional. We didn't love the pomegranate arils but you can't beat them for the added drama in presentation.

  • Saffron & rosewater sharbat (Sharbat-e golab-o za'feran)

    • Anea25 on May 29, 2026

      nice drink, needs to be very cold for it to really shine. The flavor is quite unique and strong, it won't be everybody's cup of tea but I enjoyed it a lot. I wouldn't make it too often though, you could probably get tired from it but occasionnally a great refreshing and original drink.

  • An easy Italian ring cake (Ciambellone)

    • anniecc on March 24, 2026

      I don't have a ring tin so made this in a bundt tin. The recipe says to bake for 50 mins, I checked at 45 mins and it was already overbaked. I think 40 mins would have been better.The cake was rather dry, which would possibly have been improved if I hadn't overbaked it. I did like the crust.

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  • ISBN 10 1922351660
  • ISBN 13 9781922351661
  • Linked ISBNs
  • Published May 04 2023
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 288
  • Language English
  • Countries United Kingdom
  • Publisher Murdoch

Publishers Text

From photographer and food writer Saghar Setarah comes a cookbook full of rich new recipes that show how ingredients and recipes–unconstrained by borders–are shared and transformed through the immigrant experience.

When Iranian writer and food photographer Saghar Setarah moved to Italy at the age of 22, she was enchanted by the rich food culture of her adopted country, and this inspired a curiosity in the cuisine of her homeland and the surrounding countries of the Levant and Eastern Mediterranean. Pomegranates and Artichokes is the story of Saghar’s own culinary journey from Iran to Italy, in which she describes the many parallels that link Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food cultures, and shows how ingredients and recipes–unconstrained by borders–are shared and transformed through the immigrant experience.

Divided into three sections representing stops on Saghar’s culinary “road trip”­–Iran, In Between, and Italy–this book features more than 80 recipes celebrating the foods of these regions. Among the highlights are a simple Iranian breakfast platter, a celebratory Persian feast, Sicilian-style stuffed artichokes, guinea hen braised with pomegranate, sweet–sour meatballs from Aleppo, a Roman ricotta and wild cherry pie, and a velvety Middle Eastern milk pudding.

Illustrated with Saghar's own beautiful photography and peppered with personal insights and experiences, Pomegranates and Artichokes tells the story of two food cultures, and the delicious space in between.

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