I created these stuffed vine leaves after tasting the cooked version.  Seeing as anything cooked can be made better raw, I just had to come up with this alternative, which, I have to say really fills a gap.  This recipe will make 16+ rolls depending on the size of your vine leaves and how much mixture you put in.  Eating 2 is usually enough for me in one sitting!

I have found a sushi rolling mat (pictured) very useful in rolling nice tight leaves, and as for the leaves themselves…

You can pickle your own, which involves finding fresh ones – I found some organic ones on ebay!  You’ll then need to soak them in salt water and lemon juice.  I’ve found at least 48 hours is needed to get them to turn a slightly darker green and become more pliable.

You also have the option of buying ones in a jar that are already pickled.  It depends how you feel about this but you should look for ones that have only used water, salt and lemon juice (citric acid).  Obviously the lemon juice and salt are not going to be as pure as the kind you’d use yourself, but it makes the whole recipe a lot more user-friendly.  You have a choice!

To the recipe…

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I think I may have mentioned before that I don’t watch much TV (every time I tell someone that I proceed to describe several different programs in detail!) but there’s a program that I’m absolutely glued to when it’s on, having only watched it for the first time 2 weeks ago.  That program is BBC 2′s Dragons’ Den:

"Dragons’ Den is a series where entrepreneurs pitch their ideas to secure investment finance from our dragons – elite business entrepreneurs."

I am completely amazed by the lack of some of these entrepreneurs’ preparation.  It makes for compulsive and sometimes cringeworthy viewing but honestly, what are they thinking?  The very first guy I saw had come along to present his idea to the dragons, only to completely lose it when questioned about his figures, both for staffing and projected turnover.  I mean, he had absolutely no idea and even said, "I’m sorry, I haven’t prepared for this". What???  This is all despite Duncan Bannatyne’s top pitching tip, "Know your numbers, know your percentages."

Having read-up on the dragons (something which the entrepreneurs would be well-advised to do) I found a great part of Theo Paphitis’ story and how he became so successful:

Theo returned to the insurance industry in sales at 20, where he discovered his natural ability of pointing out the obvious and applying common sense (which is not common)

With so many people to listen to for ideas, in any field, it’s very easy to think that one person has all the answers and that what they are doing is ‘right’.  It’s easy to completely miss some very common sense judgements that could have been made all the difference to your health, wealth, relationships and just about anything you can think of, if only you would open up to the possibility of there being more than one right answer.

Almost exactly a year ago I wrote down that it was a goal of mine to visit Pure Food & Wine in New York.  I’d just bought a book called ‘Raw Food, Real World’ (written by the owners of PFAW) and was so impressed with it that I wanted to go and see what looked like an amazing place.  If any proof was needed about the magic of writing down your goals then this is it:  In a matter of a couple of weeks I am due to go to New York to work with the co-creator of the book and the restaurant, Matthew Kenney, on some very exciting projects.  Matthew has started a new venture called The Plant which is a "4,000 sq ft commissary kitchen and cafe devoted to raw food preparation, education and distribution" and is the "production hub for all the Blue Green Organic Juice Cafes" across New York, supply them with raw food in the morning for supply throughout the day.

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