Ouch! I hurt my back doing yard work. That made it hard to get ready for Easter. By the time our guests arrived on Easter Sunday, I was thoroughly exhausted. I had been cooking for two days, plus planting flowers, plus setting tables, plus washing pots and pans, plus praying the Tylenol I was taking for my backache would work a little faster. Even though I was tired, all the preparations were so worth it! Once the company arrived, I felt brand new. Well, almost brand new.
One of our visitors was an adorable two-year-old named Gracie, who (almost) possesses the vocabulary of a high school graduate. Actually, Gracie is something of a scholar, because, at the tender age of two she attends preschool. She saw a band-aid I had on my finger and asked me if I had a boo-boo. "Yes, I have a bad boo-boo," I replied. "Bad boo-boo?" She kissed my band-aid. How can one not fall in love with Gracie?
Among the dishes we served were these grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice. Gracie, of course, wanted nothing to do with them. She stuck to lamb, potatoes and salad. Everyone else enjoyed them. Usually, but not always, grape leaves stuffed with meat have avgolemono sauce poured over them (avgolemono is a Greek egg and lemon sauce). I chose not to make it, but instead to add extra lemon juice to the cooking liquid. Why no avgolemono? Mostly for dietary reasons - some of our guests do not eat eggs. Even without the avgolemono, the ground lamb-stuffed grape leaves were very good!
Ingredients:
1 jar (16 ounces) grapevine leaves
about 3/4 of a cup of olive oil
In a saucepan, beat the eggs with the lemon juice. Very slowly so that the eggs won't curdle, add the cooking liquid. Over low heat and while mixing, slowly add the cornflour. Allow the mixture to thicken a little. Turn off the heat. Add the cream and mix. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Pour on top of the grape leaves and serve.
Among the dishes we served were these grape leaves stuffed with ground beef and rice. Gracie, of course, wanted nothing to do with them. She stuck to lamb, potatoes and salad. Everyone else enjoyed them. Usually, but not always, grape leaves stuffed with meat have avgolemono sauce poured over them (avgolemono is a Greek egg and lemon sauce). I chose not to make it, but instead to add extra lemon juice to the cooking liquid. Why no avgolemono? Mostly for dietary reasons - some of our guests do not eat eggs. Even without the avgolemono, the ground lamb-stuffed grape leaves were very good!
Ingredients:
1 jar (16 ounces) grapevine leaves
about 3/4 of a cup of olive oil
2
onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 bunch
scallions, chopped, use as much of the green part as you can
3 tbsp
fresh chopped parsley
2 tablespoons fresh chopped dill
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon fresh chopped mint
1 lb. lean ground beef
1 lb. ground lamb (if not available, use pork)
1 lb. ground lamb (if not available, use pork)
1 cup
raw long-grain rice
optional: 1 cup fresh diced tomatoes (not canned)
1/2 cup
grated Pecorino Romano cheese
the juice of two lemons
salt
and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons butter
3 14-ounce cans low sodium chicken broth, plus water as needed
- Remove the grape leaves from the jar and discard the briny liquid they are packed in. Soak them in water for at least four to five hours, changing the water a few times in order to remove the saltiness of the brine. When you have desalinated the grape leaves, boil them in water for no more than 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the water and set the leaves aside until they have cooled. Keep them covered so they don't dry out as they are cooling.
- Save all the stems and leaves from the herbs and scallions that you would otherwise discard. Make sure they are rinsed well.
- Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Sauté the onions, until they begin to soften. Add the scallions and garlic and cook for one minute while stirring. Turn off the heat, add the herbs and set the mixture aside until it cools.
- When the mixture has cooled, add the ground meat, rice, tomatoes if using, Pecorino Romano cheese, pepper, a touch of salt, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
- Line the bottom of a medium-sized heavy Dutch oven with the leaves and stems of the herbs you have saved. If there are any really tough grape leaves, instead of discarding them, arrange them in the Dutch oven.
- Cut off the stems from the grape leaves and discard them; they'll be too tough to eat. Now comes the time to start filling them: set the shiny side of the leaf down, and place the filling on the duller-looking side where the veins are thicker.
- Fill each grape leaf with about 1 tablespoon of the mixture.
- Roll up the grape leaf once, fold in the sides of the leaf and continue rolling. As you are rolling, don't make the grape leaf bundle too loose, however, keep in mind that there is rice in the filling and it will expand during cooking. Therefore, don't roll the grape leaf bundle too tightly, either.
- Fit the stuffed grape leaves, seam side down, on top of the herb stems in the Dutch oven. Pack them in tightly. Place a second layer on top, keeping the same pattern of layering. Keep the same pattern so that the cooking liquid can penetrate all layers.
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| Champagne and Geritol! Oh Yeah!!! I placed my trusty Dutch oven on the breakfast table. I sat down, turned on the TV and started stuffing the grape leaves. One by one, in they went into the pot. My mother was sitting next to me just so I could have a supervisor. She insisted the TV be set to PBS, and there was nothing wrong with her request ... or so I thought. But as it turned out, Lawrence Welk, her favourite musician, was on. I'm referring to Mr Lawrence Welk, bandleader, the heartthrob of every octogenarian female! I'd like to report that I survived the experience. Anyway, on with the cooking. ... |
- Sprinkle the rest of the olive oil over the grape leaves, then add the lemon juice, the butter, and enough chicken broth to cover. If during cooking you run out of chicken broth due to evaporation, just add water.
- Take a plate that will fit into the cooking pot and wrap it in parchment paper. Place it on top of the grape leaves. This will weigh them down to prevent them from floating around in the pot. Cover the Dutch oven with the lid.
- Cook in a preheated 350° F oven for two hours. Once in a while during cooking, check to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. If the liquid level is too low, just add some more. The cooking time is long, but that's because the grape leaves have to soften and become as tender as the filling.
- Remove the stuffed grape leaves from the pot and place them on a serving dish. Don't let them sit in the cooking liquid. Any cooking liquid left can be discarded or used to make avgolemono sauce if needed. The recipe for the avgolemono sauce follows.
- The grape leaves can be served warm or at room temperature. I hope you make these and enjoy them in good health!
If you choose to serve them with avgolemono sauce (in which case they should be served warm), here's a recipe for avgolemono:
1 egg
2 egg yolks
3 tablespoons cornflour
juice of one lemon
about 2 cups of the cooking liquid, cold or at room temperature; if less than two cups remain, substitute the missing amount with chicken broth.
2 tablespoons heavy cream
Black pepper to taste
Black pepper to taste
In a saucepan, beat the eggs with the lemon juice. Very slowly so that the eggs won't curdle, add the cooking liquid. Over low heat and while mixing, slowly add the cornflour. Allow the mixture to thicken a little. Turn off the heat. Add the cream and mix. Season with freshly ground black pepper. Pour on top of the grape leaves and serve.
