SC - Period fried food

[Tara Sersen]

My dear, picky husband and I have found a new (well, to us) cuisine that we both
can love.  We're becoming regulars at a Persian restaurant.  I think chicken
fesenjoon may have taken my place in his heart.

So, last night I had the most wonderful baklava.  Instead of dripping with honey,
it was made with pistachios, almond paste and rosewater.  I love baklava, but
I can never eat more than two bites because it's so sweet and dense.  But, this
wasn't very sweet or dense.  I split it with someone, and we were duking it
out for the last bite.  Does anybody have a recipe for this style of baklava?
 The almond paste wasn't like most marzipan that I've had - it was coarser and
a bit less viscous.  I couldn't tell if there were pistachios in it, or if I
was tasting the ground pistachios on top

Second question:  Does anybody (Ras?) know much about period Persian cooking,
and how it relates to modern Persian cooking?  None of the ingredients or methods
that we encountered at the restaurant were distinctly "modern", so I wouldn't
be surprised to learn that it's similar to what would have been eaten 500 or
1000 years ago.  But, I know better than to make assumptions!  

The only ingredient that I would question off-hand was the rice, which was served
with everything.  First of all, it was Indian basmati rice.  This, I guess,
is a modern affectation.  If they have traditionally used rice, wouldn't it
have been a local variety instead of an import?  But, would they have used much
rice at all in period?  Most middle-eastern cooking seems to focus much more
on wheat, with cous-cous, bulgar, breads like matzoh.  The middle-east doesn't
seem well suited to rice paddies.  On the other hand, the only wheat product
they offered was pita bread.  They didn't have anything like tabouleh, cous-cous
or other "middle-eastern staples".

And the waitress likes us - she gave us the crust from the bottom of the rice
pot :)

Thank you!
- -Magdalena vander Brugghe
who has leftovers for lunch... mmm...