Stuffed Grape Leaves with Lamb, Onions & Tzatziki | Jill Marcus’ Greek-Inspired Favorite

Culinary storyteller Jill Marcus, founder of Something Classic Catering, shares one of her most personal recipes: grape leaves stuffed with seasoned ground lamb, onions, fresh herbs, and served with a cool, creamy tzatziki.

This dish takes Jill back to Greece—where she and her husband were married—and brings the warmth, flavor, and soul of the Mediterranean to life.

Since launching Something Classic in 1989, Jill has built a legacy of storytelling through food. This dish is one of those stories—rich with tradition and heart.

Ingredients
For the Filling
1 lb ground lamb (or ground beef)

1 cup long-grain rice

1 large onion, finely chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 handful fresh oregano, pulled from stem

Salt & pepper, to taste

For the Grape Leaves
1 (16 oz) jar grape leaves, rinsed and drained
(or fresh grape leaves, blanched with stems removed)

Olive oil, for brushing

Tzatziki (Homemade)
2 cups Greek yogurt

1/2 cucumber, grated and drained

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice

1 tbsp fresh dill or mint, chopped

Salt, to taste

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Jill Marcus here, founder and culinary storyteller at Something Classic. Welcome to my garden. Um, today we’re going to be making stuffed grape leaves, and I’m going to share my recipe with you. Um, there’s a little story about this. My husband Gary and I um got married in Greece few years ago. Um, and this is one of the recipes that we make just to help remember our marriage. So, we grow these grapes in our yard. Um, and so every year we make grape leaves at least once or twice. Um, you want to get the grape leaves if you if you have your own. You have to grow them or you have to know somebody that has grape leaves cuz you can’t buy these. Um, but you want to pick them before they get too woody and before the beetles get them. All right. So, it’s just easy. We’re going to harvest them and you want to cut the vines off of them. And you want to get some goodiz ones. One of the main ingredients other than the grape leaves in this recipe is fresh oregano. And I grow oregano in my yard. Um, and we’re going to go ahead and pick some of that. We can get inside. We’ll get some good leaves. There’s nothing like fresh oregano. Let’s go in the kitchen and I’ll give you the secret recipe. Now, we brought all the ingredients into our kitchen, and we’re going to start by chopping an onion. I use onion and garlic for everything. [Music] What I like about this recipe is it’s pretty forgiving as far as measurements. I’m going to add a whole onion. I’m not going to measure it. And then I am going to simmer it in a pan. Let that warm up. And we’re going to add our chopped yellow onion. [Music] Okay, it’s time to throw in the oregano. [Music] It’s garlic time. [Music] You kind of want to go and go for soft yet crispy. Okay, it’s time to blanch our grape leaves. Okay, so uh for the next step, we’re going to start with about a pound of ground lamb. And we’re going to add our crispy onion mixture to the lamb. Now we’re going to add some rice. Um about I’m going to add about a third a third of the mixture is going to be rice on this one. You can use leftover Chinese rice or whatever rice you have in your refrigerator. Um but any rice will do. This one’s like a more um multi-grain rice has red rice. And we’re going to mix all of that together with a little bit more salt. cuz that lamb tastes really good with salt. Let’s drain the grape leaves. So, now that our grape leaves are drained, we have a clean surface and we’re going to lay our grape leaves face down. [Music] Now, we’re going to take about a spoonful, depending on the grape leaf, of our lamb mixture, and we’re going to put it in the center of the lamb. Now it’s time to make our little cigars. We’re going to fold each side in. And then we’re going to roll. We’re going to drizzle these with just a little bit of olive oil so they don’t stick to the grill. So, I’m going to make a little lunch and grill some pepper soup. [Music] Now it’s time for the grape leaves. I’m going to put them horizontal so they get the marks. It’s time for the flip. [Music] Okay, while the grape leaves are grilling, have a few minutes. I’m going to throw together some satsiki. Um favorite part of satsiki is actually the yogurt. Um in Charlotte, we do have a Greek uh grocery store, but it’s all the way down Independence Boulevard. So, this is my favorite. It is whole milk. It’s plain yogurt. Um it has a little bit of acid to it. Most of the recipes that I cook are by eye or by feel. So, I think we’re going to be eat about that much for lunch today. One of the main ingredients in sitsiki, really good satsiki, is fresh garlic. Um, this garlic you want to chop up fine. It’s going to be raw garlic. Um, and you don’t want a huge chunk. So, you want these in little pieces. So, we’re going to do a fine chop. I’m going to squeeze some lemon juice in there for a little bit of acid. Let’s talk about cucumbers. Satziki can be made two different ways. You can make it with shredded cucumbers. Um, and you can also make it with chopped cucumbers. [Music] Now, we’re going to add some fresh herbs. I’ve got some chives from the garden. Um, if I had Look at these cool scissors. Make my life easier. These are our fennel fronds. So, I’m going to add just pull off my fingers. [Music] I think they’re ready. Now it’s time to go taste it. Let’s try. I can’t wait. The smell is killing me. Take some sticky. And I got to put it on our [Music] yum. It makes me feel like I’m in Greece again. [Music]