Bitter & Sweet: Global Flavors from an Iranian-American Kitchen

With his debut cookbook, Roustaei, “the Caspian Chef,” distills more than two decades of experience as a personal chef, culinary instructor, and food writer into a collection of 75 recipes that celebrate Iranian cooking. Roustaei is careful to let cooks know that the recipes included in the cookbook are his interpretation of authentic Iranian dishes, many of which highlight the delicate interplay of sour and sweet elements found in Persian cuisine. The cookbook covers the gamut from salads and starters to desserts and beverages and includes classic dishes, like rice with a crispy saffron layer and potato kuku, and more unconventional ones, like rose-and-cantaloupe drink and saffron-carrot halva. Each chapter opens with an essay highlighting a different stage in Roustaei’s own life and culinary journey, and the overall empathetic, encouraging tone of the cookbook shouldn’t be surprising, given Roustaei’s other career as a psychotherapist. Additional notes in many of the recipes offer readers tips and advice for improvising on the recipe and making ingredient substitutions.