Happy Hanukkah! It’s time to celebrate the holiday of foods fried in olive oil.

Join us at Porsena tonight as we celebrate with a Persian Hanukkah menu that brings in regional Iranian tastes from the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, and Azerbaijan. We put so much love into tonight’s dinner, and filled it with seasonal ingredients like pomegranates and persimmons. Oh, and we have barbari bread fresh from Mt Ararat Bakery on Long Island, and olive oil from the family farm of Chef Sara Jenkins in Tuscany!

 

In a salute to American Jewish holiday traditions and Persian ingredients, one of the dishes we created for tonight are Pumpkin Cilantro Latkes. Get the recipe at Am New York, where it’s featured in Hanukkah Recipes By NYC Chefs!

 

Here’s tonight’s menu. Although the early seating is sold out, you can still get tickets for the second seating. I wish you a joyous festival of lights!

Menu for Persian Hanukkah, December 16

Pumpkin cilantro latkes with tamarind date chutney

Sambuseh with cauliflower and walnuts, nigella seeds and spicy tomato sauce

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Fresh herb platter with radishes, walnuts, barbari bread, and feta cheese with spiced olive oil

Pomegranate and cucumber salad with mint and toasted almonds

Olive oil poached fish

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Azerbaijani lamb meatball soup with housemade tagliatelle noodles and fresh herbs

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Choose:

Aloo Mosamah, chicken stew with apricots and salty plums, from Gilan Province

Or

Gheymeh Nessar, Qazvin style lamb stew with pistachios and rose water

Rice with carrots, oranges, and saffron

Yogurt with shallots

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Dessert

Persimmon goat cheese cheesecake with pistachio crust