The Georgian Feast
Post date: 02-Jun-2015 23:32:52
22nd September 2018
a real Georgian feast - you can barely see the table
Chanacki is one of my favourite dishes. Meltingly tender lamb baked with aubergines, tomatoes, herbs and topped with potatoes, it’s rustic Caucasus cooking at its very best. Georgian food is not well known in the West but is renown within the Soviet bloc for having the best food that the ex-Soviet Union had to offer (and champagne too – search out their wine it’s excellent). Their feasts (supras) are legendary – the tables are so covered with dishes that there is barely room for plates to eat off, indeed it’s considered rude to have to pass anything as there should be so many dishes within easy reach.
Georgian culture has remained very distinct from that of the rest of the Soviet Union, keeping its own language, and to a great extent, so has its food. Georgian food is rich in aubergines, fresh herbs, walnuts and pomegranates.
An unusual aspect of Georgian cuisine is that it uses both dill and coriander leaf in the cuisine, often in the same recipes. This to me exemplifies the location of Georgia - straddling North and South, in between Russia and Turkey. Dill is such a northern herb, and coriander leaf such a southern one. But Georgia also straddles Asia and Europe, being on the Silk Road, so you also see aspects similar to Middle Eastern cooking in the meze-style feasts, as well as northern-style dishes such as dumplings, and of course Russian influenced dishes.
Come and try a real Georgian Supra for yourself - you will not be able to see the table for food. Perhaps you can even pick a Tamada (toastmaster) from your fellow diners and drink in the Georgian style too! (In Georgia, you can ONLY drink when toasting something!)
Khachapuri - the ubiquitous traditional Georgian Cheese Bread
Kartopili - Fried potatoes with Svaneti Salt
Mtsvane Pamidori - Green tomatoes with carrots
Danduri - Steamed Purslane
Chicken Satsivi- Chicken in a Walnut sauce
Chanacki - Baked Lamb with aubergine and potatoes (vegetarian option available)
Chirbuli - Cauliflower with Eggs
Lobio - classic Georgian Beans cooked homestyle
Red Beet Phkali - Beetroot with walnuts
Chicken and Lettuce Salad - With pomegranate seeds and cooked lettuce! (vegetarian option available)
Badrijiani - Aubergines stuffed with walnuts and pomegranate seeds
Beet and Bean Tkemali - With a plum sauce
Georgian Salad Made with cold pressed virgin sunflower oil
Dessert will be a scrumptious Georgian version of baklava, Phaklava - made with, you guessed it, walnuts, quite unlike its middle-eastern counterparts, and pomegranates
And, we promise you won't be able to see the tablecloth for the number of dishes on the table, in true Georgian fashion. You'll be begging us to stop... they did last time anyway!
Click here to see a map of Georgia
If you'd like to see more photos of Georgia, I have put an album on our Facebook page
Cost will be £45, of which £35 goes to MSF. Please email us with bookings on info@parkholmesupperclub.co.uk as soon as possible, as we do get booked up quite quickly.