Baked Poultry with Walnut Sauce (Georgian Satsivi)

Georgian Satsivi is a popular nutty sauce that can be enjoyed on nearly any type of meat or vegetable. Satsivi a classic Georgian recipe, especially loved around Christmas and New Year’s made with turkey, but also enjoyed throughout the year with chicken. This is an authentic recipe from the capital city of Tbilisi. It compares with other Satsivi recipes and is a interesting and complex nut sauce served cold. In fact “tsivi” means cold in Georgian. I chose to make it with chicken and thoroughly enjoyed this ancient and rare dish from Georgia.

1 whole turkey
1 lb walnuts, peeled
5 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. Imeretian saffron
2 tsp. ground chili
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 whole cloves
6 cloves garlic
1 medium onion, minced
6 egg yolks (4 for chicken)
sea salt
1 Tbsp. white wine vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4).

In a very large pot place the small turkey and cover with cold water. Cook until tender removing froth during cooking.

Remove the turkey or chicken and place breast side down on a roasting pan, Reserve the water from the pot, you will need this later. Place in a preheated oven until browned.

The meat should be removed off.

Now mince the nuts, you can use a mortar and pestle or best to use a meat grinder and put the nuts through twice. This is an important step, be sure to reserve any oil for later.

To the minced nuts add crushed garlic, saffron, coriander, cloves, cinnamon, chili and salt and mix together. Add the egg yolks and continue mixing. Add in the onion.

Using the reserved chicken or turkey stock add it to your mixture until you come up with a creamy consistency.

Make sure the mixture is cool and strain it through a sieve and pour it into a pan. Repeat this process 3-4 times until you get it to a very smooth cream like sauce.

Bring the sauce in a pot to heat up stirring with a wooden spoon but take care to not let it boil.

When the first bubbles appear, remove from the heat and put in your turkey or chicken meat.

Let the satsivi cool slightly and add the vinegar and salt to taste. Make sure not to add the vinegar while the satsivi is hot or it can turn black.

Serve cold with bread, red wine, and fresh herbs tarragon and cilantro.

Makes 4 servings.