SPRING FOODS

“An onion can make people cry, but there has never been a vegetable invented to make them laugh.” - Will Rogers

I was in Brisbane today for work and it has been rather a long day, considering I woke at 4:00 a.m. and my plane landed back in Melbourne after 8:30 p.m. and I wasn’t home until after 9:00 p.m. Nevertheless, getting back home is what is important and what better than a nice home-cooked meal to come back to?

It is Spring here in Melbourne and some wonderful Spring vegetables are making their appearance. Asparagus and broad beans, artichokes and Brussels sprouts, leeks and morel mushrooms, baby carrots and radishes… I don’t think there is a vegetable that I don’t like and in Spring, what delights there are to tempt us!

One delicious Spring offering from the garden is the newly greening vine leaves. These are used in Greek cooking to make dolmades – stuffed vine leaves. Although pickled vine leaves are on sale in your delicatessen, the best leaves to use are the tender young ones in Spring, straight from the vine. A few minutes in boiling water to blanch them until they become tender and one may stuff them with a savoury mixture, which varies widely from place to place and also country to country, as stuffed vine leaves are also popular in Turkey and other middle Eastern countries. Rice is a universal ingredient of the stuffing, as are herbs such as mint, parsley, sometimes dill.

One may use minced meat in the stuffing, one may not. Grated tomato pulp may or may not be added. Usually, grated onion is an ingredient, unless one chops up Spring onions to add instead. Pine nuts and raisins are added by some cooks, but this practice is shunned by others. In any case, a rather runny stuffing is made, and mixed well. The vine leaves are stuffed, shiny side out, and the finished product must be a neat little cylindrical bundle. The dolmades are put next to each other and stacked in an orderly fashion in a heavy metal pot, some vine leaves are spread out on top and any juices left over from the stuffing are poured over them, as well as the juice of a lemon or two. A plate is inverted and place on top of the pot and the dolmades are heated on the stove until tender and well cooked.

The traditional sauce one serves them with is an egg and lemon mousseline sauce, but one may simply put dollops of Greek-style yogurt on them. Delicious!