Photo by John HoffA few days ago I was in the Marcy-Holmes neighborhood, and I saw this man harvesting grape leaves from a vacant lot. Yes, leaves. The leaves are used as flavorful wrappings in a certain Greek dish.
He said local leaves are nicer, fresher, more yummy than the leaves you can buy from California and, of course, free.
He told me, quite proudly, the leaves would be used in the deli owned by his family, and named the deli. (I was familiar with it) His Greek accent was delightful and even while we talked he didn't stop picking leaves. He said you need the big ones. The tender little ones, he said, "Fall apart."
Here is a recipe which calls for grape leaves.
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You have to let us know where this deli is!
ReplyDeleteWell, I would, but I'm worried some picky bureaucrat or paranoid customer might have a beef with the idea of just going out in the neighborhood and picking wild-growing grape leaves.
ReplyDeleteLet's just say there's only a small number of Greek delis to be found in the Marcy-Holmes area.