A few notes and tips:

• Make sure you soak the grape leaves in water for at least 15 minutes otherwise they may be very salty. I kept them in water while i was rolling them. This also makes sure they stay moist.
• Try not to let the grape leaves get to dry before grilling them so they don’t burn and crumble.
• Don’t over cook the rice. I like to cook mine with a little bit of butter as this helps keep the grains separate. Fluff the rice a few times so it cools off nicely. You don’t want a big clump of glutinous rice.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Dried Cherries (unsweetened), chopped
• 1 small red Onion , minced
• 1/4 cup Fresh Parsley, Finley chopped
• 1 cup diced [tag]Tomatoes[tag]
• 1-2 cloves of Garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese.
• 1 teaspoon Kosher [tag]Salt[tag]
• 1 pound of Ground Pork.
• 3 cups cooked Jasmine Rice, room temp
• Juice of 1 Lemon
• Lemon Zest, from one lemon.
• 30 Brined Grape leaves, rinsed

Mix everything but the pork , grape leaves and half of the salt in a large mixing bowl. Taste the mixture and adjust the seasoning. If you want to go meatless you can skip the next step with the pork. Some kalamata olives would be great instead.

Combine the other half of the salt with the pork separately and mix the pork and the rice stuffing together. This just ensures that everything gets evenly seasoned.

Lay a grape leave flat and place a log of the stuffing on it. To roll it up, fold the back over first and then fold each side over.

Now just roll it up tight.

Place the stuffed grape leaves on the top rack of your grill with the seam side down. Cook them this way at ~400 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until cooked all the way through. There is raw pork in there so make sure it is completely cooked.

Flip them half way through the total cooking time.

You can serve them with a drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil and touch of lemon juice over the top. I have also added some finely diced red pepper and fresh parsley.