Dolmades! Oopa!

I love to cook. And I love to try to cook things I've only ever eatten out at a restaurant or elsewhere. This past weekend I decided to try my hand at Dolmades (Stuffed Grape Leaves).

I have been wanting to try them for a while but have been looking for a good recipe. This wasn't something where I just wanted to use Martha Stewart's recipe, I wanted a "grandma's" recipe. And I found one, or a YaiYai as the recipe said.

So I ground the meat, onion, one egg, lemon juice, mint, dill and parsley and added in rice.

It smelled MUCH better than it looked.

Then I boiled the grape leaves for a while to take out the vinegar taste from the jar.

Then as Christopher watched from his highchair eating dinner, I assembled.

The naked grape leaf.

With filling:

Roll the top down (with steam in)

Fold the sides in:

And roll up and I have a dolmades!

Many!

Then line in a pan with some chicken broth. I put plates on them to stop them from floating and unwrapping.

And... that's it for photos. They cook for two hours and it was late. They went in the fridge and I made a sauce for them the next day at Grandma and Grandpa's for Father's Day. They were a hit. I have a few things I'd change next time, but I'm told they were good.