TAHDIG
A favorite kitchen hack of mine is to take next-day leftover risotto and fry it up into a crisp pancake, sort of a flat arancini ball. The Italians call the pancake “risotto al salto” and it loosely translates that “the risotto jumps into your mouth.” Nice.
Iranian cooks do much the same with next-day leftover pasta preparations; they fry it in clarified butter and olive oil and call the crisp pancake a “tahdig.” What the skillet does is add a huge additional flavor, that of a crisp skin, the brown of a pecan shell, to both sides of the pancake. Let’s say you have some leftover mac ‘n’ cheese (or any leftover rice, cornmeal, or other pasta dish). Make a tahdig out of it.
RECIPE: Persian tahdig
Makes 1
Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil (or a mix of clarified butter and olive oil)
2-3 cups leftover macaroni and cheese (or other starchy leftover such as rice pilaf or risotto)
Additional olive oil if necessary
Chopped flat-leaf parsley
Freshly ground black pepper and salt, to taste
Directions
Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add the olive oil (or the mix of clarified butter and oil). Slip in whatever leftover mac ’n’ cheese you’re now going to turn into utter scrumptiousness, and pat it down with a silicone spatula into a flat pancake.
Once it starts sizzling, let it fry for a good 15 minutes over medium-low heat, frequently tucking in the edge all around with the spatula, turning the skillet a quarter turn every few minutes to even out the heat, and jostling the skillet to keep the tahdig loose in the skillet.
You’ll hear the tahdig scratch somewhat when the first side is browned enough. Slip the tahdig out of the skillet onto a large flat cookie sheet, or pizza peel or pan, and lightly wipe out the skillet with paper toweling. Place the open side of the skillet over the “raw” side of the tahdig and carefully flip everything over so that the tahdig can now crisp on its second side.
You’ll probably need to slip a little more olive oil down into the skillet and under the tahdig (but, depending on the style of mac ’n’ cheese preparation, perhaps not). When the tahdig is finished cooking and nicely colored, cut it as you wish to serve it, and top with chopped flat-leaf parsley and a solid grinding of black pepper and salt, to taste.