Spinach dolmades drizzled with avgolemono

Dolmades are traditionally made with vine leaves, however as another healthy alternative this recipe substitutes the vine leaves with spinach leaves, filling them with mince and rice, drizzling the entire dish with a tasty avgolemono (egg lemon sauce).

Avgolemono is an optional sauce, which can be replaced with either lemon juice or even a natural Greek yoghurt if desired.

The number of spinach leaves needed depends on their size. Use one whole leaf for each dolmada if small, otherwise you can cut larger spinach leaves in half to make two dolmades out of each leaf.

Remove the hard white stalk from the middle of each leaf so that they are easier to roll.

Spinach dolmades drizzled with avgolemono recipe

Makes around 50 dolmades

Ingredients

- 250g pork mince
- 250g veal mince
- large brown onion, finely chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1 grated tomato
- 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
- 1 cup rice
- 1/4 cup olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
- 2 cups water
- salt and pepper to taste
- juice of 2  lemons
- spinach leaves - see note above about quantity and preparation

Method

Dolmades:

- Place mince, rice, onion, tomato, parsley, one egg, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl and mix with hands until all ingredients are well combined.
- Fill a large saucepan with water to about three quarters and bring to the boil.
- Blanch spinach leaves for one minute. Set aside to cool.
- Begin making your dolmades. Place about one tablespoon of the mince mixture on a spinach leaf, towards the stalk end.
- Carefully cut large part of stalk off the end.
- Firmly roll the stalk end over the mixture, tuck in the sides and then roll up completely.
- Place dolmada into a large casserole dish.
- Repeat until the mince mixture is finished, all the while making sure to place dolmades close together in layers, so they don’t unravel while cooking.
- Season with salt and pepper.
-Add 2 cups water and drizzle with olive oil.
- Weigh down by place a dinner plate on top of the dolmades and cover casserole dish with a lid.
- Cook for about an hour until mince and rice is cooked through.
- Set aside with lid still on.

Avgolemono (egg lemon sauce):
- Whisk 2 eggs with lemon juice.
-Take some juice from the bottom of the casserole dish and blend into egg and lemon juice mixture, whisking for a few minutes.

To serve:
- Pour Avgolemono over dolmades and enjoy. 

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