Empty the box of Zatarains® Dirty Rice into a quart bowl, and break up all the spices and mix the rice together. Add the meat and mix it all up (easier to just use your hands).

8 oz. of Grape Leaves makes about 45-50 Dolmades. Be sure to get the Grape Leaves in a "Wide Mouth Container", otherwise it's a struggle to get them out.

Carefully pull them apart, put the nice leaves in one pile, stem side up, and the scrap leaves in another (we will be using these also). If they have stems, you need to cut those off during this time (you don't have to rinse or parboil the leaves from a jar, only if you have fresh leaves).

Get an 8 quart pot and your bottle of olive oil, pour enough in it swish it around a bit, then lay some of those small/broken leaves to cover the bottom of the pot.

Now the fun stuff. It takes me about an 20 minutes to make 50.

Take a leaf in your left hand (stem side up) and grab a pinch of stuffing in the right hand (about a tablespoon) and roll the stuffing a little in your fingers to shape it, then place it in the middle of the leaf by the stem.

Take one of the bottom edges and turn it in to the center, then the other bottom edge, then the same for the other two leaf parts, now place it on a hard surface to roll it up into the middle leaf.

This gets easier as you get used to the portions and leaf size. (Some leaves may have only 2 corners and a middle part, so just fold it up pretty much the same, minus the 2 bottom parts.) If you have leaves with holes, just use part of a broken leaf to patch it up.)

Now, place them one by one in the pot as you roll them, seam side down. You will have 2 levels if you're making 40-50.

After you have finished rolling and setting, sprinkle lightly with sea salt over the top, and a drizzle of olive oil, then cover with the remaining small/broken leaves.

Add enough water to cover the bottom layer. Then add a flat plate or top to press down on the Dolmades to keep them from unrolling while cooking.

Heat until boiling, cover with a tight fitting lid, and reduce heat to medium (or a simmer) for 45 minutes.

When they are done, use tongs to extract and place in container. Drizzle olive oil over them and set in refrigerator until cool.

Enjoy :)

Submitted by: Jami Cat