Tt: Saturday afternoon in the kitchen

Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves).

I'd been wanting to make these for a long time despite the fact that the few
times I'd tried them over the years they were always o.k., but not
particularly exciting. And then, two weeks ago, I went to a Greek
restaurant, "Opa!", after the Chicago fly fishing show, with Joel and
Margaret. We decided on a variety of appetizers rather than each ordering
an entree. It had been a couple years since I had dolmades so I figured,
what the hell, it was time to give them another try. They were GOOD!.

FF to last Saturday. Becky was in SoCal doing the Snowbird tourist thingy
and me and Cullen were wondering what to do with the day. He voted for
peeing on the shrubbery, chasing pikas, licking hi.......um.....well, never
mind about that. Sez I, do what you please, I'm cooking. But, what?
Hm......

Casting my mind back to near about the limits of my memory, I stumbled
upon......yeah, you got it.

So, off I go to the local Greek market. Spent a wonderful hour chatting up
the proprietors.....well, actually, the FORMER proprietors......father and
mother of the current proprietor, a pleasant young chap who loves to cook
and whom I'd spoken with in the past when purchasing that unpronounceable
cheese used for making saganaki (the flaming is bull****, quoth he,.....all
show.....no real point to it). He wasn't there.....they were. Anyway, I
inform the lovely couple (in fits and starts between various conversational
digressions) that I want to make dolmades. We consult her memory (in fits
and starts and broken English) and a couple of cookbooks. Cutting to the
quick, I left the store with a new cookbook, a big jar of grape leaves and
sundry other goodies that looked lonely sitting on the shelves, and a
warning to be careful of the ice in the parking lot.....they'd told the
landlord (the owner of the strip mall) that it was dangerous but he hadn't
done anything about it yet. O.k., sez I, and walks out the door and
promptly fall on my ass. Ouch. ALWAYS listen to old people......how do you
think they GOT that way?

The cookbook and a rapidly fading memory of the recent conversation
conspired to make my head spin. I went online......and found this!
(first hit on Google):

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/e...vgolomeno.html

I am constitutionally incapable of leaving a recipe alone.....a recipe
molester, if you will. I used fresh mint. I left out the butter (but
coated the bottom of the pan with about a tablespoon.....maybe....of olive
oil.....I mean, NOBODY actually measures that sort of thing......right?. I
added a quarter cup of finely chopped toasted pine nuts. I did not measure
the lemon juice either for the dolmades or the sauce......I simply used all
the juice of a medium lemon for each. I rolled the mixture into a cylinder
about the diameter of a standard hot dog weenie and about an inch and a half
long ....on average. Grape leaves vary in size.....the size of your mini
sausages should vary to suit. Be gentle. The mixture should be very moist
and loose.....you can't treat it like plain ground meat.....I used ground
chuck, by the way.......um......the beef kind.....not the librarian. I used
a 14 ounce can of Swanson's chicken broth (fresh out of home made, drat the
luck!) and maybe a cup or so of water for the cooking.....just enough to
cover. Two tablespoons of corn starch for the sauce.

This recipe makes about 40 dolmades.....just four or five too many to fit in
a single layer in my 10 inch sauté pan. The extras went on top, in a second
layer. Made no difference.

Indescribably tasty! I ate as many as I could....maybe ten or so....with
bread and cheese. I went to Jay's house to play woodshop the next day and
took a dozen or so. He says they're the best he's ever had. Me and Becky
ate the remainder for supper when she got home on Monday.

The next batch should be ready in......hm.....let's see.....oh, about 23
minutes!

Bon Apetit!

Wolfgang

"Tt:"? What the hell is that?

I'm guessing that should have been "OT:"

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:

"Tt:"? What the hell is that?

I'm guessing that should have been "OT:"

Wolfgang


Tt = tasty treat

....and not an olive in the whole mix.

does stouffers offer dolmades? g

jeff (acquainted with most microwavable cuisine)

"Jeff Miller" wrote in message
news:ZdOJf.5235$Tf3.2861@dukeread09...
Wolfgang wrote:

"Tt:"? What the hell is that?

I'm guessing that should have been "OT:"

Wolfgang
Tt = tasty treat

...and not an olive in the whole mix.

