It is not just its colour that makes the pistachio so exotic. It has a buttery sweetness to it that, even in small quantities, can have a transformative effect on dishes. Its friends in the food world hail mostly from the fragrant climes of the Middle East: rosewater, orange, chicken and quail, mango, honey and yoghurt.
Try a wonderfully sustaining rice pilaf with pistachios, ginger, onion, saffron and cardamom: parboil basmati rice in plenty of boiling water for 5 minutes, then drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, fry together in a little butter and vegetable oil finely chopped onion and fresh ginger, a pinch of saffron strands, chopped shelled pistachios, and a few crushed seeds from a cardamom.
When soft and turning golden, add more oil to a pan and layer up the rice and pistachio mixture. Cover the pan, wrapping a tea towel around the lid to prevent steam escaping and return to the heat to steam for a further 5 to 7 minutes. You should be able to upend on a plate, scraping on top the deliciously crunchy layer of fried rice from the bottom of the pan. Excellent with almost any vegetables and roast chicken.
How about a pistachio pesto? While it makes an unusual sauce to lift plain grilled white fish or chicken, you could easily make a meal out of steamed vegetables and rice with a couple of spoons of it over the top. Pound together (or whiz) shelled, peeled pistachios with a little minced garlic, lemon juice, orange blossom water, fresh mint leaves and olive oil. It will keep, sealed, for a few days in the fridge.
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Pistachios make excellent cakes, too. Replace half the volume of almonds with pistachios in any almond cake recipe (seek out the fragranced ones, with orange blossom or rosewater in particular — Claudia Roden’s orange and almond cake is the classic, you can find it easily online) and you will transform it into a cake apart — richly delicious and remarkably beautiful with its bright green tinge.
Simplest of all, and to me, almost perfect, is this pudding: a big bowl of Greek yoghurt, with a spoon of rosewater stirred through it. Roughly crushed pistachios — some left whole — generously scattered over the top, with plenty of fragranced runny honey to finish. Lavender or orange blossom honey both work beautifully. All of which takes about 30 seconds to assemble.