In general, I try to cook healthy these days. Long gone are my weekly experimentations with ice cream recipes and chocolate cake indulgences. I’m not saying those things won’t come back, but after seeing some pics of me toward the end of 2012, I realized I needed to do a few more healthy things for myself. One helpful strategy has been cutting down on desserts (at least making them — I still find myself trotting out to the local frozen yogurt shop more often than I’d like to admit). Another helpful approach has been incorporating a few more vegetarian meals into the mix. Now, I’m still a through and through meat eater, but the occasional vegetable-based entrée can really go a long way.
Of course, not all vegetarian recipes are automatically healthy, and that’s probably the case with the Grape leaf, herb and yogurt pie I made from Yotam Ottolenghi’s famous vegetarian book, Plenty. This savory, Turkish-inspired dish is chock full of yogurt, but a little dairy never killed anyone, right? Right?
Pics after the jump…
A bunch of grape leaves, pulled from a briny jar. I hadn’t really worked with grape leaves before, but I can tell you that they were kiiiind of annoying. First I had to soak them in boiling water. Then I had to dry them. And THEN I had to cut off their hard stalks. [rolling eyes]
Here they are soaking. Stupid grape leaves.
I’m afraid these shallots have been the victim of chopping.
Some casual sautéing.
Eventually the shallots take on a lovely, golden color.
When the shallots are done, they head over to a new home: a bowl full of tarragon, parsley, dill, mint, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. It’s pretty intense.
Yogurt, rice flour, and pine nuts enter the equation next. It’s like having Turkey in my bowl.
With the filling made, I’m feeling rather (Istan)bullish about this dish. I drape grape leaves all around a pan. The pie takes form.
Well hello, melted butter.
The health benefits of this vegetarian dinner continue to diminish as I shellack the grape leaves with melted butter.
In goes the filling.
I drape the leaves back over the filling, adding additional leaves to help cover the whole thing up. More butter goes down, and then breadcrumbs and olive oil.
40 minutes later, I pull the pie from the 375 degree oven. The leaves are crisp, the breadcrumbs golden. As you can see, there’s been some strange grape leaf shriveling up top, which has effectively forced all the breadcrumbs to pool in the center of the pie, but it’s no big deal.
The first slice. I would not call this a massively photogenic effort.
THE VERDICT:
Really good! This is one tasty pie. I loved the bright flavor of the filling, especially wrapped in the briny, crispy grape leaves. You know, prepping those leaves may have been annoying, but it was worth it in the end. My only complaint is that I wish the filling were a bit… taller? Just look at that slice. It’s sad. I may experiment with the idea of increasing the filling — or perhaps stuffing the leaves individually like dolmas.
Oh, who am I kidding. I’ll never do any of that. One more flat but tasty pie coming right up!
Where did you get that green spatula/spoon utensil? I have to have one.
Glad you are back to blogging.