This is the recipe of the month to go out in our September food co-op
newsletter. It is delicious and such a wonderful summer dish. I only
make it when the garden is productive because store-bought veggies just
don't do it justice. Use whatever is in your garden that might be
compatible; no one ever "sticks to the recipe." It is better the next day
after when all the flavors have had a chance to blend (and with the
sweetest tomatoes as well!).

Enjoy.


- - RECIPE OF THE MONTH, BULGUR TABOULI - - -

Bulgur wheat is one of the original convenience foods: a fast-cooking
grain prepared by partially boiling (parboiling) durum wheat, which is
then dried and debranned. Valued for its high protein content, durum or ,
"hard" wheat is a prized crop of the inland northwest. Here it is used as
the main ingredient in a variation on a traditional Lebanese salad, whose
only non-local ingredients are lemon and olive oil. Take advantage of our
late summer garlic, mint, parsley and tomatoes!

Ingredients
• Bulgur wheat (approximately one cup per serving)
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
• Minced garlic (chopped very fine)
• Minced parsley (chopped very fine)
• Minced mint (chopped very fine)
• Cubed tomatoes (1/2" pieces or to taste)
• Other vegetables such as green onions, or diced cucumbers are optional.
Instructions
1 Measure out bulgur wheat by volume
2 Boil an equal amount of water by volume
3 Remove water from heat and add bulgur, then let sit thirty minutes
4 Mix equal parts olive oil, lemon juice and garlic
5 After thirty minutes, mix these thoroughly into bulgur
6 Let sit and chill overnight to "set" flavors
7 Add fresh herbs and tomatoes to fluffed bulgur thirty minutes before
serving
8 Leftover tabouli, like good stew, is more flavorful after a day or two

Traditional Lebanese tabouli is much more of a "green" and herb-based
dish, but this variant makes for a cooling, late-summer salad or entree
(in sufficient quantity). Taking very little prep time and keeping well
for days, it can easily become a low-hassle, hot-weather favorite. *

- - - HERB OF THE MONTH, PARSLEY - - -

Parsley is a common herb, both fresh and dried. Notoriously difficult to
start from seed, planted parsley starts grow quickly, making it a popular
herb in Clark County kitchen gardens. Parsley leaves can be harvested with
scissors as needed for soups, salads and as a garnish. Available in many
varieties, a flat-leafed version is often used in Asian cuisine, with the
familiar curly-leafed "Italian" parsley traditional in the west because it
was easy to distinguish from edible chervil or poisonous conium. As a
garnish, parsley can also double as an after-dinner breath mint. A cousin
to the carrot, parsley is also one of a few common herbs whose seeds are
also used as a spice, with the roots of some varieties eaten in eastern
Europe. Pinching the flowers off of biennial parsley may retard this
biennial's natural life cycle for a year, and entire plants can be cut and
hung indoors from their stems to dry for winter use.