Sunday, April 22, 2012

Baked Stuffed Vine Leaves

I’m so glad I finally pulled the book Food from Many Greek Kitchens out of my to-read stack. This is the latest from Tessa Kiros, and I received a review copy. I was charmed by the photos of life in Greece interspersed among the recipes and food photos. And, I was delighted by the number of vegetable and vegetarian dishes like the Wild Greens Pie, the White Bean Soup, Baked Okra, Beets with Yogurt and Pistachios, and Stuffed Tomatoes to name a few. Seeing the Saganaki recipe brought a smile to my face because it reminded me of my first dinner date with Kurt, and the fresh fish dishes made me want to book a flight to Greece to take in the view of the coast while enjoying the local seafood. The content is organized in a unique way too. Traditional foods appear in Chapter One, and those are the recipes that are typically included in celebrations like Vassilopitta or New Year Wish Cake and Baklava. Chapter Two is Fasting Foods, and these are recipes with no meat other than seafood, which of course appeals to me, and no eggs or dairy like Pureed Yellow Split Peas which I’ll return to soon. The other chapters are Easter Foods, Shared Foods, Baker’s Foods, Soups, Ladera and Salads, Ready-Cooked Foods which are slowly baked or roasted and made in advance, Then and There Foods which are quickly grilled or fried dishes, and Sweet Foods.

I bookmarked several pages, and immediately wrote a shopping list. One of the first dishes I tried was Tirokafteri or Spicy Feta which is a puree of roasted green chiles, garlic, olive oil, and feta cheese. It was fantastic with warm pita and olives as part of a meze. Next, I made the Baked Giant Butter Beans because I can never resist giant beans. After boiling the beans until cooked through, they were then baked with a cooked sauce of canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, and thyme. The beans became meltingly tender and full of flavor from the sauce, and it was a filling vegetarian stew. The third dish I tried, and the one I want to tell you all about today, was the Baked Stuffed Vine Leaves. I was intrigued by this because both the filling and cooking process were a little unusual for dolmades. The filling was a mix of rice and shredded vegetables including onion, mushrooms, carrot, and zucchini. The grated vegetables were cooked in olive oil with the rice, and grated fresh tomato should have been added but I used canned diced tomato instead. Parsley, mint, and lemon juice were added as well followed by grated kefalotiri cheese. Since I don’t have a vineyard nearby where I can snip leaves as needed, I used a jar of preserved vine leaves. I soaked the leaves in water and drained them before using. Spoonfuls of the filling were rolled into the vine leaves which were then packed into a large baking dish. Dolmades are usually steamed, but here, the dolmades in the baking dish were topped with more diced tomato, a cup of water, and a drizzle of olive oil before being covered with foil and placed in the oven for an hour. The foil was removed, and the dish was left to bake for another ten minutes.

The dolmades were delicious warm from the oven with a dollop of tzatziki on top, and I also loved them cold from the refrigerator the next day. I’m used to dolmades from restaurants that have a filling of mostly rice, so the savory mix of vegetables here was much more interesting. Cooking from this book was as much fun as the daydreams it inspired about an eventual trip to Greece.


25 comments:

  1. Oh yes indeed, I would be happy to day dream with you about a trip to Greece. I sure wish they would get everything back to normal over there because I would happy bring any tourist dollars and soak up their beautiful views. Have fun delving into your Greek cookbook!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your dolmades are so perfectly wrapped and tzatziki is a perfect match with them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That is something I adore, but have never made... Your dolmades look perfect.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lisa this looks so good!!! I love dolmeh - a common staple of middle eastern and greek cooking. Well done!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Lisa, that's so cool. I've never made my own dolmas, but I am always so appreciative when I go to a restuarant who makes them from scratch - they are unbeatable. We are heading back to Greece this summer and reading your post made me want to jump on the plane right now. Maybe I should just buy Kiro's book instead;)
    -E

    ReplyDelete
  6. These dolmehs look so beautifully done...
    I too wann visit, dreaming sounds like fun idea...
    Great job !!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds like a terrific book. Certainly the dolmades look quite good. And Greece is a wonderful country to visit - good food, good people, good sights. Nice post - thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Wow, I have to check out the book, it sounds perfect for me. I was just in a Greek town restaurant in Chicago last month and I ordered gigante beans off the vegetarian menu. I thought it would be more than just the beans! Luckily the beans were fantastic.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Never made them either, but the idea of baking definitely appeals to me, all recipes I ve seen so far involved steaming, with plates on top, and I ve never had enough energy to go for it

    great post, Lisa!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dolmades are one of Randy's favorite foods in the world. I love the idea of baking them rather than steaming because you can make more of them at once. This is great party food!

    ReplyDelete
  11. These stuffed vine leaves look fabulous.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I would love to visit Greece someday, enjoy the fancy restaurants and devour their flavorful dishes. Meantime, I'll just enjoy wonderful recipes from the net =)

    ReplyDelete
  13. What an wonderful way of exploring Greek flavours! I'd love to get to Greece too....

    ReplyDelete
  14. I have not made this yet but your looks gorgeous! Beautifully made.

    ReplyDelete
  15. mmm, greek food. what a great cuisine. i remember the first time i tasted tzatziki--i loved it then and i love it now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  16. What a beauty of an idea - it seems very Greek and exotic :D

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    ReplyDelete
  17. Gorgeous, Lisa! Dolmades are one of my favorite things to eat but I've never worked up the courage to make them myself.

    Until now. :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. the leaves are so pretty; wish we have them here. the end result looks deliciously elegant.

    ReplyDelete
  19. These look beautiful and intriguing. I usually shy away from dolmades in restaurants as I've never liked those I've tried. Perhaps these would change my mind- they certainly sound terrific!

    ReplyDelete
  20. I would love to have these. The dolmades are looking so tempting.

    ReplyDelete
  21. How good those dolmades look and I love that these are a baked version with rice & veggies. Sounds like such a fun book. The last picture is calling my name Lisa!

    ReplyDelete
  22. We must be on the same wavelength - Italian and Greek - my son bought me a Greek cookbook and I've been hesitating. I don't really like stuffed grape leaves but your filling looks so good - and my husband loves them!

    ReplyDelete
  23. These little parcels...I wonder how many can I eat at one go especially when I am so hungry now and looking at something so delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Dolmades is one of those dishes that always sound so exotic and intriguing to me, I love to eat them but I have never made them at home. These dolmades are calling my name, especially since you and Tessa are recommending them.

    Maybe is time to expand my Tessa book´s collection.

    ReplyDelete

Blogging tips