October Daring Cooks Challenge: Stuffed Grape Leaves

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food.

The recipe generously let us switch wrapping leaves to those which we could get near or us or would sounded more tasty.  I can't cry difficulty since my section of Brooklyn has, among other great places, Sahadi's. I will admit, however, that I just don't know if I like grape leaves.  For some reason, the idea never appealed to me, and I wasn't sure that I wanted to go through a lot of effort for something I might be lukewarm on. 

Aside from getting me excited about a challenge, the switch option also gave me a chance to make these a local delicacy! I traded the grape leaves for the beautiful collard greens that I got at our farmers' market and used beef from Sweet Tree Farm in Dummerston, VT.  Most of the other ingredients were tough to source locally, but at least the two stars of the dish would be from relatively nearby. 

The next exciting thing about this challenge is how big the payoff is for the not-too-exhausting amount of work involved.  Blanching the fresh collard greens was a bit of a pain, but after figuring out the wrapping system, I got a whole Dutch oven full of stuffed collard greens in almost no time at all.  The predominant flavors were the tangy tamarind and lemon juice (I actually used lime, shh!) and the sweet dried apricots that dotted the pan.  

This recipe got rave reviews all around and was extremely portable for leftovers.  They also freeze very well, so I have a little stash of stuffed collard greens in the freezer waiting for me.  

Grape Leaves Stuffed with Ground Meat and Rice with Apricot Tamarind Sauce/ Yebra

(Adapted from Aromas of Aleppo by Poopa Dweck and Michael J. Cohen. Published by Harper Collins, 2007)

Yield: 6 to 8 servings

Ingredients for hashu/filling:

• 1 pound (455 gm) ground (minced) beef
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) (2 1/3 oz) (65 gm) short grain rice
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) all spice
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (3 gm) kosher (coarse) salt **if using regular table salt only use ½ tsp.**
• ¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) white pepper
• 1 onion, chopped **optional**
• 1 cup (5½ oz) (150 gm) pine nuts **optional**

1. Soak rice in water, enough to cover, for 30 minutes. Combine meat, rice, allspice, vegetable oil, cinnamon, salt, white pepper, and if desired, onion and pine nuts, in a large mixing bowl. Mix well.

Ingredients for Apricot Tamarind Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vegetable oil
• 6 dried apricots – or more if you desire
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) tamarind concentrate
• ¼ cup (60 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) (9 gm) kosher (coarse) salt **if using regular table salt only use 1.5 tsp.**

Ingredients for assembly:

• 1 pound (455 gm) hashu/filling (see recipe above)
• 36 preserved grape leaves, stems trimmed, drained, rinsed and patted dry or 1/2 to 1 bunch of collard greens depending on the size of your greens ( I got four wrappers out of each leaf I used)

Note: If using fresh leaves, plunge a few at a time in boiling water for a few seconds only, until they become limp, and lift them out.

1. Place a blanched leaf on a clean flat surface. 
2. Spoon about 2 tsp meat mixture onto leaf. 
3. Fold sides in.  Fold one side over and roll tightly.   Repeat with remaining filling. (You can freeze the stuffed leaves at this point.  Place on flat pan in freezer and then put in ziploc bag or container when frozen.)
4. Place dried apricots throughout your pan (see pictures above). 
5. In a large Dutch oven or thick-bottomed pan, place oil in the bottom. Nestle stuffed leaves in pan. 
6. Place apricots in between the stuffed leaves. Cover and cook over low heat for 5- 8 minutes or until the grape leaves begin to sweat.
7. Using all three tablespoons, place a little of the tamarind concentrate, if using, over the rolls.
8.  Combine lemon juice, salt, and water then add to pan, filling it ¾ full.
9.  Weigh down the grape leaves with a heat proof plate or board to prevent them from unraveling. Cover and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 40 minutes. Alternatively, place the saucepan in an oven preheated to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 and cook for an hour.
10. Spoon cooking liquid over the grape leaves occasionally. You will know they are done, when the grape leaves are neither soupy nor dry.
11. Tilt pan sideways over serving platter, allowing the grape leaves to tumble out. Try not to handle them individually to reduce unraveling. Alternately you can try spooning them out very gently. (Spooning them out was fine in my experience). 

Late Summer BLT Salad

No, I didn't miss the freezing wind and rain outside.  But in my radio silence, I hopped up to Vermont this weekend and came back laden with heirloom tomatoes fresh from the garden, mass quantities of mixed greens and great sourdough and whole wheat rolls from Amy's Bakery in Brattleboro.  

 In my travels through online recipes and cooking magazines galore, I know I have come across more than one BLT Salad or BLT Panzanella.  I had to actually stop collecting them after awhile because the variations are few and the storage space is scarce.  Still, when I wanted to find one of these recipes, I couldn't quite find the ones I was looking for.  

