Plump parcels of rice-stuffed vine leaves might be more familiar to Greece’s millions of summer visitors than these hearty braised cabbage rolls, but, as Athens native Carolina Doriti explains in her book Salt of the Earth, dolmades come in many different guises. In many areas of the country, these lahanodolmades are traditionally served on Orthodox Christmas Day, the cabbage standing in for the swaddling bands of the infant Christ, and they’re especially popular “on the islands, in northern Greece and the Epirus region”.
That said, they’re not just for Christmas: Rena Salaman recalls neighbours coming round on dark mornings to help her mother and grandmother prepare what she calls “all in all, a winter dish … ideal for England with the abundance of the (notorious) English green cabbage, which at last can serve a more worthwhile purpose than usual!” Though I object to the shade thrown on our brassica cookery, I can’t disagree that this is a wonderful winter dish, whether or not you’re celebrating Orthodox Christmas this weekend.
