Samantha Often served as part of an appetizer plate. Too often, they come from a can and are not fresh. Homemade are far superior. If you have never tried fresh stuffed grape leaves, now is the time. They are very easy to make and so delicious!
Ingredients
8 oz preserved grape leaves
1 large red onion
1 bunch of scallions
1 bulb of roasted garlic
1/4 cup of dried parsley
finely grated zest of 1 large lemon
3 Thai hot peppers
1/2 fresh fennel bulb
2 cups of uncooked rice
1/2 cup olive oil
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Cover garlic bulb in a thin layer of olive oil. Wrap in aluminum foil and place in oven. Cook until garlic is tender.
2. Cook rice.
3. Rinse the grape leaves in plenty of cold water. Drain thoroughly.
4. Combine the onion, scallions, parsley, lemon, chilies, fennel, cooked rice, roasted garlic, and 1 1/2 TBSP of olive oil. Mix thoroughly and season with salt.
5. Place a grape leaf, veined side facing upward, on a work surface and cut off any stem. Place a heaping teaspoonful of the rice mixture near the stem end of the leaf.
6. Fold the stem end of the leaf over the rice filling, then fold over the sides and carefully roll up into a neat cigar shape.
7. Repeat with the remaining filling to make about 28 stuffed leaves. If some of the grape leaves are quite small, use two and patch them together to make parcels of the same size as the others.
8. Place in a steamer. Cook for 30 minutes.
