A Feast From Georgia

[Abra]

Today I was fortunate to have a lunch guest who has spent a lot of time in Georgia, and I thought it would be a fun opportunity to immerse myself in Georgian cuisine for a couple of days. I've never been to Georgia, but for some mysterious reason I love Georgian food. Since I rarely make it, even though there were only three of us for lunch, I tried to do it up right.

First I spent a couple of days communing with these excellent resources and deciding what to make. Then I went shopping and bought what seemed like a lifetime supply of cilantro, walnuts, basil, dill, and tarragon. Cilantro and walnuts are evidently the staff of Georgian life, and I wish I'd taken a picture of them heaped all over my counter. It was quite a sight.

Because it was "only" lunch, I only made one meat dish, and lots of sides of dips and vegetables and bread. I think that's pretty typical, but at dinner I would have added at least another meat dish and a soup.

This khachapuri is one of zillions of variations of Georgian cheese bread. This one is a boat-shaped type from the Black Sea city of Batumi, and came to me via Flatbreads and Flavors.

Before baking, the dough is pinched up around a cheese and yogurt filling. Many versions use egg in the filling instead of yogurt.

Here it is fresh from the oven. I baked these on a stoneware baking sheet in a very hot oven.

We also had Paula Wolfert's version of mchadi

a flat little cake of cornmeal and cheese. Most versions use water and cornmeal, but these are the Svaneti variation, using soft cheese to bind the cornmeal into a tasty little cake that's really good for dipping. So, naturally, we had dips.

The salsa-looking one is adjika, a spicy little number that's evidently ubiquitous all over Georgia. This is the version from Flatbreads and Flavors, which contains tomatoes as well as peppers, and it's delicious. The golden-brown dip is Paula Wolfert's Creamy Walnut and Pomegranate Sauce, made with pomegranate molasses and, in my case, saffron. It really should be marigold petals, but alas, I had none, so the saffron had to stand in for them. I could just eat this with a spoon, it's that wonderful.

Vegetable pates, called mkahli or pkahli are another must-have. These two were both surpassingly good.

At the top is the beet and walnut version from Georgian Feast, and the spinach and walnut pate on the bottom is from Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean.

Red beans are another ingredient that seem to appear on all Georgian menus. I made two versions, using Rancho Gordo's Red Nightfall beans. I sure wish I could learn to photograph beans, which I find to be the hardest subject of all. They just won't sit still for me!

On the left are Red Beans with Honey and Amonds from Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean, a surprisingly wonderful combination of ingredients. On the right is a little improv I did using pomegranate molasses and the outrageous cilantro sauce from the Georgian Feast.

That cilantro sauce has to be one of my favorite sauces in the world, proven by the fact that my copy of Georgian Feast opens automatically to that page. The sauce contains cilantro, parsley, dill, basil, tarragon, walnuts, garlic, apricot leather, walnut oil, and a few other things. Here's a really in-your-face shot of the potato salad

And there were also meatballs, spicy meatballs from Abkhazia via Georgian Feast.

These are wrapped in caul fat before frying, and feature ground beef and pork, as well as a large dose of sumac, and are served with tkemali which is a sour plum sauce. I had to buy the sauce, sour plums being right out of season here.

Dessert was a walnut and raisin torte from Georgian Feast

that was soaked in a syrup of grape juice and sugar, and filled with

layers of walnuts and raisins and cinnamon. The interior dough didn't get quite cooked through, but the overall flavor was delicious, and I can fix the dough problem next time.

If you haven't yet dived into Georgian food, I hope this persuades you. It's a fabulous cuisine, full of healthy ingredients combined in novel and appealing ways. Try it, you'll like it!

[C. sapidus]

Abra: Wow, that all looks so good. Friends spend a month in Georgia, and came back raving about the food and wine. Did you have any Georgian wine with your feast?

Special shout-outs:

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[laurelm]

Wow, lunch looked great!!!

I am moving to Georgia in three months for about a year and one of the things I told my husband was I am SO excited to immerse myself in a different cuisine!

Your post has made me even more antsy to get there!!

[Pontormo]

Gorgeous, Abra! Cooking from the Eastern Mediterranean is one of my favorite cookbooks and with all the times Paula Wolfert is praised here, this is the first time I think I've seen someone else mention it! Try the stews, all of them, and the okra with red pepper paste....I could go on..

In the meantime, the dishes from your other book look wonderful, especially the first and the cilantro sauce. I'd like to know more about the latter. What a fabulous treat.

[CaliPoutine]

Wow Abra, everything looks great. How long did it take you to make everything? Did you do certain dishes a day before?

[Abra]

Bruce - We didn't have any Georgian wine, but based on the couple of Georgian wines I've tried, that seemed like a good thing. We had a Sicilian wine, Ajello Furat, to go with.

Laurelm - wowsers, you get to live in Georgia? That's total food mecca, I am so jealous of you!

Pontormo - that sauce is so versatile, you should add it to your repertoire. Do you have Georgian Feast?

Randi - I actually spread it over 3 days, making a little bit here, a little bit there. The only thing that I misjudged in that regard was the meatballs. While still really good today, when fresh they were sensational.

