Today I am happy to share with you a recipe from the mountainous and brave country of Georgia.
It features one of the simplest and freshest ingredients of the summer, green beans.
In Greece we usually either boil them and serve with olive oil and lemon, or cook them with onions, herbs and red tomatoes (yahni).
The Georgian recipe I present today is different, and in my view it is superb. As it maintains all the essential features of the green bean, and enhances them with the herbs and onions and garlic.
Here it goes.
We boil the beans in a pot with plenty of water, a littke salt, and a pinch of baking powder.
In parallel, in a shallow pan we brown finely chopped dry onions in olive oil.
In a mortar we pulverize garlic cloves and gradually add fresh basil leafs and chopped coriander.
I am very proud of the leafy basil I grow in my veranda. Likewise, for the extremely aromatic coriander, whose seeds came all the way from Georgia.
We add chopped basil leafs and coriander to the browned onions and let the mix relax for 5 minutes.
If you like hot stuff, add a finely chopped green pepper to the mix that goes into the onions. As you can see in the photo below, my veranda is big enough to carry the hot stuff in addition to everything else.
In the meantime, the beans are done and we strain them, and after they cool off we squeeze the liquids off them.
We add the contents of the mortar, and then the onions with the herbs. Please note that the mashed garlic, basil and coriander does not get cooked at all! You just add it to the mix at the end of the preparation.
Mix by hand, and let the mix relax for ten minutes.
Add a few drops of lemon to counterbalance the olive oil and the garlic, and enjoy one of the best dishes on this earth.
P.S. It goes particularly well with hard white goat or sheep milk cheese, like feta.
