Just returned for a Trip to Georgia, exploring the Caucasian cuisine I aimed to scale up some of the traditional dishes I was served with while traveling trough the wine Country of Kartli, east of Tbilisi I chose for Shkmeruli a popular Chicken dish.
In its original recipe the Chicken is simply chopped to small pieces slightly spiced and braised in oil. Finalize in a garlic milk sauce with added chicken broth and spiced with Sureli. A Spice blend you will find only in Georgia containing salt, coriander, fenugreek, and marigold. The spice blend is used in almost any sauces and dishes. Some places cook the sauce with milk others without the main ingredient remains the Sureli spice blend and garlic.
Generally, the Georgian cousin is very down to earth, simple to cook and therefore offers the potential to be creative in upscaling existing recipes.
So i opted to give the Shkmeruli a try.
Deboned a chicken and made from the Wings and legs a farce with sea salt tellicerry pepper and some butter braised shitake mushrooms. Butterflied the chicken breast and wrapped it all in the skin with a layer of wild garlic and tied it up with kitchen string. 30 min 170° C in the oven was just enough to get the farce on point.
For the sauce I opted for no milk as the fat of milk and heavy cream always encapsulate the fine tasting elements of a sauce. I never use cream or milk for any sauces. Just the chicken broth from the bones pepper and 2 fine chopped garlic cloves and the Sureli spice on low heat.
Served with another Georgian traditional, Pchali, a walnut paste made of 100g walnut, fresh coriander wild garlic, salt, pepper, white wine vinegar and olive oil.
Decoration for the sauce mirror was some potato purée, some fresh coriander, and a peeled walnut.
The combination of Walnut paste and garlic sauce made the dish a delightful and extremely tasty experience.
it was a great trip with some interesting wine and brandy tastings and certanly some good food
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