Middle Eastern Spiced Rolls

During our latest trek down the hill into town we stopped into the Martins Ferry library and picked up a stack of books taller than my youngest daughter. One of the books that caught my eye was a Lebanese cookbook. We love the flavors of middle eastern food and I have been trying to hunt down a recipe for a dish made by an old neighbor of mine. Of course, that recipe wasn't in the book  but there were plenty other mouth watering recipes for grilled meats, relishes, and stuffed veggies. At home I had started cooking a traditional family rice dish that I was going to stuff into swiss chard leaves but then I was drawn back to the stuffed veggies in the library book. The basic stuffing recipe for veggies has rice, meat, a few other things plus cinnamon and all spice. Since I already had a bunch of beet greens and chard scrubbed down and cooking in a tomato sauce with onions, I decided to wing it and toss in some cinnamon and allspice. Viola - a spicy sauce that was savory and slightly sweet.  I added some ground beef (wish I had lamb on hand) and long grain brown rice and we were ready to get rolling. It wasn't exactly what I planned to make for dinner but it ended up being a delicious surprise.  It is somewhat reminiscent of the flavors of Moussaka. So, if you like that - you will like this.

Chard growing on the farm

 Note: 3 fresh from the farm ingredients used in this dish: garlic, chard, and beet greens.

Ingredients: 

29 oz can of tomato sauce
1 yellow onion diced.
3 cups or so of mixed chopped greens. I used Swiss chard and beet greens.
1 pound of ground chuck or ground lamb.
3 cups of cooked long grain brown rice (make ahead of time)
1 tsp all spice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 clove of garlic.
2 dozen or more Swiss chard leaves.
log of goat cheese.
2 Yukon gold potatoes
Zatar spice

Directions for potatoes:

1. Cube potatoes into small cubes and fry in 2 Tbs oil until crispy on sides and tender in the middle.
2. Season with a dash or two of zatar spice, salt, and pepper.

Directions for sauce:

1. Saute onion, garlic in 1-2 tsp of olive oil
2. Add ground beef.
3. Once ground beef is cooked down add 3 cups of greens.
4. Once the greens are wilted add the can of tomato sauce
4. Add cinnamon and all spice
5. Cook until the tomato sauce mellows and flavors combine 20-30 minutes
6. Add 3 cups of rice to the tomato sauce.

Directions for rolls:

1. Steam Swiss chard leaves and then cut out as much as you can of the center stem without cutting the leaves in half.
2.Dollop a tablespoon or so of the rice mixture onto the leaf and then 1/4 tsp of goat cheese and a sprinkle of fried potato.
3. Roll and place back into the steamer or put on a platter in the oven to keep warm.  I used a bamboo steam to steam the leaves and then returned the rolls to the steamer to keep warm and then to serve.
4. Continue until all leaves are used. You may have a lot or a little of the rice mix left depending on the size of your leaves. Keep this as a side dish or to stuff other veggies: zucchini, tomato, or pepper.