Georgia · 45 minutes · Vegetarian · Starter · For beginners
Soko Ketseze Sulgunit
For 4 servings · US units
Mushroom caps with butter and melted sulguni, hot from the clay pan
The ketsi – the shallow Georgian clay pan – goes into the oven with the dish and comes straight to the table with it: mushroom caps that soften in butter, then bake under a blanket of sulguni until golden. It's served as a starter, while the cheese still pulls into strings. Whether it's a small course at a supra or just dinner on an ordinary evening, all you need is mushrooms, butter and cheese.
Ingredients
- 1½ lbmushrooms (large button mushrooms)caps only, stems twisted out
- 4¼ ozbuttercubed, part for greasing the dish
- 7 ozsulguni cheesecoarsely grated or in pieces; substitute another good melting cheese
- saltto taste
- black pepperfreshly ground
- 2 clovesgarlicfinely minced, scattered over the cheese (optional)
- Ground corianderscattered before serving (optional)
Method
- Heat the oven to 180–430 °F and let the ketsi or an ovenproof dish heat up along with it; alternatively, butter the cold dish before you start.
- Clean the mushrooms – either wipe them with a damp cloth or wash them – and twist out the stems so only the caps are left; trim the edges of the caps if needed and widen the hollow a little so there's room for plenty of cheese later.
- Grease the dish with butter and set the caps in it hollow side up, packed closely together, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Put a cube of butter in each cap and bake the mushrooms uncovered until they release their juices and have shrunk slightly.
- Take the dish out of the oven and fill the caps generously with the sulguni, coarsely grated or in pieces, pressing it down lightly; scatter over the finely minced garlic if you like.
- Return everything to the oven and bake until the cheese has melted, is bubbling and turning golden brown.
- Bring the ketsi to the table straight away, piping hot, and scatter over cilantro or flat-leaf parsley if you like.
Tips and variations
You can also add the cheese right at the start along with the butter and bake everything in one go, which saves you the second round in the oven. Kama mushrooms (parasol mushrooms) work instead of button mushrooms, and for a more rustic result don't grate the sulguni at all – just tuck a solid piece into each cap. If your dish is too small, start the mushrooms in two layers and rearrange them in a single layer once they've shrunk. Serve soko ketseze sulgunit straight from the ketsi, while the cheese is still stringy.
Allergens
Contains: Milk (including lactose)
These notes follow from this recipe's ingredient list. Ready-made products and brands may contain further allergens — please check the packaging yourself.
Something not right?
This recipe was put together from independent sources and checked before publishing. Even so, a mistake can slip through — an amount that does not add up, a step that does not work as written. If you spot something, write to us: we will look into it and put it right.
