Grape Leaves with Quince and Barberries, Sababa

Grape Leaves with Quince and Barberries

I met Gil Hovav somewhere around 1999, when I was a fledgling food writer with only a murky idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Gil, who comes from a long line of prolific writers—his great-grandfather, Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, modernized the Hebrew language for the new nation—has done everything from serving as a restaurant critic to publishing some of Israel’s best cookbooks, not to mention starring on countless television shows. When my love of food and passion for Israel dovetailed into professional ambitions for the first time, Gil took me under his wing, and I’m still resting comfortably there nearly twenty years later. We’ve traveled to Berlin and New York together to cook Yemenite dinners and road-tripped while he regaled me with stories. His love for Israel, and the idea that we all learn from one another when we share plates, is his unifying principle. One morning over martinis (always martinis), he taught me the recipe for these delicious grape leaves, which he learned from Israeli Jews of Turkish descent. Tangy without being briny and just a touch sweet, they’re as beautiful as they are delicious. Gil added his own flourishes to the traditional recipe in the form of fresh quince and zereshk, or barberries, a tart, dried fruit I was more familiar with as a staple of Persian and Afghani cooking. If you can’t find them, you can use unsweetened currants or cranberries.

Makes about 40 stuffed grape leaves

Active Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 2 hours

GRAPE LEAVES

One 12-ounce jar grape leaves (at least 40 leaves)

FILLING

½ cup (3 ounces) pine nuts

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

1 cup uncooked round rice, such as Arborio, unrinsed

⅓ cup tomato paste

2½ cups loosely packed fresh parsley leaves, finely chopped

2½ cups loosely packed fresh dill fronds, finely chopped

2½ cups loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

¾ cup barberries, currants, or chopped unsweetened dried cranberries

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 small quince or tart apple, such as Honeycrisp, cored and cut into 12 wedges

12 whole pieces of dried fruit (prunes, apricots, or figs), pitted and halved

LIQUID

1 cup chicken broth

½ cup water

⅓ cup tomato paste

3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon silan (date syrup) or honey

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Prepare the grape leaves: Rinse and drain the grape leaves, pat them dry, and trim off any tough stems from the base of each grape leaf.

Prepare the filling: In a very large, high-sided, heavy-bottomed skillet, toast the pine nuts over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer the pine nuts to a plate to cool. Add the olive oil to the pan, then add the onion and cook, stirring, until tender and lightly golden, 8 to 9 minutes. Stir in the rice, then the tomato paste. Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped herbs, barberries, salt, and pepper.

Clear a work surface before you get to rolling the grape leaves. Arrange a grape leaf, shiny side facing down, on the work surface, and spoon the filling (1½ teaspoons of the filling for larger leaves, 1 teaspoon for smaller leaves) centered and about 2 inches from the bottom of the leaf. Fold the bottom over the filling, then fold the sides over toward the center. Continue rolling, gathering and narrowing the sides with your hands as you roll so the finished, stuffed leaf is a neat log; leave a bit of room in the rolled log to give the rice room to expand. Continue with the remaining filling and grape leaves, arranging them inside the skillet in a circular pattern from the outside in as you go along. It’s OK if there’s a little space in the pan since the rolls will expand, but not too much room. Tuck the quince and dried fruit between the grape leaves, arranging a few pieces on top (like the dried figs pictured on the previous page) if they’re particularly pretty.

Make the liquid: Whisk together the broth, water, tomato paste, lemon juice, silan, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl and pour evenly over the skillet, using a dull knife to move the rolls around so the liquid fills every gap and crevice. Bring to a low boil over medium heat, reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover with a tight-fitting lid, and cook until the leaves are tender, the filling is soft, and the fruit has plumped, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from the heat, let cool for at least 15 minutes, and serve warm or at room temperature.