Dolmas, Recipe Emails, BB Creations, Elephants,

Wednesday, Denise of My Life in Retirement posted pictures of grapes and leaves. In the comments people we  talking about stuffed vine leaves. Dolmas in Greece. It reminded me of many years ago when Matt was working in a young offenders prison in the UK and one of his inmates was a Greek Cypriot. One day his mother visited and brought a whole casserole dish of Dolmas for her son and because her son liked Matt, he offered some to him who thoroughly enjoyed them. He was full of praises for them when he came home and I was jealous. A week or so later she visited again and brought a large casserole dish of them especially for Matt. They were delicious. We have made them ourselves a number of times but Matt always used to roll them, my fingers just don't work on something like that. I am not good on the fiddly stuff.

I was thinking last night about the emails I get which offer me "the best 36 chicken recipes" or "16 ways to cook fish" etc. etc. I mostly ignore them. If I want to plough through lots of recipe for something I can do it through Google, but mostly I don't. Please, present me with one or even two recipes a day, and that's quite enough thank you. Got one today for dozens of ways of cooking pork chops. Grrr.

I was delighted to see that Birgit of BB Creations tried the curried shrimp recipe I posted a few days ago. She said it was very good. She also said some very nice things about me. Thanks Birgit.

Just watching a programme about elephants, had to leave, getting to stressful. There is a group of orphans being led by a very young matriarch - 16 I think. All 7 of their adults were killed by poachers. One elephant is killed every 15 minutes. I could kill the poachers with no hesitation, it really upsets me.

Of course I had to include a recipe for Dolmas didn't I? Including a link to the website from which I copied the recipe. This has some good pictures of how to actually make the dolmas.

Dolmas

Dolmas or dolmades are very versatile; they can be eaten cold or warm. Traditionally dolmas containing meat are eaten warm with a yogurt sauce that is lightly flavored with garlic. Rice filled dolmas are served cold with a drizzling of lemon juice and olive oil. Dolmas usually have a combination of spices that are both savory and aromatic, a culinary practice of Arab origins.

8 oz grape leaves 1 jar, preserved grape leaves
1 1/2 cups rice
1 Tbs olive oil
1 onion medium, diced
2 Tbs pine nuts
1/4 cup currants dried
1/4 tsp allspice
1 Tbs mint fresh, chopped
1/2 cup parsley fresh, chopped
3/4 cup water
Sauce
2/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp sugar
4 Tbs lemon juice, fresh squeezed

1. To make the sauce: Mix olive oil, sugar and lemon.

2. In a bowl place cooked rice, currants, mint, parsley, and allspice. Mix well.

3. In a small skillet saute the onions and pine nuts in the olive oil until onions are translucent. Remove from skillet and add to rice mixture. Mix well.

4. Rinse grape leaves and pat dry.

5. Place leaf flat on a large cutting board.

6. Place a heaping teaspoon of the rice mixture near the bottom of the leaf.

7. Fold the bottom of the leaf over the rice, and bring the sides inwards following the guide you created.

8. Roll tightly to form a cigar shape.

9. Place seam side down in a skillet lined with the grape leaves.

10. Pour olive oil sauce mixture and water over the dolmas, and weigh down with a plate.

11. Cover and cook on low for about 40 minutes.

12. Allow dolmas to cool in the pan.

13. Transfer to a serving platter and refrigerate for about 2 hours before serving.

Yield: 40

Author: Analida's Ethnic Spoon

Have a great day

Canadian Diabetes, The Three Kretans,

This morning I am going to the CDA seminar called "What's Next" so that I can see what happens and what they tell people. It is designed for those who have just been diagnosed with diabetes and it is recommended that volunteers participate as part of orientation. As far as doing any volunteer work however, until they have me set up on their main programme, there isn't a lot I can do. This should take another couple of days apparently. After the seminar, the Administrative Assistant and I are going to lunch at the local Greek restaurant, The Three Kretans. I haven't been there for a long while and she has never been and no-one would go with her before. I am hoping they will have dolmadas available as they are one of my favourites. They make very good ones there. I expect our lunch will consist of mezes which are the Greek way of saying appetizers (to all intents and purposes), when you are in Greece, you can frequently make a full meal out of mezes, or you can have one or two and then you are invited into the kitchen to see what the chef or cook has prepared for the day. Each dish will be lovingly described telling you its ingredients and how it was assembled. You can then choose what you would like to eat and it will then be brought to you. In Canada they just have menus like everyone else although one Greek restaurant which used to exist in Brantford called Zorba's, served you mezzes and then you were invited up to a counter where the chef had all his meals for the night on display and took off the lids to show you what he had prepared. The chef there was once the chef on Aristotle Onassis' brother-in-law's yacht. So you know he was pretty good. We had a wonderful meal. Unfortunately they are no longer there. Matt has made dolmadas several times and they were very good. Below is a recipe from Recipezaar which you might like to try. They are actually not that difficult. You can find all kinds of recipes for them, with and without meat, with rice or with bulgur wheat. When Matt worked in the Borstal system in England, he was with young people. One young man was a Cypriot and one day on a visit, his mother brought him some dolmadas. They discovered Matt liked them and gave him some. The next time the mother came in, she brought a casserole full of them for him. He brought them home, they were excellent. We guzzled the lot. (grapeleaf courtesy of About.com, first dolmadas picture from Geocities Traditional Greek Food, second dolmadas picture from MyRecipes.com)

Dolmadakia (dolmadas)

Submitted by katanga | June 17, 2008

1 16 oz. jar grape leaves 1 large onion, minced 3/4 lb. ground veal 2/3 C. rice, soaked for 5 minutes in boiling water and drained 3 T. fresh mint, chopped a little fresh dill 1 t. salt 2 T. olive oil Chicken broth juice of one lemon pinch of cinnamon

Carefully unfold grape leaves and rinse under cold water. Pat dry. In a bowl, combine onions, veal, rice, herbs, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and oil. Fold in sides then roll up from leaf tip end. Arrange a layer of leaves in bottom of large frying pan. Place stuffed leaves very close together on top of leaves in pan. Pour enough broth over to barely cover stuffed leaves and sprinkle with lemon juice. Weight leaves with a plate. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer one hour. Let leaves cool in broth. Drain and serve. Have a great day.