Stuffed Grape Leaves

I never had a great fondness for stuffed grape leaves until I had some which were homemade.  Those available in restaurants and even at the best middle eastern specialty stores seem to have a leaden stuffing of agglutenated rice.  This is really not necessary and I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the result when you make them yourself.

They keep very well and therefore you shouldn't worry about making more than you can eat at the first sitting.  Rolling grape leaves is a terrific social activity.  Since it takes very little time to make the filling, it's a good dish to make with friends.

This amount of filling is just a little more than is required for 8 oz. of grape leaves:  either fill them generously or have a side dish of filling!

• 1 jar grape leaves (8 oz, e.g., Orlando)

• 6 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 cups onions, finely chopped
• 1 cup raw long grain rice
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt

• 6 Tbsp. pine nuts (3/8 cup)
• 6 Tbsp. dried currants (3/8 cup)
• 2 Tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

• 4 cloves garlic, sliced into slivers
• 6 Tbsp. olive oil
• 6 Tbsp. cold water

• [lemon wedges]

1. In a heavy skillet, sauté the onions for 5 minutes in the olive oil until they are translucent but not brown.  Add the rice and stir constantly for 2 minutes coating the grains with oil.  Pour in the water, add the salt and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, tightly covered, for 15 minutes until the water is absorbed.
2. Fry the pine nuts in a little olive oil until light brown.
3. Stir the pine nuts, currants, and parsley into the rice.
4. Place a layer of broken leaves on the bottom of a heavy casserole.
5. To stuff each leaf, lay it veins-up on the counter, place 3 Tbsp. of rice mixture in a cylindrical mound near the stem, fold the two bottom wings of the leaf upward, fold the sides inward, and roll the package upward until closed.
6. Place the rolled leaves in the casserole in several layers with garlic slivers scattered throughout.  Add the olive oil and water.  Simmer, tightly covered, for 50 minutes and cool.  Serve at room temperature with lemon wedges.