Stuffed Grape Leaves

The Ingredients

4 fresh grape leaves

1 cup basmati rice

2 lemons

1/2 container ground beef

1/2 onion

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pine nuts)

parsley

dill

olive oil

I had fresh grape leaves. Yup, grape leaves. And I had no idea what to do with them. I have eaten stuffed grape leaves a ton of times, but was worried about attacking them myself. The trick is to boil them a bit in salt water after removing the stem. Then, shock them in ice water. If they aren't boiled, they will be tough and hard to cut through. Once cooked and cooled, set these aside. You will get to them soon enough! 

Next, boil the rice in some salt water. Make sure the rice is not 100% cooked- it will continue to cook later on.

For the filling, coat a pan with olive oil. Chop the onion and lightly sautée for a few minutes. Then, add the ground meat, and cook until the meat is brown. Add the chopped walnuts, a little salt and pepper to taste, chopped parsley, and dill. Take one of the lemons you have and zest it up! This brings out some great flavor. Save the lemon! You will use this (and more) soon. 

Sautéeing awesome

Then, add the rice to the mixture.

It should look like this- good meat to rice ratio.

You can then start filling your grape leaves. Make sure you fold them tightly. 

Stuff it up!

Then, line the bottom of a pot with the grape leaves. Squeeze the two lemons to coat the bottom of the pot. Cover the pot. (They can also be steamed if you so wish). 

Enjoy! They will be very lemony if eaten right after they are cooked. If you don't want them to be as lemony, add less lemon and refrigerate for a few hours before eating.