Another Georgian Feast

Last weekend we were invited to a friends, family home, about 20 minutes out of the city. In true Georgian style an amazing supra was put on. I just love homemade traditional Georgian food. BBQ pork, tender stews, fresh Geogian bread and cheese, fresh khachapuri, eggplant and walnut sauce with and the best home made wine I have tasted.

A supra is something that you have to experience. We have had friends from NZ experience supra's with us, one thing we always tell them is to take it slowly, the food just keeps coming and coming. The tables are laden with food and wine, friends, guests, family and extended family all gather to eat and make toasts. There are plenty of toasts. The supra is something that is not to be rushed.

 

 

OMG I love this fruit

" OMG I love everything about this fruit "
" It's shape, it's rich colour, just look at these amazing little seeds and this juice "
This was my conversation as I squeezed the fruit all over my chicken legs. Lets just say, Milton looked at me like I had lost the plot.
The POMEGRANATE. You know that red fruit with the hard outer shell, that you look at in the supermarket and think what can I do with this. You glance at the horrendous price but buy it anyway. Then you get it home, look guiltily at it in the fruit bowl for weeks, before finally deciding to cut it open. Then you splatter the bright red juice not only all over your freshly painted white walls of your kitchen but also all over that new white top you are wearing.
If you haven't already realised I am in love with the pomegranate. It can be found in Georgian cooking all year. It comes into season late September and is in abundance in the little fruit stalls at the moment. I brought 3 this week for little more than 2 nz dollars. The girls are loving them juiced in the mornings, or they just eat the seeds as a little snack, they are amazing in salads or as I did, just cut the fruit and squeezed the whole thing over my chicken.
Now the question is how do you get those little seeds out. I tried Jamie Oliver's idea of cutting the fruit in half and hitting the back of it with a wooden spoon, sorry Jamie this idea is bollocks. It's takes for ever and you still get covered in juice. The best way I have found is to cut the fruit in half, submerge in a bowl of water and sort of turn the fruit inside out, the little seeds just pop out. Usually they sink to the bottom and the white pith floats. Easy no splattering, you can even do it in your new white top.
Some facts
The pomegranate is one of the world's most ancient foods. The name pomegranate comes from Medieval Latin meaning "seeded apple." It has been named in many ancient texts from the Book of Exodus in the Torah, the Quran, the Homeric Hymns, and Mesopotamian records, to name a few. The pomegranate originally came from Persia, or modern day Iran, and the western Himalayas. It has been cultivated for millennia in places such as Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Russia, and the Mediterranean region. It migrated as far east as China and Southeast Asia and was found along the Silk Road as a symbol of abundance and posterity. It is also grown extensively in Korea, Japan, and Latin America, having been introduced there by settlers or traders.

Wish I could bring some home.

For some recipes check me out on Pinterest. I'm loving the look of the pomegranate scones and the pomegranate and purple basil gin smash.

Underrated Fig

Whose Grandparents had an orchard of fruit trees in their back yard when they were growing up?
I always remember as a child, teen and adult and now my children, going into the orchard at my Grandparents to help pick up the fruit. What ever was in season be it apples, peaches, persimmon or the under rated fig. As a child I would help collect, pick and eat the fruit and then help my nana bake, bottle or make jam.

Figs are something that I never had a taste for as a child. My own children look at me like I'm crazy when I suggest that they try them.
I will always remember the large buckets, full of these beautiful fruit. I remember my Nana and Popa eating them and trying to get me to try. It was a very sad day when my Nana passed, but the orchard still gives us all, an abundance of fruit and that fig tree is still fruiting.
At the moment figs are in abundance here in Tbilisi. They are in every fruit shop and on every corner, stacked in neat piles or overflowing in buckets. I just couldn't resist buying a few. I'm not sure if it was because of old memories or that I'm just loving buying and trying all the local produce.
I have fallen in love. i have fallen in love with crostini, blue cheese, fig and a drizzle of honey.
Today I made some delicious fig and brandy jam to put away for the cold of winter when figs are out of season. I have even frozen some whole to use later.
 
Below are some recipes that I collected when I was looking for the jam recipe, hopefully I will get the chance to try a few before these delicate fruit disappear.

Non of these fabulous photos were taken by myself. Click on the links to get the yummy recipes.

