Byzantine Dolmathes
This is a popular Greek dish, which the League ate at dinner one night in the first chapter of volume III. Elizabeth identified it in her diary by its chief ingredients, rather than by its name (which -- to be honest -- I didn't know at the time), but this is what she was describing.
[Source: Foodgeeks.com]
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 pound ground beef or lamb
- 2 onions, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 2 cups water
- � cup tomato sauce
- 1 cup rice
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- � teaspoon salt
- Pepper, to taste
- 1/8 teaspoons cinnamon
- � cup currants
- 1/4 cup Port wine (optional)
- 1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts
- 2 cups water
- Juice of one lemon
For the sauce (optional):
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup hot broth
- Juice of two lemons, strained
Directions
First, prepare the grape leaves. If using canned leaves, rinse them by floating them in a basin of cold water; if the leaves are fresh, place them in a bowl and pour a cup of boiling water over them, then drain. Cut off the stems, and set seven of the leaves aside.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then cook the ground meat, onions and garlic over medium heat for five minutes. Mix the ingredients while they cook. Add the water and the remaining filling ingredients, bring it to a boil, and cover. Reduce the heat and simmer for ten minutes, until the water is absorbed, then remove the pan from the heat and set it aside until cool enough to touch.
Take one of your grape leaves and place it on a flat surface, stem side up. Put one teaspoon of the cooked ingredients near the stem, then fold the left and right sides of the leaf toward the center. (If they don't meet, don't worry about it.) Pick up the stem end of the leaf and tuck in the filling, then roll it away from you to create a little oblong package sort of like a sausage. Repeat this process for all of your grape leaves except for those you reserved earlier.
Take four of your reserved leaves and use them to line the bottom of a large skillet. Arrange each of your little wrapped packages so that the tucked edges are on the bottom, and settle them snugly alongside one another. Place your last three grape leaves flat on top of the rolls, then set a small flat dish on top of everything to prevent the rolls from unraveling during cooking. Add water and lemon juice to the pan and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, cover the pan and reduce heat to allow it to simmer for 45 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and, if serving with sauce (see below), remove one cup of liquid. Serve immediately with sauce, if desired; this dish can also be served without the sauce, either cold as an appetizer or hot as an entree.
To make the sauce, beat the eggs until they're thick and yellow (at least five minutes with an electric beater, or ten to fifteen minutes by hand). Add the lemon juice slowly, beating all the while. Take your cup of hot broth from the cooking pan and mix it into the eggs and juice, stirring quickly so the eggs don't curdle; use a spoon or wire whisk for this. Cook very slowly over low heat until thickened, then serve over dolmathes.
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