RECIPE SECTION: IN PROCESS

I cannot tell you how important cooking was in my parent's home growing up. My sainted paternal grandmother Victoria lived with us. Most of the days, she made dinner for us. Otherwise, my mother would cook after she returned home from her full-time job as a sewing machine operator at Ford Motor Company. My father loved to cook and he specialized in two things. Kibbee on Sundays and his homemade Spaghetti Sauce which was a production second to none. I have duplicated my most favorite meals in my own kitchen using their recipes. I would love to share those with you on this page. 

Add Bulgar Wheat to sauce pan and rinse in hot water. Drain and then refill with hot water just covering the wheat. Cover the saucepan and set aside. Allow the Bulgar wheat to soak up the water. One hour minimum. Under-soaked Bulgar Wheat will drain moisture from the meat.

HUSHWEE:

In a small fry pan add pine nuts and ¼ of a stick of butter and brown.

In a medium saucepan, add Ground Chuck and start to brown on medium heat. When meat begins to brown add Onion/Green Pepper (Tubla) mixture and stir. Cook for a minute or so and add spices and stir. When Pine Nuts are browned, add to meat and stir. 

KIBBEE (RAW – ny-ee)

Add Ground Top of Round to large mixing bowl. Add small handful of water and mix in with your hands. Then add Tubla and continue to mix. Add spices and another handful of water. Continue to mix. 

Add half of the Bulgar Wheat and another handful of water and mix in thoroughly. Add remaining Bulgar Wheat and mix in thoroughly. 

Kibbee’s consistently should be moist, not dry – not wet.

KIBBEE (BAKED – sy-nyee-ah)

Total cook time -45 minutes

Pre-Heat oven to 450 degrees.

In a 9 x 12 baking pan, pour enough Vegetable oil to coat the bottom. Take the Raw Kibbee mixture and line the bottom of the pan and up the sides spreading with a spatula to get a 1/3 to ½ inch bottom layer. Once entire bottom is lined with Raw Kibbee, gently spread a layer of Hushwee on top of the bottom layer. Do not press into the meat. Using the spatula fold over the Kibbee from the sides of the pan partially covering the Hushwee stuffing. Take more raw Kibbee and flatten and spread to cover the Hushwee. 

With your spatula, score the top layer of Kibbee into 24 squares.

Pour small amount of Vegetable oil over the top layer.

Cook for 35 minutes.

Then under the broiler for 8-10 minutes crisping the meat.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Divide the dough into 1½ ounce pieces. Roughly 14 pieces.  Cover the cut pieces of dough with a damp cloth to prevent them from drying out while assembling the pies. 

Each meat pie is rolled separately.  Begin by taking one of the 14 pieces of dough and rolling it into a ball. Flatten the ball and then roll it into a 6-7 inch circle. 

Place 1¼ ounce (Approx 1/8 cup) of filling into the middle of the dough circle. 

To fold the pie into a triangle, bring a third of the dough circle up onto the pile of meat. 

Bring another third of the dough up to the meet the first portion and press the seam together firmly. 

The last third can now be folded up and the seams pressed together with the first two. 

Press all of the seams together especially at the tips and middle of the pie.  The pie should be sealed tightly or it may leak during baking. I dip my index fingers and thumbs in a bowl of water and seal the seams of the pie. Place meat pies onto a sheet pan and cook at 500 degrees for 7 minutes. 

Turn on Broiler and cook for an additional 3 minutes or until brown.

Allow pies to cool slightly before serving.  

Pies can also be served cold or frozen for later use. 

Makes 12-16 meat pies

Many recipes call for home made dough. Mine, unlike my ancestors, uses pizza dough...'haa-rahm'

Don’t forget to refrigerate the filling before assembling the pies. The pies will turn out soggy if the meat mixture is too hot. 

These meat pies would traditionally be made using lamb but our family has always used ground chuck. 

Two (2) Pounds Ground Chuck 

Two (2) Cups Rice (White)

One (1) 64 0unce Jar Orlando California Grape Leaves

Two (2) Teaspoons Allspice

Two (2) Teaspoons Cinnamon 

Two (2) Teaspoons Dried Mint 

One and a half (1½) Teaspoons Salt 

One (1) Teaspoon Black Pepper

One (1) Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

½ Stick of Unsalted Butter

Two (2) Fresh Lemons

Five (5) quart saucepan 

Large Mixing Bowl

Glass Dinner Plate

Large Rock

Line the bottom of a five (5) quart saucepan with unrolled grape leaves and squeeze one-half (½) of a fresh lemon over the leaves. 

Par boil Rice for 10 minutes and drain. In a large mixing bowl add raw meat, parboiled rice, butter, allspice, cinnamon, mint, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Mix by hand until all ingredients are combined. (You might need to use kitchen gloves {e.g. Playtex} as rice will be hot). Set mixture aside and lose the gloves. Prepare each grape leaf by clipping off any remaining stem. With the point of the leaf facing the top and the vein-side of the leaf facing in , place some of the mixture at the middle bottom of the leaf with a minimum of one-inch of leaf on either side of the mixture. The amount of stuffing depends on the size of the leaf. Roll from the bottom up folding and tucking the corners as you go. When completed the final roll of the leaf should be in the middle and none of the stuffing should be visible. Place the completed leaf in the lined sauce pan starting with the outside circle working in. Once one layer is complete (usually 15-20 rolled leaves) squeeze one-half (½) of a fresh lemon over that layer and begin the next layer. You should have enough mixture and grape leaves for three (3) layers. 

Once you’ve completed the third layer, squeeze one-half (½) of a fresh lemon over that layer 

and then gently add water until it just covers all the layers of leaves. Do not add water too quickly as it can cause some of the leaves to unravel before cooking. Cover the top layer with unrolled grape leaves.

Now take a glass or ceramic dinner plate and invert it over the grape leaves inside the sauce pan to hold them in place while cooking. The less area between the edge of the plate and the side of the sauce pan the better as that will also help keep the leaves in place during cooking. I place a large rock (old country tradition) on the plate to help hold it down during cooking.

Now, over a medium heat, once the water starts to gently boil, time for 20 more minutes. Remove the rock and plate. Test for doneness. Gently remove grape leaves and let stand on paper towel to drain off any excess water.