I took a page from Alton Brown's book, but, as usual, did it my way. I don't subscribe to the "only one way" theory of cooking, so I usually avoid Mr. Brown on principle.  His croutons, however, swayed me to at least start with him.  He dries bread overnight and tosses them in bacon drippings.  What's wrong with that? Well, time, of course.  I wanted bacon posthaste. 

To speed up the crouton process, I cubed my fresh rolls and toasted them lightly (about medium on my toaster oven setting) to simulate day-old bread.  A crime for such lovely rolls? Maybe, but also great croutons come at a great price.  

And I have to give to my buddy Alton, the rest of the recipe pretty much made it through unscathed.  Starting with garden fresh tomatoes and greens and throwing in organic sunday bacon means that very little variation is needed.  

Late Summer BLT Salad (adapted from Alton Brown)

• 2 cups cubed bread (whole wheat, sourdough or a mix would be great)
• 6 slices uncured organic bacon, crumbled, drippings reserved
• 2 large heirloom tomatoes (try to mix your colors for maximum eye appeal)
• 4 cups organic mixed greens
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
• two handfuls roughly chopped garden herbs, basil and mint

1. Place bread in toaster and toast lightly on medium until dry.
2. Meanwhile, cook bacon until crispy.  Reserve 1-2 tablespoons drippings. 
3. Chop tomatoes and set aside. 
4. When drippings are ready, toss bread in warm drippings until lightly coated (a little goes a long way and of course, is way better for you). 
5. Mix together last four ingredients.  
6. In a bowl, combine greens, tomatoes, bacon and croutons.  Drizzle with herb dressing.  Enjoy!

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta

On a cool rainy morning, it is hard to believe it is summer.  I'm sure many of you out there are grumbling and a bit blue, but, aside from the fact that I generally love cool rainy mornings most of all, I'm particularly satisfied because I'm stuck at home for a little while and I don't feel like I'm missing out on quite so much outdoor fun when it's gloomy. 

The other upside is that I have a chance to explore some summer comfort food.  Even on cool days like this, summer comfort food can't be too heavy or thick.  I crave warmth and a smooth texture, but still some lightness.  What could satisfy that call better than polenta? 

I used to buy the pre-prepared tube of polenta from Trader Joe's to keep on hand for these sorts of meals.  After buying a box of polenta, I realized how silly I was.  The biggest pain is that you have to keep stirring the polenta to discourage clumps, but otherwise there is no finesse and hardly any time involved in making a nice base for all manner of soothing meals. 

For this one, I took advantage of the beautiful rainbow swiss chard that we picked up from Phillips Farms at the farmers' market and turned to my friend Mark Bittman for inspiration.  I'd like to say that I tinkered and played with his recipe and improved on his perfection.  It's generally not possible since Bittman has a nice healthy simple (Minimalist, if you will) approach and his recipes generally do not go wrong.  I did use anchovy paste instead of anchovy fillets, cranberries instead of raisins and the polenta was all me.  His recipe was also for greens generally and I, of course, used the chard.  

I was drawn to this recipe because of the anchovies.  As gross as I always believed them to be, I can no longer deny that they are good for you.  Even my husband asked me to somehow slip more of them into our food after reading Real Food by Nina Planck (I haven't even read it yet and I'm eternally grateful for its effect on my household).  I use the anchovy paste to sneak some into pasta dishes and have come to like it.  This recipe was my attempt to go more full throttle into the world of anchovies.  Expect more to come.  

The most exciting addition was 1/2 of a Hot Portugal chili pepper straight from our garden.  I only used half because I had never worked with a Hot Portugal before, but they are on the light side, so I would use at least a whole one in the future.  If you don't have fresh chilis on hand, you can substitute about 1/2 teaspoon of red chili flakes or as much or as little as you prefer. 

Rainbow Chard with Anchovies, Pine Nuts and Cranberries on Polenta (adapted from Mark Bittman's The Minimalist Cooks Dinner)

• At least 2 servings prepared polenta (find your favorite slow version, it's worth it)
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 tbsp anchovy paste or up to 8 anchovy fillets to taste (or more if you're really a fan)
• 1/2 fresh small red chili pepper, sliced (optional)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 4 cups trimmed rainbow swiss chard or other greens, washed, dried and chopped
• sea salt
• freshly cracked black pepper

1. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large deep skillet over medium heat.  Add garlic, chili slices and anchovies.  When garlic is pungent and anchovies dissolve into oil, turn heat to low. 
2. Stir in cranberries and pine nuts.  Cook for one minute. 
3. Add greens and 1/2 cup water.  Cover and cook until chard is tender (about 10-12 minutes). 
4. Season with sea salt and black pepper to taste. 
5. Serve greens over polenta in a bowl with greater proportion of greens than in the picture above.  Pour broth generously over each bowl. Enjoy!