On Apr 14, 8:07*am, Brooklyn1 <Gravesend1> wrote:

> Just chard, with plain white rice and butter sounds like extremely
> dull eating... seems to me it needs some onion, garlic, herbs and
> spices... perhaps some meat stock with all that water.


Yes, it would seem bland, but it wasn't. The grape leaves with
meat and rice are really great. I can eat them cold out of the
fridge. I roll mine tight and they are not greasy like those you
might encounter is some greek restaurants. But the chard mix was not
bland at all. I used a lot of chard too. I use garlic on almost
everything. The rolled chard is not necessarily a full meal, just a
side dish - but one that can be used as a main dish if surrounded with
other things such as maybe a bit of hummus and olives or whatever. I
just remember the taste of the stuff, liking it. One more thing that
is funny to me. Where I was born in Allentown Pa the arab women, and
others who used to use jarred grape leaves from specialty markets now
go to a small creek called the Jordan Creek in A-town and pull their
leaves from grape plants along the banks. I have had stuffed grape
leaves made with the fresh but prefer the jarred. They are salty but
can be rinsed. The jarred leaves are slightly tougher than the fresh
ones, but it's a toughness that is not really so tough and I find it
preferable to the fresh stuff which is sort of weak and falls apart.
I love the smell of those jarred grape leaves, maybe much of it based
on the memory factor - but whatever, i prefer them. I liked the
rolled chard, but if someone said I had to chose one to live on
forever, the grape leaves or the chard, without hesitation I'd take
the grape leaves with the meat and rice over the chard with just rice
and butter. But both are good.

TJ

On Sun, 15 Apr 2012 00:25:26 -0700 (PDT), Tommy Joe
> wrote:

>On Apr 14, 8:07*am, Brooklyn1 <Gravesend1> wrote:
>
>> Just chard, with plain white rice and butter sounds like extremely
>> dull eating... seems to me it needs some onion, garlic, herbs and
>> spices... perhaps some meat stock with all that water.
>
>
> Yes, it would seem bland, but it wasn't. The grape leaves with
>meat and rice are really great. I can eat them cold out of the
>fridge. I roll mine tight and they are not greasy like those you
>might encounter is some greek restaurants. But the chard mix was not
>bland at all. I used a lot of chard too. I use garlic on almost
>everything. The rolled chard is not necessarily a full meal, just a
>side dish - but one that can be used as a main dish if surrounded with
>other things such as maybe a bit of hummus and olives or whatever. I
>just remember the taste of the stuff, liking it. One more thing that
>is funny to me. Where I was born in Allentown Pa the arab women, and
>others who used to use jarred grape leaves from specialty markets now
>go to a small creek called the Jordan Creek in A-town and pull their
>leaves from grape plants along the banks. I have had stuffed grape
>leaves made with the fresh but prefer the jarred. They are salty but
>can be rinsed. The jarred leaves are slightly tougher than the fresh
>ones, but it's a toughness that is not really so tough and I find it
>preferable to the fresh stuff which is sort of weak and falls apart.
>I love the smell of those jarred grape leaves, maybe much of it based
>on the memory factor - but whatever, i prefer them. I liked the
>rolled chard, but if someone said I had to chose one to live on
>forever, the grape leaves or the chard, without hesitation I'd take
>the grape leaves with the meat and rice over the chard with just rice
>and butter. But both are good.
>
>TJ

The stuffed grape leaves are called Dolmas... since they typically
contain meat, herbs, and spices they are far more flavorful than plain
buttered chard with plain white rice... even without meat dolmas are
well seasoned. I like chard but it definitely needs some seasonings
and I don't think it goes well with rice. Chard I think is best as a
vegetable on its own or as a filling rather than filled, would work
well to fill crepes... chard works well in lieu of spinach... creamed
chard would be a nice alternative, or chard quiche.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolma