The Incomparable Grape Leaves

The leaves are a perfect wrapping, while they impart a delicious flavor and aroma to dolmades, which have become part of every meze spread all over the world.

This time of year women all over the country use freshy harvested grape leaves to make the rice-scallion-and-herb dolmades, and this truly makes all the difference in their taste. Jarred grape leaves are a fair substitute, of course.

The classic, vegan stuffed dolmades are not the only wonderfully frugal dish grape leaves help us create. In the baked yogurt-and-herb custard pies (asmapita) the leaves caramelize beautifully in the oven, becoming an unusual delicacy (Scroll down for the recipe).

During our spring and early summer Keartisanal cooking vacations, participants pick from our garden’s aged vines some deliciously tender leaves. Rolling dolmades was one of the very first dishes we cooked with our guests when we started our Kea programs, twenty yeas ago; it is still one of our guests’ favorite cook-along activity!

Much like cooks all over the Eastern Mediterranean, stuffing grape leaves is often a group activity, as family and friends, young and old, gather to roll the somewhat time consuming dolmades.

Our very first Keartisanal class, in 2005. Then we were crammed in our small, east-facing kitchen before creating the mulberry-tree-shaded outdoor space and the larger kitchen, as well as the comfortable table where we enjoy our leisurely lunches on the shaded western side of the house.

Finely chopping spring onions and fresh herbs —dill, wild fennel, parsley— is essential in making the filling for dolmades. We sometimes add a layer of beans at the bottom of the pot, as the little bundles impart a distinct, delicious taste to anything cooked with them.

Grape leaves toughen as the days get warmer, so in the spring we freeze the first tender and very tasty leaves to use, together with the commercial ones, which work equally well.

If you can get hold of even a few fresh grape leaves, use them as flavoring, placing them between the dolmades you roll with commercial, jarred leaves.

Fresh leaves need to be blanched for only about 2-3 minutes, while home-frozen, tender leaves can be used directly after thawing, or blanched just for only a few seconds.

Zucchini and peppers, stuffed with the same herb-rice filling, cook together with the dolmades, taking an unexpectedly delicious flavor. BELOW: at the Zaytinya DC prep kitchen cooks roll dolmades almost daily, using my recipe. The dish is one of the restaurant patrons’ favorite.

Yogurt-cornmeal-and-herb custard

In the late 1980ies discovered the original fried grape-leaf pies in Drama, in northern Greece, while researching for my very first book The Foods of Greece. I was traveling together with my dear friend, the legendary Paula Wolfert. She included her version of asmapita in her incomparable Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean.

When my book Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts came out, my friend, David Tanis —now the chef of the acclaimed LULU restaurant in LA— created and published in the New York Times his own, brilliant version of asmapita, substituting chard leaves for the fresh grape leaves.

“Whenever I’m looking for inspiration for cooking in a Hellenic direction, I turn to my friend and colleague Aglaia Kremezi, a well-known Greek food writer,” wrote Tanis. “Her cookbook “Mediterranean Vegetarian Feasts” is the kind that makes my mouth water […] It was there I learned about these little Greek-style pies, called asmapita.“

Yogurt and Herb Pies Wrapped in Grape Leaves (asmapita)

In this unusual recipe from Drama, northern Greece, a cornmeal-thickened yogurt is flavored with scallions and herbs, and baked or fried wrapped in tangy grape leaves, thus becoming a sophisticated “pie” with complex aroma and unexpected flavor.

Serves 6

1 1/2 pounds (680 g) thick Greek-style yogurt

1/3 cup (50 g) cornmeal

2/3 cup (65 g) finely chopped scallions

2/3 cup (40 g) finely chopped dill

2/3 cup (40 g) finely chopped fresh mint leaves

1/2 to 1 teaspoon minced jalapeño or other fresh chili, or black pepper, to taste

Salt

15 to 20 vine leaves, fresh or frozen

About 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil, as needed

Preheat the oven to 375˚F (190°C).

In a bowl, combine the yogurt and the cornmeal; add the scallions, herbs, salt, and pepper and stir well.

Oil six 4-inch (10-cm) mini tartlet pans or shallow muffin tins. Line each pan or tin with 1 large or 2 small grape leaves, making sure they amply cover the bottom and sides. Brush liberally with olive oil and divide the yogurt mixture among the pans. Top each with a leaf, tucking the edges inside to make a neat package, and brush liberally with olive oil. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is set and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

Preheat the broiler. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and invert the pans onto it. Place the pies under the broiler for a few seconds to caramelize the leaves.

Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

Grape leaves stuffed with rice and herbs —dolmades nistisimi (vegan)

Adapted from my Foods of the Greek Islands (Houghton Mifflin)

Makes 8 to 10 servings

One 8-ounce jar brine-packed grape leaves, or half a 16-ounce jar, drained

3 cups chopped onions