Forget the jarred ones, fresh grape leaves rock!
We often forget to taste the bounty of our local greens. First! only eat wild greens from areas you are positve have not been sprayed...why I stick to only leaves in my yard or a friends. Grape leaves abound in our area and the fresh young leaves have a tart acidic taste that can add a fun zesty taste to a salad. I started using them for my own dolmas or Greeks stuffed grape leaves soon after movin into our home because it had a old grape arbor that todaya is even older, the trunk on the grape is nprobably 6"-8" in diameter. Later I will provide recipes for dolmas today it is just about trying the fresh leaf and how to prep them for stuffing. Everyone has various ideas on what to stuff in them. what I love about dolmas is your leafy green vegetable is wrapped aound your stuffing. I like mine with a rice or bulgar with a bit of ground lamb and lots of onions and fresh mint.
For Dolmas I blanch the grape leaves just til wilted in and out quick, put in ice water then sort by size and I will roll up 12 leaves in plastic wrap and freeze in these sized and portioned little rolls in a heavy pastic bag to use all year long as the young new leaves are the best, once they get thick and drier not good for cooking. These leaves work great when you need to wrap fish or other items for backing. I often lay them on a piece of backcing paper, add the fish or meat woth lots of thinkly sliced onions and lemons (if you have nastursium leaves instead of pepper add a few here as well), wrap and bake or BBQ. Ejoy the beginning of summer with this great garden green.
For Dolmas I blanch the grape leaves just til wilted in and out quick, put in ice water then sort by size and I will roll up 12 leaves in plastic wrap and freeze in these sized and portioned little rolls in a heavy pastic bag to use all year long as the young new leaves are the best, once they get thick and drier not good for cooking. These leaves work great when you need to wrap fish or other items for backing. I often lay them on a piece of backcing paper, add the fish or meat woth lots of thinkly sliced onions and lemons (if you have nastursium leaves instead of pepper add a few here as well), wrap and bake or BBQ. Ejoy the beginning of summer with this great garden green.
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