Satsivi Saturday! (Chicken in Garlic Walnut Sauce)

This recipe was the find of a lifetime!

One of my favorite Turkish foods are a fried mussel sandwich with a healthy schmear of walnut sauce. It doesn't sound great, but it's incredible. The more I looked into it, the more common walnut sauces seem to be. 

I happened upon this fella that featured both walnuts and cilantro, so that's what brings us here today. This recipe comes from Georgia and you can find the original recipe HERE. I made mine with jalapeños instead of red chilis, so that accounts for the difference in color. 

Now I don't think I can legally deem this "healthy" but it's creamy without using cream, so it's the closest I'm going to get while still qualifying as a comfort food!

You Will Need:

2 cups walnuts

1/2 bunch cilantro (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 jalapeno, seeded

3 cloves garlic

juice of 2 lemons

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon butter

2 pounds chicken pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups chicken stock

cilantro, for garnish

In a food processor or blender, combine walnuts, cilantro, jalapeño, garlic, and lemon juice. While running, drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil until you have a smooth paste. Set aside.

Heat a tablespoon on olive oil in a large pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper on both sides and brown over medium heat. Work in batches to avoid overcrowding. Remove chicken and set aside.

Discard all but 2 tablespoons of fat from the pan, melt butter in pan and add chopped onion, cooking for 5 minutes over low heat until tender.

Add flour and stir, then add chicken stock gradually while stirring to combine and turn off the heat to bring to a boil, then turn it down, add the satsivi paste and stir to combine.

Return the chicken to the pan, bring the sauce to a boil, and then turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered until the consistency of the sauce is thicker than heavy cream. 

Sprinkle with chopped cilantro before serving.

Service with rice or flat bread.

Y'all. I can't say enough about this recipe. The house smells amazing. All sorts of carbohydrates are coming out of the woodwork to be smothered in this sauce. 

I love this topped with pomegranate seeds! I made pomegranate salsa today so I just threw that on top! 

And I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am to have leftovers tomorrow! (If there are any leftovers tomorrow... I'm thinking about going for thirds.)

GO! GO NOW.