I'm quite proud that we have got this far.... we are at the last of the "A"s, Azerbaijan. Unfortunately, the one and only Azerbaijani restaurant in London, Azeri, closed up last year, therefore we finish with another home cooked meal.
Suzanne is on holiday, so I took the opportunity to use lamb, given it's appears to be a constant in Azerbaijani cuisine. Found a great website that detailed an extensive range of recipes for Azerbaijan. For mains, I opted for Cabbage rolls stuffed with lamb mince, rice and fresh herbs (Kelem Dolmasi)
The dish was extremely tasty, the filling made with handfuls of dill and coriander, giving the dolmasi plenty of zing. The little parcels cook for over an hour, plenty of time for the lamb to soak up all the flavours. The only thing I might change if I cooked this dish again, would be to add more sun-dried tomato paste to the filling.
For afters, I chose Easy Baklava. Although I followed the recipe to the letter, I seemed to have ended up with a bit too much filling, so when I cut through the slices, it all oozed out. Baklava on steroids, certainly not the dainty little pastries they are meant to be. Still, first attempt, and they don't taste at all bad! Plenty left for office buddies next week.
Next week, we'll be onto the "B"s. There are loads of them and it begins back over in the Caribbean with the Bahamas. But, before then, a roundup posting on the highs (and lows) of "A".
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