Stuffed anything - cabbage leaves stuffed with rice, quince stuffed with lamb, peppers stuffed with meat and pine nuts - is standard fare around here. Perhaps because the wares at the shuk are dependent on the harvest, when something is in season, it is really in season. So when fresh grape leaves are available, there is a run on them. Alay Gefen (leaves of the vine) -aka dolmades, dolma, yaprak, japrak, tolma, mahshi, sarma....- are part of the canon of cuisine in the Levant.
I have had amazing Alay Gefen and I envy the ability of the cook who can make them dainty and delicious. I went to the shuk to buy grape leaves and came home with savoy cabbage. Not sure why, but it resulted in my take on "stuffed leaves".
BT's Savoy Cabbage Stuffed With Freekeh
Ingredients:
Filling:
3/4 cup (105 grams) freekeh (raw green wheat)
1 medium leek
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1/2 teaspoon harissa
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated mace
4 tablespoons chopped raisins
1 teaspoon elderberries or z'resh (barberries)
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
ground black pepper
Rolls:
1 medium head savoy cabbage
12-15 julienned pieces of winter squash
2 cups (450 ml) water
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 sprigs fresh dill
1 bay leaf
Directions:
Separate cabbage leaves
Remove center rib from leaves
Blanche leaves in salted boiling water for 2 minutes
Remove and add to ice water to stop cooking
Add splash of olive oil to roasting pan
Place blanched small inner leaves at bottom of pan
Add olive oil to frying pan
Bring heat up to medium
Add leek and garlic and harissa
Sauté until leek translucent
Add salt
Add fruit and continue cooking 2 minutes
Cook freekeh (2 times liquid to freekeh) until it is chewy
Remove from heat, drain and rinse
Add freekeh to pan
Grate mace over contents
Add 3 grinds black pepper
Heat oven to 400 F (200 C.)
Fill each cabbage leaf with 2 teaspoon freka mix and 1 squash piece and roll
Place each roll in roasting pan
Mix olive oil, water and lemon juice
Pour over rolls
Add dill and bay leaf
Cover roaster
Place in oven and roast for 45-60 minutes
Enjoy! !בתיאבון
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