Cardamom Fig Jam 

Brie, figs and honey

Flatbread with Fresh Figs, Prosciutto and Goat Cheese

Roasted sweet potatoes and fresh figs

Savory Figs with Braised Chicken

Rosemary Fig Tart

Gluten Free chocolate Fig Cake

Fig, Peach and Mascarpone Tart

Blog Hunting

On my quest for some interesting vegetarian recipes I came across Petite Kitchen. This blog is not only from New Zealand, which i get very excited about, but has amazing healthy, easy to follow recipes and beautiful photographs.


Since finding Petite Kitchen I have made many of the recipes for ourselves and visitors. All have been very well liked. Photos of these can be found below. Please click on  the Petite Kitchen link to find all the recipes and more.

Thanks to the very talented Petite Kitchen for letting me use her photos.

Caramelised onions and Feta stuffed Eggplant

Caramelised Honey Shallots

Sunflower and Sesame Seed Crackers

These were amazing and so much better than bought ones. we love them them with a great avocado, vine tomatoes and some yummy Italian Buffalo Mozzarella.

Boiled Orange Chocolate Cake

I served this with Matsoni Yoghurt. It was so moist and the best part no guilts about how much sugar is in it because there is none.

The Slow Cooker - A Busy Mums BFF

This week I had left over steak in the fridge. A crime really to put it in the slow cooker, but it was the bleu cheese, that caught my eye in this recipe.

You can find the original recipe here

The flavours in this stew were lovely, especially the second day.

I used red wine instead of red wine vinegar

I didn't use any type of packet flavouring

I put the potato in the blender with some roasted garlic, instead of using the bleu cheese

A Meaty Problem

Can you believe Milton has been in Tbilisi for a year and the girls and I 9 months, I have to say the time has flown by. With homeschooling for 5 months, summer holidays for 2, a little bit of travel, setting up house and a Christmas and New Year, it's a year for us just around the corner.

When we arrived in our apartment it was a little like camping in regards to cooking, other than we had no BBQ. We only had 2 pots, a frypan, 4 plates, cups, etc, etc this was ok for a while as I got used to finding and cooking basic meals, but the time soon came when I needed to bake and casserole.

My cupboards are now bursting with a new KENWOOD mixer and blender, and the latest addition an amazing slow cooker. Thanks to the darling man of the house, he hunted it down and returned with it via France. Slowcookers cannot be found in Tbilisi, I'm guessing this is because they use some sort of terrocotta casserole dish which cooks things very slowly, a problem for me, even tho I'm hanging around the house most days I'm not about to sit and watch the oven. Why a slowcooker you may ask, well in the 8 months I have been here I have not once been able to finish a piece of steak. I'm not a big meat eater, I have never enjoyed visiting the meat section of the supermarket and I have always had a problem handling and cooking meat. Coming to Georgia has been a little bit of an eye opener in the meat department. I thought everyone that worked in the meat section, knew how to cut meat into what we know as different cuts, but no, the meat is often in huge hunks with fillet, sirloin and what ever in one cut. So with no English speakers and my basic Georgian language, we often ate meat that I had no idea what it was or how to cook it.

Since its arrival from France, not even 7 days ago the cooker has made an aray of meat meals.

So while its winter on this side of the world, I'm cooking up a storm and enjoying some amazingly tender meat, I will share a recipe with you every week, most will be from recipes I have found, with a few tweaks depending on availabilty of ingredients. Hope you enjoy and maybe try some of them when winter arrives for you.

Jamaican Goat Curry

I have bought some shanks Milton tells me excitedly on our latest venture to the super market. As I peered into the bag the next morning I not so quietly decided these were far from the shanks I had imagined. These were no peite little lamb shanks looking at me but great, huge cow parts. As I trimmed the fat and what looked like a knuckle bone from them I decided that the recipe needed to be something that reminded me of something else or I wasn't going to be able to eat them. Coconut milk would be the answer. As I scrolled down my pages of recipes this recipe caught my eye, Jamaican Goat Curry I think it was the name, as I'm sure we have bought and cooked goat before
(wasn't eaten).
Well with a few changes mainly omitting the goat and adding my cow parts, this curry was a hit.

My omissions and changes to the recipe.
For a start it wasn't a slowcooker recipe, but hey anything can be cooked in a slowcooker.
I made the Jamacian spice with out the fenugreek seeds and cayenne pepper because I had none
I browned the meat and then added the spice to fry I did not marinate over night
I added all the other ingredients to fry pan but only used 1 cup of stock then transferred to slowcooker.

Served it with good old mash and broccoli. Everyone loved it.
You will find the recipe here