Ditch Jamie Oliver and get creative with Persian delights

Pop "lemon roast chicken" or another recipe into the Google search engine and I predict your top results will be from some familiar websites: BBC Good Food, the Food Network or Jamie Oliver. If I go round your place you're probably eating Chilli con Jamie or similar off the same Ikea plates as me and everyone else. When did we become so homogenous?

Break free with Noghl-e Mey, a delightful Persian food blog whose title means "a term used since ancient times in Iran to refer to small dishes of sweets, savouries and fruits that accompanied wine drinking" according to self-taught cook Mahroo Amiri who refers to her recipes as silk road cooking.

One particularly eye-catching recipe is Persian jewelled rice, which is traditionally served at Iranian weddings and family gatherings; the orange peel, almonds, rose petals, pistachios, carrot strips and dried berries give a burst of colour and flavour. Serve this with even a dreary chicken breast and it will impress. (http://www.noghlemey.com/nourish/2016/01/02/persian-jeweled-rice)