Tabbouleh

Tabbouleh is one of those awesome summertime dishes that I only make when tomatoes and herbs are cheap and plentiful. It's also a treat to have a filling, cool dish on a warm, summer evening. The version I'm posting here is adapted from the Joy of Cooking. We added chick peas to make it a more filling vegetarian main dish. Feta cheese would probably be a nice addition as well, or perhaps just a little sprinkled on top. All in all, the dish is very flexible- the tomatoes, bulgar, and herbs are important, things like beans, feta, olives, cucumbers, and onions are all optional and you can mix and match depending on your taste and availability. You can adjust your parsley and mint ratio according to taste, as well. We topped ours with squash blossoms- doesn't make much of a difference in flavor, in fact, I don't even think they taste that good, but they're elegant! Ours fell off our zucchini plants. Basically, this recipe should be seen as a jumping off point- be creative!

Tabbouleh

Prepare 1 cup bulgar- place bulgar in a glass or other heat safe bowl. Add 2.5 cups boiling water and about 1/4t salt. Cover and let sit for 30 min or until most of the water is absorbed. Bulgar should be  chewy. Drain excess water (being careful not to lose any grain) at the end.

Meanwhile, dice (large dice ok) 3-4 large tomatoes. We used mostly brandy wine tomatoes, which are soft and sweet, but anything fresh and ripe will do.

Slice 1/2 red onion thinly, add to tomatoes.

Chop up to 2c parsley and up to 1c mint, add to tomato mixture.

Stir in 3c or so chick peas.

Stir in 1-2 finely diced jalapeños and a handful of chopped olives (optional).

Toss the above with 1/3c lemon juice and 1/3c EVOO, as well as salt and black pepper to taste. 

When bulgar has finished cooking, mix all ingredients together in whichever bowl is larger.

Enjoy!

Summer corn salad

I made this corn salad last night along with tomato pie. It was a perfect light late summer meal, full of produce from our CSA share, Mom's garden, and a few gems from our roof. It's a delicious way to eat corn without having to heat up your kitchen or grill. I made just a few changes, so I'll reproduce the recipe here:

Corn salad
Serves 2-3

Shuck 3 ears corn. Cut off kernels and place in a large bowl.
Thinly slice or dice 1/4 red onion and add to bowl.
Whisk together 1T brown sugar, 1.5T walnut oil (sunflower would also be good), 1/4t salt, and 2.5T lemon juice. Alternatively, place these ingredients in a clean and empty jam jar and shake to mix.
Toss together the corn, onion, and above dressing.
Mix in a generous handful of sunflower seeds (toasted or raw works fine), a generous handful of chopped cilantro, and about 1-2t chopped fresh oregano. You could use different herbs - I think parsley, chives, etc would also taste good, just try to use fresh rather than dried.

The tomato pie turned out really well, too - I actually made a crust from scratch this time, which took a little longer but made a huge difference in flavor: