Stuffed Grape Leaves

This recipe is from my first DH's Aunt Ginny, who taught me Lebanese cooking. The only thing I've changed is using lentils instead of rice. Lower carb, more fiber and more nutritional goodies.

You can get grape leaves in any middle eastern store or in the "ethnic" sections of big supermarkets. We're lucky here in upstate NY. There are wild grapevines everywhere. I like to go pick leaves during the early part of the summer. I always bring home lots of extra. These I blanch, cool quickly, and lay out in stacks, which I then freeze in frezzer bags. When I want grape leaves, I just let a package defrost.

Ingredients:

40-50 grape vine leaves (if fresh, dip in boiling water to make piable prior to stuffing. If preserved in salt, soak in several changes of water to get the salt out. Leave one or two unstuffed.)

Filling:
1 lb ground meat (lamb is traditional, but beef is fine.)
1 small onion, finely minced.
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup lentils
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Also:
Some browned bones, rhubarb stalks, or extra vine leaves to line the bottom of the sauce pan.

Juice for cooking: 1 cup water to the juice of one lemon. However much needed to cover.

A heavy sauce pan, which has a diameter a little bigger than a heavy plate you have available.

Instructions:

Line the bottom of the sauce pan with the bones, stalks or extra leaves.

Mix the filling. Lay each leaf out, vein side up. Put a small amount of filling in the middle of the broad end. Use about a teaspoon or so per leaf. Roll up, tucking the sides of the leaf in as you go, to make little cigar shapes.

Lay each stuffed leaf, one right next to the other, on the stuff in the bottom of the sauce pan. Make nice snug rows, and layers are fine. When all are in the pan, lay the extra leaf or two over them. Then put the heavy plate, upside down, over the top. The idea is to keep the leaves from floating or unravelling during the cooking process. Pour in enough water/lemon mixture in to cover the plate. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer gently for about an hour and a half. Partially cover the pot with it's lid, and add more juice mixture if you start running out.

Arrange the stuffed leaves on a serving platter. Reduce the cooking juice (if necessary) to about 1/2 cup and pour over the leaves. Good hot or cold and nice with some yogurt spooned over the top.