Making Domathakia!

2009.06.17

rinse and rinse and RINSE!

next time, i'm just going to drive up the coast and pick some.

all this fresh parsley give me a whopper of an allergy attack!

but it certainly looked purdy.

this mint however, smelled delicious, and didn't make me sneeze...as much. (i swear i didn't sneeze in the food. i SWEAR.)

this is my professional chef pose.

i kind of made a mess with the garlic. the second time around i read that if you pop a clove in the microwave for 15 seconds the skin comes right off. i had a much easier time with the second batch!

i had never touched raw meat prior to this day. disgusting. seriously...but also kinda fun lol

all done! now, we wait!

blurry photo courtesy of nick haha taste test time!

nick approves! mmm.

extreme dolmathakia eating!

Last time I visited NY, I had the great fortune to FINALLY meet Nick's grandparents. Part of this wonderful experience came in the form of eating and learning how to make stuffed grape leaves. It was the first time that I had eaten one and it was delicious! Before we left we had Crowe write down Yaya's recipe for us to bring home, so that I could try my hand at them on my own time.

I didn't really imagine that I'd jump right into it, not being much of a cook in general, but about a week after we came home, a sign up sheet came around for the summer pot luck at work. Not knowing what on earth I could possibly make for all these people, I went with the most time consuming difficult thing that I'd never made before. Obviously.

Turns out it was the best idea pretty much ever. It was so much fun and fulfilling. Cooking can be really exciting! The biggest issue with the whole process was trying to find somewhere in LA that had grape leaves! I had to do some forum sleuthing around the net, and stumbled upon Papa Cristo's, which came highly recommended by many. Apparently it's THE Greek food/grocery in LA. I have to say, I had a great time going there, looking around, and talking with an old Greek man about making dolmathakia for the first time. He was so sweet, gave me a few pointers, and kept me chatting for a good five minutes while he individually bagged and rebagged the three things that I bought.

I was so jazzed up after this great experience, that I came right home and made a batch to surprise Nick with when we came home from work. The prep took a good two hours, mincing, mushing, stuffing, folding...etc. and then they cooked for an hour and where done exactly as he walked in the door.

Nick paid me the huge compliment by saying they were nearly as good as his Yaya's. For my first time this made me feel really great!

Even better, he sat and eat nearly 25 of them throughout the rest of the night. They couldn't have been half bad at that rate of consumption.

With such a great response, I felt totally confidant to make a batch for work again on Monday night. It took exactly the same amount of time, but on Nick's suggestion I added a little bit more of every ingredient to make them just a tiny bit more flavorful. Of course he tested 4 of them for me when they were done, and again granted his approval.

They were a total hit at the potluck on Tuesday! Everyone was super impressed not only that they were delicious, but that I put the time and energy into them.

Maybe next I'll try Yaya's cookies :-O

Cheers.

Breezer M.

I want the reciepe....of course I would make them without the "meat"...maybe a substitute..oh my...my mouth is watering you and your cook stance and all the yummy goodness there?!

Another trick of garlic is to take your knife on its side and light "hit the garlic "once" kinda hard. It will "crack" a little seperating the skin from the clove....(thats how i"ve always done it but I do like the "microwave tip!"
carry-on

my365vision · 2009-06-18: 10:43