On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 10:24:43 -0500, Goomba38 >
wrote:

>J. Eric Durbin wrote:
>
>> Dolmas Unwrapped
>>
>> Saute some onion and garlic in olive oil, add the ground lamb and
>> brown. Add some julienned grape leaves, allspice, salt/pepper and some
>> day-old rice. Finish off with some toasted pine nuts and a splash of
>> lemon or lime juice. Serve with tabouleh.
>>
>> Easier than wrapping up all those individual dolmas.
>>
>hmmmm.. that sounds great! I just recently had dolmas for the first time
> and fell in love with the fresh lemony flavor. How do you think your
>mixture would taste in red pepper halves that get baked?

It would probably be fine, although I wonder if the pepper and grape
leaves might clash a bit. The only way to find out is to experiment.
Also, ground lamb tends to be a bit dry (low fat) so baking it could
make it even drier. The nice thing about the recipe above is that it
takes about 15 minutes from start to serving.

>TEll me a little about finding the best grape leaves? What should I look
>for?

Grape leaves need to be brined to make them soft eenough to be edible
so almost all come in jars. Safeway and most large supermarkets carry
one or two brands of grape leaves and I've not found much difference
between them. A middle eastern store might have some imported brands,
but I haven't tried them. They are always whole leaves that are rolled
up and inserted into the jar. You need to remove the roll from the
jar, peel off the individual leaves and julienne them.

BTW, you can add a pinch of cinnamon, as well as the allspice, for
more depth of flavor.