147 grape leaf recipes

Large pasta tubes get stuffed with a mixture of mashed meatballs and spinach, then layered with slow-simmered tomato sauce and Parmesan for an Italian feast that feeds a crowd.

Serve this scrumptious cheese bread with lasagna or any other kind of casserole you prepare for dinner.

Here is a kind of throw together recipe I came up with: If you are entertaining you can garnish with fresh parsley and serve with a caesar salad, garlic bread and a nice chablis. The vegetables can vary. I've used mushrooms, spinach, cauliflower etc. Grouper works well with this because it has a lot of flavor. I've used fresh tuna and halibut but prefer grouper.

Light vegetarian lasagna with a from-scratch tomato herb sauce simmered two hours, layered with part-skim ricotta, mozzarella, and Parmesan. No meat, no oil in the sauce, still deeply satisfying.

Three-bean vegetarian minestrone soup with chickpeas, adzuki beans, kidney beans, pearl barley and tomatoes, finished with red wine, soy sauce, and grated Parmesan. A hearty Italian soup packed with protein and fiber.

Restaurant-style veal francese with Parmesan-breaded scaloppine fried crisp, bathed in a sherry-Marsala-lemon sauce, and crowned with prosciutto. Sabatino's signature in your kitchen.

Traditional Italian minestrone with white beans, vegetables, broken spaghetti, and a Parmesan rind simmered into the broth for umami depth. The classic peasant-soup approach.

Long, slow simmering of meat and herbs produces the base for this incomparable sauce.

This bread freezes well for 2-3 months if tightly wrapped. To serve, defrost overnight in the foil. To warm, place the thawed bread, still wrapped in foil in a 350F degree oven for 15-20 minutes. If reheated in this manner, the bread will retain its freshly baked qualities.

Vegetarian pumpkin walnut loaf: fresh pumpkin, rice, walnuts and herbs baked together and served with a quick stewed tomato sauce. A fall main dish that doesn't apologize for being meat-free.

This simple side dish is a good source of fiber. Increase the portion size and it doubles as a meatless main dish.

Light summer vegetable soup with green beans, yellow squash, and spinach. Garden-fresh vegetables in a Worcestershire-seasoned broth ready in 50 minutes.

Provencal-style vegetable stew with roasted peppers, salted eggplant, zucchini, and potatoes simmered in a pesto-spiked tomato broth. Topped with Parmesan, basil, and parsley.

Vegetarian baked pasta with mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, layered with a cottage cheese filling and topped with savory tomato sauce. Lighter, lower-fat take on classic baked ziti.

Classic Italian minestrone soup with white beans, salt pork, leeks, cabbage, turnip, zucchini, and elbow macaroni. Slow-simmered farmhouse soup finished with grated parmesan.

Mushroom tart with caramelized mixed mushrooms, thyme cream, Parmigiano, and crumbled blue cheese in a flaky puff pastry shell. A showstopper appetizer or light dinner with deep earthy flavor.