Dolma & Arancini Recipes

Dolmades
1 pack vine leaves (250g)

2 cups rice
pine nuts
currants
1 tsp allspice
1 1/2 teaspoon dried mint
1 lemon. juice & zest
1 onion, finely chopped

1. Boil the vine leaves in water to soften and remove excess salt (10 mins).
2. Saute the onion in a generous splash of olive oil until softened, add in the rest of the ingredients and stir over medium heat until the flavours are released.
3. Add water (as if cooking risotto) and stir until absorbed. Do this till the rice is half-cooked.
4. Roll 1-2 teaspoons of rice in the vine leaves to make the dolmas (practise makes perfect!)
5. Reserve the old and damaged leaves to line the bottom of the pan (3-4 layers). Lay the rolled dolmades on top of this all snug in the pan. Cover the dolmades with more vine leaves and weigh the lot down with a saucer.
6. Add water to cover nearly cover the dolmades and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes (check that water doesn't dry up- better too much than too little).
7. Drain and bathe in olive oil
(Tip: The rice filling is great to stuff vegetables...)

Arancini
Cooked Risotto *I used mushroom risotto with white wine & some truffle oil from 250 g rice
Mozarella cut into 1 cm cubes
egg
breadcrumbs
seasoned flour

1. Make (golf ball-sized) balls from the cooled risotto and push in the mozarella. Reform the balls and refrigerate until firm.
2. Roll the balls in the flour, egg then bread crumbs and deep-fry until golden. Serve HOT! Could dipped into a tomato based sauce.