Well, a bit of oil......but that's a mere technicality, I suppose.

does stouffers offer dolmades? g

Good God, I hope not!

jeff (acquainted with most microwavable cuisine)

These reheat very nicely.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:

"Jeff Miller" wrote in message
news:ZdOJf.5235$Tf3.2861@dukeread09...

does stouffers offer dolmades? g

Good God, I hope not!

They do however make cabbage rolls.

I mean ... I saw some once at the store. Not like I would have
bought any of them or anything.

jeff (acquainted with most microwavable cuisine)

These reheat very nicely.

Thanks for sharing the afternoon's cooking project. My time in the
kitchen has been pretty mundane recently. I guess I need to send SWMBO
away on business (not pleasure ... not with Claspy out there).

A question for you: My mom used to make dolmades every so often. It
seems to me that she sometimes used ground lamb for them. Is that just
my faulty memory, or did your Greek friends (or the cookbook) mention
that as an option?


Chuck Vance (not ground)

In article , Conan The Librarian
wrote:

My mom used to make dolmades every so often. It
seems to me that she sometimes used ground lamb for them. Is that just
my faulty memory, or did your Greek friends (or the cookbook) mention
that as an option?

It's not just an option. It's standard.

Lazarus (whose turkish next-door neighbour used to ask every year if
she could pick his vine-leaves to make dolmades, and then come round
later that evening with a plate of them.)

"Conan The Librarian" wrote in message
...
Wolfgang wrote:

"Jeff Miller" wrote in message
news:ZdOJf.5235$Tf3.2861@dukeread09...

does stouffers offer dolmades? g
Good God, I hope not!

They do however make cabbage rolls.

I mean ... I saw some once at the store. Not like I would have bought
any of them or anything.

jeff (acquainted with most microwavable cuisine)
These reheat very nicely.

Thanks for sharing the afternoon's cooking project. My time in the
kitchen has been pretty mundane recently. I guess I need to send SWMBO
away on business (not pleasure ... not with Claspy out there).

A question for you: My mom used to make dolmades every so often. It
seems to me that she sometimes used ground lamb for them. Is that just my
faulty memory, or did your Greek friends (or the cookbook) mention that as
an option?

I've wondered about that myself. None of the recipes I've seen called for
lamb....but, there haven't been many. Nor did the folks I talked with
mention lamb. On the other hand, lamb is very popular throughout the
Mediterranean region......as is one or another variation on the stuffed
grape leaf theme. I'd be much surprised if it isn't more popular (at least
in part because more readily available) than beef back in the old country.

It seems (again, based on my very limited experience) that vegetarian
variations are also quite popular.

Chuck Vance (not ground)

Well......not yet.

Wolfgang

In article , Conan The Librarian
wrote:

It
seems to me that she sometimes used ground lamb for them. Is that just
my faulty memory, or did your Greek friends (or the cookbook) mention
that as an option?


Claudia Roden's 'Book of Middle Eastern Food' (my bible for the area,
many editions since 1968) gives seven common fillings, of which four
contain meat (which in middle eastern cookery generally means lamb or
mutton). the second, 'the most common', is lamb, rice, a tomato,
parsly, and cinnamon or allspice.

And the only recipe in the 'Larousse Gastronomique' gives a filling of
rice, onions, lamb/mutton, mint, olive oil, lemons, coriander seed.

I've travelled a lot in Greece, Turkey, the Lebanon, Syria. I've had
dolmades both vegetarian and meaty, and I like them both ways.

Lazarus

Wolfgang wrote:
"Tt:"? What the hell is that?

I'm guessing that should have been "OT:"

Wolfgang

That stuff sounds a lot like fleischkuekle. Next time your driving
throug NoDak stop at a non-chain, off the freeway cafe and order up a
couple. It's origion is German, Russian and maby a little Norway as
well. All place where grapes don't grow (well).

On 2/18/06 5:22 PM, in article , "Wolfgang"
wrote:

Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves).

Please put these on the menu for the Yooper-do.

I went to Jay's house to play woodshop the next day

Do tell!

Me and Becky
ate the remainder for supper when she got home on Monday.

"Becky and I..."

Carry on. :-)

Bill