[Glenna Rose]

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.

[Billy Rose]

In article fc.003d0941022e0b30003d0941022e0b30.22e0b3c@pmug. org,
(Glenna Rose) wrote:

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.

I've never heard of garlic in taboule before. I use a lot of garlic,
just not in taboule. Typically, in France it is bulgur, lemon, olive
oil, tomato, parsley, mint (spear), cucumber. I like to have it in the
refrigerator as a snack. It's healthier than a salami sandwich.
--
FB - FFF

Billy
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

[Billy Rose]

In article , Charlie wrote:

On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:50:07 -0700, Billy Rose
wrote:


I've never heard of garlic in taboule before. I use a lot of garlic,
just not in taboule. Typically, in France it is bulgur, lemon, olive
oil, tomato, parsley, mint (spear), cucumber. I like to have it in the
refrigerator as a snack. It's healthier than a salami sandwich.

We always use onion, in addition to what you say, minus mint (she
doesn't care for the mint).......often we add finely diced celery,
sometimes cumin. Gralic is not a bad additon, sometimes I toss in a
couple of minced cloves.

Try it, you'll like it. (old commercial)

Charlie

In truth these things are like stews, you go to the refrigerator and see
what you got and that's what you get. "Fraid I'm a nearly terminal
Francophile. We spent 4 months in Castillon la Bataille (last battle of
the 100 Year War), just east of Libourn. Lunch on "market day" was a
rotisserie chicken, baguette, celery remoulade, bottle of red wine, and
taboule(accent aigue). It became a sacrement. After lunch we would walk
down to the Dordogne River to where the "vieux garcons" would play
petanque in the afternoon, until their wives called them for dinner at
19:00 o'clock.

As a result, I doubt I will ever change the way I make taboule(accent
aigue). Too many happy memories.

I did just try what to me was an odd north African dish (again like a
stew) called a tagine. So far the ones that I have run into are meat and
fruit served on rice or couscous. Unlike stews, where the flavors meld
together, the ingredients in the tagine maintained their integrity of
texture and taste and the result is like eating a kaleidoscope.


Chicken Tagine With Couscous

Serves 8
Recipe By: Karen Kirkwood
Published in: CanWest News Service

1 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 whole chicken breasts -- boned, halved
4 chicken thighs -- skinned, boned
3 large red onions -- peeled, sliced
2 large white onions -- peeled, sliced
1/2 teaspoons each -- ginger, cloves, thyme
1 long cinnamon stick
1 small lemon (plain or salted)-- scrubbed, cut in eighths
1/4 cup liquid honey
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup Riesling
1/2 cup each -- sliced dried apricots and golden raisins
1/4 cup each -- shelled pistachios and large pitted green olives

Melt butter in oil in a medium-hot fry pan.
Pat chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and add to hot oil, cooking on
one side until browned, then turning.
Arrange in a large casserole, tagine, or Dutch oven.
Cook onions in the same pan, cooking until transparent.
Add spices and cut lemon and continue cooking until lightly browned.
Add liquid honey, chicken stock and Riesling.
Sprinkle with dried fruit, pistacchios and green olives, halved. Stir
well.
Cover and bake at 350 F for about 1 hour, checking to see that it
doesn't dry out.
When very fragrant, taste and correct the seasoning with salt.
Serve over hot couscous, piled on a large platter.


A tagine is an earthenware casserole found in every Morrocan kitchen.
But it's fine to use a Dutch oven.

--
--
FB - FFF

Billy
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/