Not exactly a traditional treatment of taboulleh, but I didn't stray far. First of all, I gathered copius amounts of parsley and mint from the herb garden. I also added a wee bit of basil just because I wanted to, and the last bit of a fading bunch of cilantro from the vegetable drawer in the fridge. When I went there, I found that I was fresh out of scallions. So, I went back to the herb patch and grabbed a handful of fresh chives to stand in for their sturdier cousins. After thoroughly washing my verdant harvest, I pinched off the biggest part of the stems and spun dry the greenery in my salad spinner. While all this was going on, I had a half-cup of medium bulgur wheat soaking in a bowl of hot water for about 30 minutes. After chopping the herbs and draining the bulgur, I combined them in a bowl and added about a half-cup of good olive oil and the juice of one large lemon. To finish the salad, I went back to the garden and picked a fair amount of ripe salad tomatoes. (At this point, I'll interject something: There is nothing better than going to your backyard garden to gather ingredients for something that you're cooking in your kitchen. Just saying...) A quick rinse of the tomatoes, then a little rough chopping and into the salad they went, still warm from the sun. Toss everything together, add salt and pepper to taste, and adjust with extra lemon or oil, as you like.
Not exactly a traditional treatment of taboulleh, but I didn't stray far. First of all, I gathered copius amounts of parsley and mint from the herb garden. I also added a wee bit of basil just because I wanted to, and the last bit of a fading bunch of cilantro from the vegetable drawer in the fridge. When I went there, I found that I was fresh out of scallions. So, I went back to the herb patch and grabbed a handful of fresh chives to stand in for their sturdier cousins. After thoroughly washing my verdant harvest, I pinched off the biggest part of the stems and spun dry the greenery in my salad spinner. While all this was going on, I had a half-cup of medium bulgur wheat soaking in a bowl of hot water for about 30 minutes. After chopping the herbs and draining the bulgur, I combined them in a bowl and added about a half-cup of good olive oil and the juice of one large lemon. To finish the salad, I went back to the garden and picked a fair amount of ripe salad tomatoes. (At this point, I'll interject something: There is nothing better than going to your backyard garden to gather ingredients for something that you're cooking in your kitchen. Just saying...) A quick rinse of the tomatoes, then a little rough chopping and into the salad they went, still warm from the sun. Toss everything together, add salt and pepper to taste, and adjust with extra lemon or oil, as you like.
beautiful.
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