Mary Shirejian’s Best-Selling Lentil Soup
Aunt Mary’s best-selling lentil soup from her Fresno Armenian restaurant.
Richard Hagopian’s Preserved Grape Leaves
Perhaps you know renowned oud player Richard Hagopian from his days as a member of the Kef Time Band, but Central Valley friends know him as a real Renaissance man — restauranteur, farmer and even historian, as well as musical virtuoso.
Richard and my dad were raised in the days when “farm-to-table” was a way of life rather than a movement; they grew up eating homemade delicacies prepared by their grandmothers, who were the best of friends. Later in life, Richard picked leaves from his family farm in Selma, California, for use at his restaurant down the road in Visalia. The leaves were preserved using this recipe and served throughout the year at Hagopian’s Deli, where you could buy marinated chops and staples like bulgur, or sit down for a full-fledged lunch.
This recipe yields a ‘small batch’ of three large pickle jars, each packed with 60 Hagopian-style grape leaves. The preserved leaves must stay refrigerated prior to use. Visit @julsarmeniankitchen on Instagram to see a blow-by-blow of the process and hear Richard rattle off instructions from is laser-sharp memory.
Richard Hagopian’s Preserved Grape Leaves
Print
Yield:
35 servings
Prep time:
3h
Cook time:
0
Total time:
3h
INGREDIENTS
| 180 | freshly-picked grape leaves |
|---|---|
| 3 | cups salt |
| 6 | quarts water |
| 2 | cups lemon juice |
| 2 | lemons, sliced |
EQUIPMENT
- A roll of kitchen twine
- Three wide-mouthed pickle jars (64 oz)
INSTRUCTIONS
| 1. | Align the grape leaf stems, and neatly layer the leaves in stacks of 20. |
|---|---|
| 2. | Roll each stack with the stems facing outward, and tie with the twine. | 3. | Blanch the rolls in boiling water for 10 seconds each, or long enough to see their color turn a darker shade of green. |
| 4. | Allow the blanched leaves to cool completely. | 5. | Prepare the brine by mixing the water, salt and lemon juice in a very large bowl. |
| 6. | Place three rolls in each of the pickle jars, and fill the jars with the brine using a ladle. | 7. | Top each jar with several lemon slices, and secure the jars by closing them tightly. |
| 8. | Place the pickle jars in the refrigerator until ready for use. |
NOTES
| 1. | I used kosher salt in this recipe, but Richard says table salt will do just fine. If you go with the table salt, be sure to do the “egg test” to determine the right quantity, as it may vary slightly from how the kosher salt was measured. The “egg test” consists of dropping a raw egg in the salt water (before adding the lemon juice) to see if it will rise to the top. You have enough salt when the mixture is dense enough to allow the egg to float. |
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| 2. | You can also flash-freeze the leaves for later use. Richard says to keep them aligned by the stems, but do not roll them up. Simply blanch them flat, drain, and freeze. An instructional reel for flash-freezing is also viewable on Instagram @julsarmeniankitchen. |