Veal (Chicken) in Grape Leaves -- another recipe from the Transylvanian cookbook

It is time to pick a recipe from the Transylvanian Prince's Cookbook!

This is the digital translation of a book in Hungarian that I have tried recipes from before.  Here is the book reference:

The Prince of Transylvania’s court cookbook 

From the 16th century 

THE SCIENCE OF COOKING

You can find a copy of it here:  http://www.medievalcookery.com/etexts/transylvania-v2.pdf

The recipes I have tried are here:  Prince of Transylvania's court cookbook

Today I picked recipe number 81, found on page 20.


Veal in grape leaves. 

Cut the roast veal like they cut dumplings (chopped into a fine mince); slice some bacon, add some black pepper and eggs, if you have no eggs, ‘tis no problem, for the grape leaves hold it (Hold them together in their shape) , but the grape leaves are good only if they are weak (Weak: young and/or tender), put meat balls onto the leaves, fold them, put it in the pot, pour beef broth on top then cook it, add some black pepper and serve it with the grape leaves. 


My Redaction

The first decision I made was to use chicken instead of veal.  It is more available and less expensive.  Because of this, I chose to use chicken broth instead of beef broth.

The directions say to "cut the roast veal", so I chose to use cooked chicken.  What I had on hand was chicken thighs that had been marinated and grilled, so I removed the skin and cut the meat off the bones.  It was this that I weighed for the ingredients list below.

1 lb cooked chicken meat
1/4 lb bacon
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten

grape leaves (preserved) for wrapping
chicken broth to cover 

And chicken broth

First I chopped the chicken meat into a fine mince.  I chopped it until the pieces seemed to be small enough that they would stick together if moistened with a beaten egg.

I chopped in batches and made tiny bits.

Then I chopped the bacon, but it wasn't chopped quite as fine.



I sprinkled the pepper over the two meats and mixed it all well.

Pre-egg.  A fluffy mass.

Then I poured the beaten egg over it all and mixed well again.  When I took a small handful of the mixture and squeezed it, it compressed and stayed in the ball shape I pressed it into.

Barely moist and perfect for holding the mixture together.

The grape leaves were taken out of their jar and rinsed several times with fresh water.  This didn't separate them all completely, so I put them into a big bowl of water while I worked with them so they could continue to be rinsed of their brine and any dirt that might have gotten on them.  This worked well.

One grape leaf was positioned on my cutting board with the stem away from me.

I put all of them with the veins up, towards me.

I took a big spoonful of the filling and placed it on the leaf.

With practice, I knew where to put the mixture for easy wrapping.

My fingers were very handy for slightly compressing the filling.  This showed me how much space the filling really needed and made it easier to wrap.

Later I found putting the filling lower than this worked better for wrapping without losing filling.

I folded the sides over the filling, then pulled the stem side over the filling and tucked it gently against the filling.  Next I rolled the leaf over itself until I had a tidy little bundle.

The leaf wrapped around the filling to about the same size as the filling.

The bundles were stacked in layers in my big kettle.  It turned out that 28 fit snugly into the bottom, then I turned the kettle and started stacking the bundles in a second layer.

The first layer

The quantity of filling made 40 bundles.

A layer and a bit more of another

That left me with many, many grape leaves still sitting in the jar.  Did I really want to stop there?  No!  So I made a second filling, modifying the original recipe with a few extra ingredients.  While making the first batch of bundles I kept thinking, "This needs fruit!  It needs nuts!  It needs something sour!"  So the second filling was 9 ounces of minced chicken meat (from thinly sliced deli chicken breast), 3 ounces bacon, 1 teaspoon pepper, a small handful of barberries (zareshk) soaked in hot water for a few minutes then drained, a small handful of pine nuts, and 1 egg.

Wetter than the first mix because 1 egg was used for a smaller quantity.

This filling made another 30 bundles.  At that point I stopped making more and concentrated on cooking them.

I poured about 20 ounces of chicken broth over the layers in the kettle.  This didn't quite cover them all, but the highest ones still had broth up to about their half-way point.

Not covered but close.

I covered the kettle, brought the broth up to a gentle simmer, and set the timer for 30 minutes.  I checked on them several times at first -- I had to lower the heat to keep the simmer from turning into a boil.  But after that they had about 20 minutes of uninterrupted, covered cooking.

Once the cooking was through, I removed the lid and let them cool a little.

Cooked and cooled.

They were then easy to remove from the kettle (with tongs!) and to stack on a plate for serving.  I noticed a lot of the broth had been absorbed into the bundles.

As per the original directions, I sprinkled a very little bit of pepper over the tops of the stack.  I just used a pinch of pepper across the tops.

Once stacked, a lot of the broth settled at the bottom, which I drained off before serving.

The Verdict

I served them with chardonnay wine.  Yes, that was all!




We tried the original recipe first, and it was still warm from the kettle.  Oh. My.  It was wonderful!  I was astonished at how good it tasted:  juicy, and rich in meaty and peppery flavors.  The bacon had made it just right with the salt balance.  The pepper came through but was not overwhelming.  The texture was a little chewy (nice!), the leaves were tender, and one bundle was two or three bites -- perfect.

The modified recipe was also very good:  all the same flavors as the original but with a little more resistance to the tooth from the pine nuts and a charming, little burst of sour from the barberries.  My guest taster declared that to be the best part and so the modified was his favorite.  He thought the original was definitely sweeter than the modified but not in a bad way.

I loved them both equally.  I liked the burst of sour and the pine nut but I also liked eating the original as a counterpoint to not having the burst.  The original really had the bacon-and-chicken blend as its emphasis, which appealed to me.

