It has been almost a year since I graduated and one of the things I've enjoyed the most is being able to cook for myself. The most extravagant meals I ever cooked during undergrad involved $1 Cottage Inn Bread and store-bought spaghetti. Total prep time: 10 minutes.
Who doesn't love Greek food? Throw feta on just about anything and I'm a happy girl. This year I've been experimenting with some of my favorite foods. I'll find a recipe online and then modify it because let's be honest: sometimes it's fun to disregard instructions. My latest undertaking: stuffed grape leaves aka dolmades and chicken lemon rice soup. The inspiration for the first dish really came from two places, the first being Sparrow Market in Ann Arbor.
After being disappointed by the lack of produce at the Saturday morning Farmer's Market, I went inside and decided to buy something I'd never cooked with before. That's when I saw the ground lamb and at a very reasonable price.
The second reason I decided to make dolmades, well, sometimes I really wish I lived in Greece. Since that's not feasible, I figured cooking Mediterranean food would be a good alternative.
The truth is I always crave those little bundles of heaven, especially after a night of drinking. (Don't judge, I have weird hangover cravings.) So I figured there was no better opportunity to make these than right around my 24th birthday when some drinking would undoubtedly be involved.
You can basically let your creativity run wild when it comes to deciding what to put in your dolmades. General rule of thumb: pick your favorite meat, add in rice or a rice substitute, and then load in the spices, olive oil, and a ridiculous amount of lemon.
Dolmade ingredients:
1/2 lb ground lamb
1/4 cup quinoa, cooked according to package instructions
1 lemon, the bigger, the better
1 cup broccli
1 cup cauliflower
1 tbsp fennel
3 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
Enough olive oil to provide a thin layer on the bottom of a frying pan
2 cups of your favorite stock, I used chicken
In the frying pan add the olive oil and minced garlic. Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes and then add the ground lamb and fennel. Cook on medium heat.
While that's cooking, preheat oven to 350 and put broccoli and cauliflower in baking dish. Add 1/2 cup stock, juice of 1/2 a lemon, and lemon zest. Toss all ingredients together and bake covered for 15-20 minutes--toss them again about halfway through.
Once the lamb is cooked, add in the cooked quinoa, 1 cup stock, juice of half lemon, and lemon zest. Lower heat and allow to cook down.
Stir the broccoli and cauliflower into the ground lamb. Allow to cool and then begin assembling the dolmades by spooning a generous amount of the mixture into the center of the grape leaf. Tightly wrap the dolmade and place into a baking dish. Cover the dolmades with remaining stock and lemon zest, cover with aluminum foil and bake for 45-50 minutes.
Chicken Lemon Rice Soup ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
2 carrots, peeled and cut
1 small onion, diced
6 cups chicken broth
1 lemon
1 cup brown rice
2 eggs
Italian parsley
This recipe is a breeze! Mix the broth, carrots, and onion in a large pot on medium heat. Add chicken to the pot and allow to simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Remove chicken, allow to cool, and add rice to the to pot. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Shred chicken and add back to the soup.
Pivotal step: Taste test the rice to make sure it is cooked.
In a small bowl whisk the eggs and lemon juice. Add 1 cup of the hot soup broth to the mixture and continue whisking. Combine egg mixture to the pot and it's ready to serve. Garnish with parsley and add some lemon zest if you're a fan of citrus, like me.
That's it! It's really quite a pay off for a minimal amount of work because your finished dolmades will be a lot less oily than the grape leaves you buy anywhere else and the soup could compete with just about any Coney Island's--I'd even put money on it.
Here's to being a foodie--lc.
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