Meal #41 Stuffed Grape Leaves

Marlena taught me how to stuff grape leaves the other day. Gabriel and I came over and she made us work for our dinner! It was fun and delicious. She did use fake meat because they are PETA people but it still tasted good. Here is how you do it. First you get some canned grape leaves from the international food market in Orlando. Then you very carefully drain the jar and pull out the leaves. Be care not to rip them! Rinse the leaves. Next you cook some rice and some meat (or fake meat) put them together and Lena adds whatever spices suit her. Yes, she is one of those non-measuring types. Here is the hard part. You have to dish a little of the meat and rice mixture into your grape leave then roll and tuck it all together. It should be about the size of your grandpap's thumb. Finally you layer them in a big pot with lemons between each layer. I think this is key. The more lemon the better. Fill the pan up with some water; enough to cover the first layer and boil for about 45 minutes or until you can't wait any longer. Serve hot with some tazhiki sauce.

A couple of weeks later I tried them on my own. I used ground turkey instead of beef and it was just as good. My cooking buddy Bri came over and I found out something she is terrible at! Rolling grape leaves. She was really bad at it. But we managed to get about 30 grape leaves rolled up and cooked by the end of the night. I really like this special dish and think I will make it a tradition. What holiday goes with grape leaves?

Tiff