Felicity Cloake tries out your favorite natural food packaging.
Sadly, geographical constraints prevented me from trying the recipe that first caught my eye this week: a fry-up rolled in warm Staffordshire oatcake and "best served from a window in the Stoke-on-Trent area", but happily I was able to make it to Greece, India and Vietnam without leaving my kitchen.
Rachel Kelly's exceptionally tasty dolma had to win, but I'd also urge you to try the fragrant, nutty Moroccan gazelle horn pastries, and the richly savoury beef olives too.
The winning recipe: stuffed vine leaves
Rolling these up is a bit fiddly, but you can always re-roll any misshapen ones. Rachel Kelly, London, marmadukescarlet.blogspot.com
Makes 12-15
12-15 vine leaves, plus extra to cook
100ml olive oil, plus extra for frying
2 onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp pine nuts
2 tsp tomato puree
200g short-grain rice, cooked
2 tbsp currants, black raisins or barberries
1 tsp ground allspice
Handful fresh mint, chopped
Handful fresh dill, chopped
1 tsp sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1 If using fresh leaves, blanch in boiling water for 30 seconds or until they change colour, then snip off the stems. If using preserved leaves, simmer for 20 minutes, drain, rinse and repeat.
2 Fry the onions until soft. Add the pine nuts. Fry until golden, then stir in the puree. Add the rice, fruit, allspice and herbs. Season. Leave to cool.
3 Place a leaf on a plate, vein-side up, with the stem end towards you. Put 1 tsp filling along the bottom edge.Fold the bottom of the leaf over the filling, draw the sides into the middle, and tightly roll the leaf into a cigar shape. Repeat with each leaf.
4 Line a saucepan with any overlarge or torn leaves. Pack the parcels in tightly. Mix 100ml olive oil with 150ml water, the sugar and lemon juice. Pour over the dolma. Weigh them down with a plate, and simmer for an hour. Add water if needed. Allow to cool.
Beef olives
Every time I make this dish I think of my late mum - it was her favourite.
Diane Kitchen, Ilkley
Serves 4-8
75g rindless streaky bacon, finely chopped
1 small onion, chopped
2 tbsp chopped parsley
50g shredded suet
110g breadcrumbs
¼ tsp mixed herbs
1 large egg, beaten
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
8 thin slices of topside beef
1 tbsp English mustard
3 tbsp plain flour, seasoned
25g butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
450ml beef stock
1 Mix the bacon, onion, parsley, suet breadcrumbs and herbs. Add the egg, lemon zest and 1 tbsp juice. Season.
2 Sandwich each beef slice between greaseproof paper. Bash with a rolling pin until thin. Spread with mustard and a spoonful of stuffing. Roll into an olive shape, tie with string and dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
3 Heat the butter and oil in a frying pan. Brown the beef olives, then transfer to an ovenproof dish just big enough to hold them all in one layer.
4 Add the remaining flour to the frying pan and cook briefly. Gradually stir in the stock and bring to the boil; it will thicken. Pour over the beef. Cover and bake for 1½ hours until tender.
Cherry and nectarine filo parcels
These crisp parcels are delicious served with creme fraiche or ice-cream. Miguel de Almeida, London, westcoastcooking.wordpress.com
Serves 6
100g cherries (stoned weight)
3 nectarines, stoned
1 tbsp demerara sugar
1 tbsp amaretto liqueur
Zest of 1 lime
6 sheets filo pastry, cut into squares
Creme fraiche or ice-cream, to serve
1 Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5. Chop the cherries in half and then roughly chop the nectarines. Combine in a bowl with the sugar, amaretto and lime zest, and mix well. Set aside for 10 minutes.
2 Brush water on the edges of the filo squares. Spoon fruit into the middle of each. Close the parcel. Twist the top.
3 Bake on a lined tray for 20-25 minutes until golden. Serve warm with creme fraiche or ice-cream.
Vietnamese summer rolls
I joyously discovered summer rolls after years of eating my mum's deep fried Vietnamese spring rolls, which are equally delicious but a lot less healthy.
Summer rolls or cha gio are a delicious alternative to deep-fried spring rolls.
Mirabelle Ly-Eliot, London
Makes 6 rolls
2 eggs
A dash of soy sauce
Flavourless oil, for frying
6 rice paper wrappers
Handful each of coriander, mint and Thai basil leaves
1 carrot, cut into thin batons
1 little gem lettuce, shredded
A handful of beansprouts
50g peanuts, roughly chopped
For the dipping sauce
80ml soy sauce
1 garlic clove, crushed
1-2 bird's-eye chillies, finely chopped
Juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp sugar
1 Beat the eggs with the soy sauce. Pour into a hot frying pan and cook as an omelette. Cut into strips.
2 Soak a wrapper in cold water until pliable. Lay out, then pile the herbs and veg into a log about 5cm from the bottom edge. Roll the wrapper over the veg, and into a tight cylinder.
3 Combine the dip ingredients and adjust to taste. Serve with the rolls.
Gazelle's horn pastries
These fabulous pastries are offered all over Morocco.
Ruth Joseph and Sarah Nathan, Cardiff, veggischmooze.blogspot.com
Makes 26 pastries
250g flour
1 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp free-range organic egg
25ml butter or margarine, melted
1 tbsp flavourless oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1 orange
Salt
For the filling
250g ground almonds
125g icing sugar
30ml flavourless oil
1 tbsp beaten egg
25ml butter or margarine, melted
1¼ tsp orange flower water
¼ tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Sieve together the flour, salt and icing sugar, add the butter, oil, extract and zest and enough cold water and mix to a soft pastry. Wrap in clingfilm and , chill.
2 Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Mix all the filling ingredients, and work to a dough for a minute. Form into small, curved horn shapes.
3 Divide the pastry into walnut-size balls. Roll out each thinly and wet with water. Lay the horn at one end, and wrap the pastry around the filling.
4 Trim excess pastry, place the finished horns on lined baking sheets and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden. Dust with icing sugar and serve.
PLT (Paneer, lettuce and tomato)
An Indian veggie version of the ubiquitous BLT.
Kirstie Fagan, via guardian.co.uk/witness
Serves 4
2 tbsp tikka paste
4 tbsp natural yoghurt
225g paneer cheese, cut into 2.5cm cubes
4 large chapati wraps or other flatbread
½ iceberg lettuce head, sliced
2 tomatoes, sliced
For the raita
200g natural yoghurt
Squeeze of lemon juice
½ red onion, finely diced
Handful of chopped mint
1 tsp sugar
1 Combine the tikka paste and yoghurt, and paneer. Marinate for 30 minutes. Mix the raita ingredients in a bowl.
2 Spread the paneer on a baking tray and grill on a high heat. Turn regularly until it is just starting to blacken.
3 Toast the wrap in a hot dry frying pan for 15 seconds on each side. Spread with raita and top with lettuce, tomato and paneer tikka. Fold up and enjoy!
Stuffed vine leaves are the classic wrap dish. All photos: Jemma Watts for the Guardian