[ludja]

...

That cilantro sauce has to be one of my favorite sauces in the world, proven by the fact that my copy of Georgian Feast opens automatically to that page.  The sauce contains cilantro, parsley, dill, basil, tarragon, walnuts, garlic, apricot leather, walnut oil, and a few other things.  Here's a really in-your-face shot of the potato salad

...

If you haven't yet dived into Georgian food, I hope this persuades you.  It's a fabulous cuisine, full of healthy ingredients combined in novel and appealing ways.    Try it, you'll like it!

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This thread really has been an inspiration; especially since I own the Flatbread and Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean cookbooks but haven't cooked from them much to date.

I have to look in my libraries for The Georgian Feast though; I need that potato salad recipe!

Did your friend have a blast having all these wonderful foods? Was the food how they remembered it?

[racheld]

I concur. Agree. Endorse heartily.

Are the herbs garnish, or does a sprig go onto the dipped item for extra crunch and flavor? Would you name them, please? Whatever their intent, the tray is DD gorgeous!!

[Swisskaese]

Abra that meal looks divine. Any chance you could post the Raisin and Walnut Torte recipe?

[Abra]

Ludja - the salad per se isn't in the book. I just made the sauce and tossed it with hot (previously vinegared and salted) boiled potatoes. You could eat that sauce on cardboard and call it a salad!

Rachel - an herb platter is a feature of Georgian meals, meant to be folded into bites with bread, I think. Since we didn't have a flat bread, ours were mainly garnish, and included the herbs used in the meal -

starting from 10:00 dill, basil, tarragon, and cilantro.

Michelle - if you can't get the Georgian Feast I can summarize the recipe for you, but I'm just on my way out the door for the day. I know you'd love having the book, if it's available there.

[Shaya]

Abra this meal is so gorgeous. It is also really original. What a treat for your guests to enjoy.

[Swisskaese]

Michelle - if you can't get the Georgian Feast I can summarize the recipe for you, but I'm just on my way out the door for the day.  I know you'd love having the book, if it's available there.

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I found a link to the recipe - Nigvzis Torti (Walnut Raisin Torte)

I am planning to make it on Friday. Any tips you can give me about the dough?

[Abra]

Yep, that is the recipe, apparently verbatim from the book, although I don't see attribution. My guest, who is a baker, suggested letting the whole thing come up to room temp before baking. The dough is otherwise very cold when it goes into the oven, and she thought that contributed to or caused it not to get done all the way through. It's really delicious, so for sure I'll try that next time I make it.

[insomniac]

Abra, belated thanks for exposing me this cuisine. I had absolutely no idea...wow

It's excellent to have something foodie and new to look into and I know my son has a Georgian friend from school living near here so maybe his family is nearby as well...........hmm....actually come to think of it I believe he had a bodyguard

[Chufi]

I found a link to the recipe - Nigvzis Torti  (Walnut Raisin Torte)

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Yep, that is the recipe, apparently verbatim from the book, although I don't see attribution. 

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I found other recipes on that same site Michelle linked to, that seem to be the recipes Abra made from Georgian feast (down to the "apricot leather" in the cilantro sauce), might be useful or those of us who don't have the book.

[ludja]

I found a link to the recipe - Nigvzis Torti  (Walnut Raisin Torte)

←

Yep, that is the recipe, apparently verbatim from the book, although I don't see attribution. 

←

I found other recipes on that same site Michelle linked to, that seem to be the recipes Abra made from Georgian feast (down to the "apricot leather" in the cilantro sauce), might be useful or those of us who don't have the book.

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Thank you very much for pointing this out, Chufi and Swisskaese and thanks, Abra, for sharing how you assembled that mahvelous-looking potato salad. I just may buy The Georgian Feast to add it to Wolfert's and the Flatbread book but it's great to have some of the recipes right now.

Edited February 1, 2007 by ludja (log)

[Gruzia]

Abra, thank you so much for calling attention to how awesome Georgian food is! I'm half Georgian and it is so nice when others find out about our cuisine (It is especially nice not to have to say "Georgia the country not the state" which is generally followed by a responce like "There's a country?")

There are many different ways of making khatchepuri - my mom makes it in the type that is enclosed by dough completely, but as a little girl I ate the khatchapuri shaped like a boat from bakeries in Georgia - salty, buttery filling and crisp dough is hard to beat. I haven't tried the version you baked but Nigela Lawson has a pretty good approximation of the filling in one of her books - the cheese you actually use in Georgia is not available in US so there are various mixes of mozarella, feta, etc that people use to replicate it.

As for all the piles of herbs - I was cooking something one time and asking my mother about the quantity of cilantro I should put in - her reply was "Georgian rule of thumb - you can never have too much"

Also, as an aside, when making the walnut sauces - Crushing the garlic to a paste in a mortar is something to try if you always mince it or use a food processor - it really makes a difference to the flavor.

[jimb0]

does khachapuri belong in this thread 

 

 

fridge leftovers khachapuri (georgian cheese bread). leftover pesto, bottom of a jar of ajvar, some discount cheese curds i had in the freezer, an egg, some za’atar.