Tabbouleh

Today, the day before Halloween, we woke up to the first snowfall of the season. You might imagine that we would be having a warm stew or soup for dinner, but when have I ever done things that make sense to other people? I am making tabbouleh, a lemony, chilled summer salad.

Although it sounds a little crazy, I have been planning the tabbouleh for almost a week. When I heard it was going down to 19 last night I knew our last tomato plants were almost certainly a goner. We still had a short row of parsley plants that were going strong. We plant the parsley early in the spring in our cold frame. My husband built this so it can be removed and put back on when the weather gets too cold. We decided he was putting the cold frame back on last night. I told him to cut the tops off the parsley so the plants would fit.

Eureka!

Earlier this week he announced we would have a lot of parsley very soon and he looked at me as if this was now my problem to figure out what to do with this much parsley. I really need to think about repercussions before I give advice. Why this was my problem and why we couldn’t just throw out the extra parsley went through my head. I finally thought, “tabbouleh”. I could only think of the one recipe that would use this much parsley.

One of my favorite salads is tabbouleh. I love this salad made up of parsley, bulgur (cracked wheat), and other vegetables in a lemony dressing. I also love to use bulgur since, as it is already parboiled, I only need to soak it rather than cook it for most things. Tabbouleh uses the fine or #1 grind of bulgur. I keep the grind needed for tabouli around as a staple in my pantry. I use my mother’s recipe for tabbouleh and don’t change a thing. It is usually served as a side dish or a mezze (appetizer). I decided to make it with my Balsamic Marinated Chicken Thighs. I am out of pita so I am going to defrost some naan. Another great thing is I have scallions I grew from the roots of a bunch from the grocery store!

Is this a mishmash of foods? I think it might be. Does having tabbouleh in this weather make sense? I think it does, even if it is in my own convoluted way.

Print Recipe

Tabbouleh

A lemony salad of cracked wheat and vegetables

Prep Time50 minutes mins

Course: Appetizer, Salad, Side Dish

Cuisine: Armenian, Middle Eastern

Keyword: Tabbouleh, Tabouli

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1/2-2/3 cup #1 Fine Dried Bulgur soaked 35-40 minutes in tap water and then drained very well, then fluff with a fork
• 2 bunches Parsley (leaves and fine stems only) chopped
• 1 bunch Mint (leaves only) chopped
• 1 Green Pepper chopped fine
• 4-5 Scallions chopped very small
• 2 Cucumbers peeled and chopped small
• 2 large Tomatoes chopped small

Dressing

• Juice of 2 Lemons roughly 1/3 cup
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 teaspoon Kosher Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Aleppo Pepper

Instructions

• Start by soaking the bulgur for about 35- 40 minutes. Taste to make sure it is tender but still firm to the mouth. Drain and fluff with a fork.
  
• Mix dressing ingredients in a medium bowl (lemon juice, olive oil, salt and Aleppo pepper). Set aside.
  
• In a very large bowl mix together: bulgur, parsley, mint, green pepper, scallions, cucumbers and tomatoes.
  
• Add dressing and carefully toss well.
  

Modifications

I soak the bulgur in a bowl with about three times the amount of water.

I always like to cut the tomato and cucumber by hand as they are the most likely to get mushy in the food processor.

The parsley, green pepper. scallions and mint can all be cut in the food processor as long as each ingredient is chopped by itself. It is easier to get uniform pieces this way. This was the first time I did the green pepper in the food processor, and I actually preferred it because I could get the pieces very small.

I used Italian (flat) parsley because that what is in our garden but curly parsley can be used too. My mother said to me when I just called her, “Italian parsley tastes better but curly parsley stays fluffier in the food processor. Don’t make it mushy”. Always do what my mother says.

The dressing can be made either whisked by hand or in a food processor. I used the food processor for about 15 seconds.