After reading an article about the possible demise of Kashmiri saffron, I started to think of the dishes that I would miss if this earthy, orange-red spice disappeared forever. The Provencal fish stew bouillabaisse, Spanish paella, South Asian biryani, Milanese risotto and currant-studded saffron buns would be far less flavorful and satisfying without it. The same holds true for a recipe featured in my seafood cookbook “Fish Market,” saffron and cinnamon-scented monkfish kebabs. What is saffron? Saffron comes from the perennial crocus plant. Each plant produces small, purple flowers with three delicate, reddish strands at their centers. Known in the plant world as stigmas and styles, these colorful threads are saffron. Because they are fragile, these filaments must be picked by hand and then dried. Unfortunately, you can’t go outside and collect a few crocuses to flavor your cooking. The saffron-yielding species, Crocus sativus, blooms in the fall in such regions as East Asia, the Mediterranean and Iran. Plus, you would have to pluck roughly 14,000 flowers to produce one ounce of dried saffron. Hence …