Ground Turkey Domathes: A Neighborhood Tradition

Hello and welcome!

This dish has an amazing story passed down through the generations of my neighborhood and was the inspiration (and appetizer) for Lemon Christmas :)

While shadowing my Aunt Connie -with whom I share a fondness for cooking and enjoying delicious, unique food- for a day, she told me the following story...

"On our block there used to live a Greek woman who was very close to Dorothy (fantastic grandmother, chef, knitting extraordinaire, and our lovely former next door neighbor, rest in peace <3). One day while I was visiting Dorothy, she brought out this recipe for Domathes (Greek traditional stuffed grape leaves) and told me about the Greek woman, who taught her how to make them. So Dorothy taught me to make them and gave me the recipe, and I would like to teach you how to make them if you'd like."

Naturally, I was very excited and honored to be a part of this tradition!

Once I learned the sauce for the domathes was lemon, I suggested that we have an entire lemon-themed dinner. Thus, Lemon Christmas was born :)

The Recipe:

Domathes:

• 1 Jar of Grape Leaves
• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 1 cup rice
• salt and pepper
• 2 tsp parsley flakes
• 1 tbsp mint flakes
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 egg
• 1 box chicken broth

Lemon Sauce:

• 3-4 eggs, separated
• 1/2 cup lemon juice
• 1 cup of "hot liquid from pan" (referring to the juice from the cooked domathes pan)

The Process:

1. Brown the ground turkey. 
2. Mix in rice, salt, pepper, parsley, and mint. 
3. Cook onion with olive oil and tomato sauce in a pan. 
4. Add to ground turkey. 
5. Add egg to ground turkey. 
6. Mix the filling for the domathes and allow to cook together on low heat. 
7. Very carefully, remove grape leaves from jar and separate, laying each leaf on a section of paper towel to air dry. 
8. If you have leaves with holes, or leaves that are very small, you will want to combine a few small leaves to make a larger leaf. 
9. With a spoon, place some of the ground turkey in the center of a grape leaf. 
10. To fold properly, fold the stem up first, covering the ground turkey mix completely. Next, fold in each side. Finally, roll the leaf tightly away from you, securely wrapping the turkey mix. 
11. Place in a deep pan in a close, circular pattern (see photo). 
12. Once you have rolled all leaves, you will likely have a very large amount of ground turkey left. We probably used 1/3 of the ground turkey recipe, so you may want to make less or buy more grape leaves. 
13. Cover the wrapped domathes in the pan with chicken broth. 
14. Bring to boil and cook for 30-40 minutes. 
15. About 10 minutes before the domathes finish cooking, begin the sauce. 
16. Separate 3 large eggs. 
17. Beat whites until they are foamy. 
18. Add 1/2 cup of lemon juice slowly to whites. (We used fresh lemons for everything, so account for juicing time based on your personal juicing comfort.)
19. Add egg yolks slowly to the whites and lemon juice. 
20. Add 1 cup of hot liquid from cooking domathes to the mix. 
21. Plate rolls as desired. 
22. Slowly pour sauce over plated rolls. You should have plenty left over to put on the side. 
23. Share and enjoy :) 

The Calories: 

Turkey: 676 calories

Grape Leaves: 13 calories

Rice: 684 calories

Salt: 0 calories

Pepper: 0 calories

Parsley: 2 calories

Mint: 1 calorie

Onion: 46 calories

Olive Oil: 119 calories

Tomato Sauce: 70 calories

Egg: 294 calories

Chicken Broth: 60 calories

Lemon Juice: 30 calories

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TOTAL: 1995 calories

This recipe makes a ridiculous amount of domathes. Using 1/3 of the filling mixture and sauce, we made at least 60 domathes. The total for this batch alone comes to 674 calories, meaning each of the 60 domathes was about 11 calories. I probably ate 10 and that was a LOT of food. 

What went right: 

         These were absolutely delicious!! They're great appetizers, especially for cold weather. Domathes have a very real, timeless, warm taste. I have absolutely no doubt that love is a flavor integrated into every step of this recipe. 

What went wrong:

         The lemon sauce makes the domathes a bit too damp to eat by hand in more than one bite. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn't seem to eat one without drops running down my hands and forearms or a squirrel cheek. I probably should have just used a fork and knife but there's gotta be a way to serve these without the runny drops. Potentially keeping the sauce on the side the whole time but having it readily available for dipping would have alleviated this issue. 

What I would do next time:

         Aunt Connie and I decided that making a smaller batch of the filling and sauce would be better, since we only had enough grape leaves for about 1/3 of the batch. (Maybe grape leaves have gotten smaller since this recipe was made?) 

         There's nothing in the recipe itself that needs to be changed, but the serving/eating should have some alterations for the sake of etiquette. For a more formal gathering it would be nice to consider cutting them in half and serving them on small spoons for bite-size pieces that don't involve actual handling. For casual get togethers like ours, maybe keeping all the sauce on the side, readily available for dipping but not on the domathes, would have made it easier to handle. If I think of any other serving techniques/test these, I'll be sure to edit! 

Would I do this in college:

         This would be very difficult to do while in school. It takes a significant amount of time and specific ingredients that aren't in most other things. I would definitely make it again at home and will be making it in my future, but making it in school isn't time-efficient. 

Overall, a great start to Lemon Christmas! Keep checking for the next courses :) 

Banana Apple Bacon Grilled Cheese on Cinnamon Raisin Bread

If you've chosen this post, you're more than likely intrigued as to how such a strange combination tasted so addicting, I made and ate TWO that night. And even though I've already had dinner, writing about it makes me want another one right now. It's that good.

The Recipe: Banana Apple Bacon Grilled Cheese on Cinnamon Raisin Bread

• 2 slices of Cinnamon  Raisin Bread
• 1/2 banana, sliced long ways, thinly and then each slice should be cut in half
• 1/2 apple, sliced thinly, no core
• 1 strip of bacon, cooked, broken into pieces
• 1 tbsp shredded, low fat Mozzarella
• 1/4 tsp butter

The Process: 

• Heat your panini pan and press on a large burner using high heat
• Set the press aside on the stovetop
• Spread butter on both sides of both slices of the bread
• When the pan is hot enough, place both slices of bread on the pan...remember to turn the heat down!!
• Sprinkle mozzarella on both sides of the bread
• When mozzarella is securely melted on each slice, lay the banana slices on one slice of bread
• Next, lay the apple slices on top of the banana slices
• Finally,  lay the bacon pieces on top of the apple slices
• Close your sandwich, and press until grill marks brown to desired color
• Enjoy with cinnamon sugar pita chips or other all natural snack

The Calories:

Bread: 170 calories

Banana: 45 calories

Apple: 40 calories

Bacon: 42 calories

Mozzarella: 20 calories

Butter: 25 calories

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TOTAL: 342 calories

As a sandwich goes, this is a pretty healthy option! Your typical panini has more than that in the bread alone. If you're looking at that and thinking, "Wait...but you ate two!", think for another second about what I really ate: a banana, an apple, two strips of bacon, and a relatively small amount of cheese and butter, on homemade cinnamon bread. And still ate only 684 calories for a main course for dinner.

What went right: 
           It's a strange but perfect combination! Healthy, natural, well-rounded...I love this sandwich.

What went wrong:
           The first time I almost burnt the bread because I didn't turn the heat down. Came out great though once I noticed.

Will I do this in college:
           Definitely. I might not eat two at once but I will for sure be making it.

Overall, I think this is a wonderful sandwich not only for dinner but for lunch, or even for appetizers if they were cut in diagonal fourths. It's quick, easy, and healthy...Just what every college student needs!