I think I could do without the light sprinkling of pepper on the bundles.  A few times I felt the pepper was too dominant, and it had to have been because of the sprinkling.  I think if I were to do that again, I would either skip it or put on even less.

So success!  A marvelous success!  It was easy to make (the rolling of the bundles was actually a contemplative time for me) and the results were excellent.

Extras:  They were good warmed up the next day, served with toast and melon.  They were good cold, right out of the refrigerator, too.  The pepper flavor really came through then, as a bite on the tongue.  If you don't like that, use 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons in the filling.

Side note:  The broth itself, what was left over in the kettle, was also very tasty.  Worth sipping!

Maraqat al-Khudra -- Ragout of Green Vegetables with Mutton (Tunisia)

I had a large, lovely bunch of rainbow chard that was calling out for some interesting and new preparation.  What answered was the book, A Mediterranean Feast, by Clifford Wright.

ISBN 0-688-15305-4

I've used this book before with excellent results:  Spinach with Raisins and Pine Nuts, Eggplant the Perfect Way, and Maccharruni con Pesto Trapanese.  I felt confident in choosing another recipe from it.

This recipe was a bit of a challenge for me.  Not because of the cooking techniques but because of one ingredient:  harisa (harissa) sauce.  He gives a recipe and mentions you can buy it premade, so that was not the problem.  So what, then?  I am a wimp when it comes to chiles, peppers, hot spices that have fire.  Can I handle this?  I needed to know.

Maraqat al-Khudra -- Ragout of Green Vegetables with Mutton (pages 108-109)

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pound boneless lamb or mutton shoulder, trimmed of all fat and cut into 1-inch cubes
1 1/2 teaspoons tabil (see recipe below)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 medium-large onions (about 1 pound), chopped
1 pound Swiss chard, washed well, trimmed of the heavier part of their stalks, and chopped
Leaves from 1 bunch fresh parsley, chopped
2/3 cup cooked chickpeas, drained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/2 teaspoons harisa
1/2 cup water
Juice from 1 lemon
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper, such as Aleppo or cayenne

And the chard!

1.  In a medium-size nonreactive casserole, heat the olive oil over high heat.  Toss the lamb or mutton with the tabil, salt, and pepper.  Brown the meat and onions in the hot oil, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2.  Reduce the heat to low and add the Swiss chard and parsley with the water clinging to them from their last rinsing.  Cook until this liquid is mostly evaporated, about 10 minutes.

2.  Add the chickpeas, tomato paste, and harisa diluted in the water, the lemon juice, and black and red peppers.  Mix well, cover, and simmer over a very low heat until the meat is very tender, about 2 hours, moistening the ragout with small amounts of water if it is drying out.  Serve.  (Makes 4 servings)

My Notes

I had a nice piece of lamb shoulder, which I cut off the bone and cubed.

**********
The tabil recipe is on page 522:

2 large garlic cloves, chopped and dried in the open air for two days, or 2 teaspoons garlic powder
1/4 cup coriander seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper

In a mortar, pound the garlic with the coriander, caraway, and cayenne until homogeneous.  Store in the refrigerator or freezer.  Keep in the refrigerator if using fresh garlic for up to 2 months or indefinitely if using powdered garlic, although the pungency will decline as time goes by.

I used garlic powder.  My coriander was already ground, so I pounded the garlic powder, caraway, and cayenne together, then added the coriander to get about 1/4 cup.  I doubt if this mixture is as pungent as intended, but it is what I had.

**********

When I got ready to brown the meat, I put the onions in first.  This had the advantage that the meat did not stick to the bottom of the pan.  I set the timer for 5 minutes and let it cook.



I used a 6 quart pan for this, and the chard-plus-parsley mix filled it to the top.  Once it cooked for a little while, the mass reduced in size.  In ten minutes, most of the liquid was gone.

Then I added the rest of the ingredients.  Yes, the entire 1 1/2 teaspoons of the pungent harisa!  (Store-bought.)  I also used cayenne for the red pepper.



The heat was at its very lowest and the lid was on tight.  I checked it every 30 minutes to make sure it wasn't drying out.  It wasn't, not even getting close.

After 1 hour and 15 minutes, I tested the lamb.  It was so incredibly tender that I declared the cooking done and got it ready to serve.



The Verdict

I served it with a mushroom and herb couscous, which seemed like it would be a mild counterpoint to a spicy dish.

You can't really see the heat it contains...

The maraqat was not dry.  In fact, it was rather juicy, so when I scooped it, I tried not to pick up the extra liquid on the bottom of the pan.

The lamb was tender and flavorful.  The sauce was spicy!  Almost too much for me, but I persisted (and drank milk with the meal).  It was hard for me to get the other spice flavors out of any bite because I was dealing with the heat.

I did like it!  The meat and veggies together were a nice blend of textures, and I really liked that there were more veggies than meat.  The garbanzo beans added a slightly chewy blandness, to give some relief from the fiery sauce.  The veggies gave it a slightly earthy flavor, which I liked very much.

My guest taster felt that the heat was just right.  Overall, he liked the flavor combination.

Success!

I had the leftovers the next day and included a spoonful of sour cream on top, which was a good addition.

I really wanted to see what it tasted like without so much heat, so I made it again and used only 1/2 teaspoon of the harisa.  The result was also good!  I liked it much better and could taste the other spices.

Overall, it was easy to prepare and cook.  The result was tasty and filling.  I think that some time I will try it with more lamb, just to shift the balance towards the meat.  The tenderness and flavor are worth it.