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Happy Tuesday!
Yesterday I was so busy I didn’t get a chance to finish writing + share this post. Today’s entry is slightly different from the usual, in that I will talk a little bit about a great workshop that my travel-blogger friend Eleonora and I held last Sunday (May 20th) here in Milan, Italy, and then I will also leave a recipe for you!
It was the first time teaching a workshop for the both of us and we are very happy this collaboration turned out really well. We are thinking of organizing more.
The theme of the workshop was Georgian food & culture. I have never been to Georgia (yet!) but Eleonora has, 3 times to be exact. She fell in love with this country’s cuisine and people so much that she had the idea to devote a whole day to sharing what she has learnt. Throughout the past few months she has passed her love for Georgia onto me, and so I was able to show the participants how to make some of its most typical (and utterly delicious) dishes.
Together we learnt how to make khachapuri and khinkali from scratch.
Khachapuri is, literally, a cheese-filled bread. It’s made of a simple pizza dough and filled with some kind of cheese (we used 3 different kinds to get as close as possible to the common sulguni Georgian variety), sometimes also with spinach. Usually it’s topped with an egg and a slice of butter. There are many other puri varieties made in different shapes.
Khinkali is a dumpling. Traditionally filled with minced meat, we wanted to stick to vegetarian dishes and made two fillings: potato+cheeses and potato+mushrooms+onions, plus a lot of fresh herbs.
Both of these recipes are very simple and require everyday ingredients but they are oh so fun to make (you’d never tell but they involve very peculiar methods!) and the result is super delicious. We were supposed to make a third dish all together (lobio, a fresh salad of red beans, slow-cooked onions plus again lots of fresh herbs and spices) but we ran out of time so I quickly prepared it with the help of a few people.
Eleonora, Cosimo (our angel helper) and I had previously prepared other things to eat as appetizers: badrijani, grilled eggplant rolls stuffed with a walnut+onion+balsamic filling and a kind of pkhali, or “appetizer”, made of spinach+walnuts+garlic+fresh coriander and lots more flavors. Pomegranate seeds are ever present and bring a touch of color. Everything was accompanied by a fresh summery drink made with fennel seeds+cucumber+lemon and, finally, a dessert, which I will share with you below.
At the end of the dinner Eleonora shared all her crazy Georgian traveling adventures.
We had LOTS to eat and LOTS of fun! Scroll down for recipe.
BAKED PEACHES WITH FENNEL CRUMBLE {vegan + gluten free + grain free}
by Marta Giaccone
Recipe
4 servings
prep time: 5 mins, cooking time: 40 mins, total: 45 mins
4 peaches (not too ripe)
1 scant cup / 200 ml water
1 tbsp + 1 tsp fennel seeds, divided
1+1 tbsp maple syrup (or other sweetener), divided
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/3 cup / 50 gr almonds
Greek style plant-based yoghurt (*)
Method
- Add water and 1 tbsp of fennel seeds to a small pot and let boil for 10 minutes.
- Wash, halve and stone the peaches. Place them, cut side up, in a small oven-proof dish (big enough to fit them).
- Turn oven on to 180°C/350°F.
- Strain the fennel infusion, add 1 tbsp of maple syrup and 1 of lemon juice. Pour the mix over the peaches and bake for 20 minutes.
- Prepare the crumble: in a food processor, blend the almonds and 1 tsp of fennel seeds for just a few seconds, then add 1 tsp of syrup and quickly blend again.
- Take peaches out of the oven, carefully tip each over to remove the liquid from the cavities, then add about 1 tbsp of crumble into each peach half. Bake again for another 10 minutes.
- Let the peaches cool for a few minutes, then serve with a dollop of thick yoghurt. They can be eaten warm, at room temperature or also cold from the fridge.
(*) you can make your own Greek style yoghurt by letting it drip overnight or for a few hours over a fine mesh over a colander placed over a small bowl. The longer the thicker it will get.
