So, it is supposed to be near 100 degrees today. And it got close enough yesterday to make it Salad Night at our house. I haven't made tabbouleh in quite some time, and I forget how much I like it.
When we have salad night, we usually have two or three different ones. This tabbouleh was adapted from a recipe I found somewhere (probably epicurious.com); mostly, we just leave out onions since onions have a way of getting to us long after we've gotten to them. I'll include the onion part in the recipe.
The absolute best part of this recipe is the fact that no heat must be applied! You don't even boil the bulghur! We had a Chenin Blanc from South Africa, which was as sweet a wine as I can enjoy; it was a nice match, very pineapple-y and brioche-ey.
Basil Tabbouleh
3/4 cups fine bulghur (or more, I used 1 1/2 cups)
3/4 cup minced red onion
1 t salt
1/2 t ground allspice
1 cup finely chopped basil
1 cup minced fresh parsley
1/3 cup minced fresh mint leaves
1/2 cup finely chopped scallion
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (need I keep typing "fresh"?)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup finely diced seeded fresh cucumber
1 cup finely diced seeded tomato
This recipe asks you to rinse the bulghur in several changes of water. I did not do this, and many other recipes don't ask for it. Do it if does something for you. I rinsed it once.
Place the bulghur in a medium/large bowl and add enough cold water to cover it by one inch. Let soak for at least an hour.
While the bulghur is soaking, in another large bowl (what I like to call the final bowl) add the onion, salt and allspice and let it stand for 30 minutes. Drain the bulghur, pressing hard to extract as much water as humanly possible. Add the bulghur to the onion mixture, keep throwing in the rest of the ingredients, like the herbs you have painstakingly minced (consider a food processor if you are doubling this recipe), lemon juice, oil, cucumber and tomato. Salt and pepper to taste.
This salad is probably best the second day. I'll let you know tonight. I am quite confident it is better at room temperature.
1 comment:
I'm excited about making this whenever it gets hot here. Chris probably will not eat it, so I'll just have it for lunch for myself several days in a row.
I'm getting ready to go out for a walk and it's still in the 50s, but super sunny and dry. We've been having EXCELLENT hair weather. I hope it's still nice and cool here whenever you guys get a chance to visit. The odds are good.
FYI, I went by Rosemont Market (my tart cherry source) and put a special order in for as many cherries as I can carry out once they arrive. The owner says they should come soon. I'm hoping I'll have the energy to make a double batch of cherry preserves this summer. And of course there will be at least one pie, hopefully more.
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