Book Club Recipe
The Annual Book Selection and Potluck meeting for my book club was Thursday. I posted the book lists yesterday: Book Club Selections, the long and short of it. Today, for Weekend Cooking, I’m posting the recipe for the dish I provided to the potluck: tabbouli. One of our members said it was the best she had ever tasted and wanted to know what was in it. I really believe that what made it special was that the parsley and mint were still growing in my garden two hours before we were eating the salad.
Tabbouli is a grain salad from the Middle East. I use the recipe from Jane Brody’s Good Food Book with just a few changes. I left out scallions because I find them too harsh. And I added mustard and honey to the dressing.
Jane’s Tabbouli (with a little help from Joy)
Salad
1 cup bulgur (cracked fine or medium)
2 cups boiling water
2 tomatoes, finely diced
1 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
Dressing
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp honey
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves, crumbled
1/4 tsp ground cumin
Dash coriander
Dash garlic powder
1. In a medium bowl, dump the boiling water over the bulgur and let it soak for 1 hour. Drain well in a dishcloth lined strainer, pressing out the excess water.
2. Add the tomatoes, parsley, and mint to the bulgur. Combine the ingredients well.
3. Whisk the dressing ingredients together. About 1 hour or less before serving, add the dressing to the bulgur mixture, and toss the salad to coat the ingredients thoroughly.
Be sure to visit today’s post at Beth Fish Reads for more Weekend Cooking adventures.
OOOOh I love tabbouli and I agree those fresh, fresh herbs really make a difference. I was looking over your ingredients and I see you add honey. What a surprise. I’ve never added honey to my tabbouli and now I’m dying to try it that way. I would have never thought to add it.
Fresh herbs would definitely make a big difference. I love your additions, too!
I think this is one of those dishes which people feel very strongly about. Some use cucumbers. Some don’t. Some use onions or scallions. Others don’t. What a wonderful meal it is that can be so personalized according to taste. And even the spelling changes from person to person. I spell it tabouli, and I’ve also seen it tabbouleh. Here’s mine:
http://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2008/09/september-10-at-farmers-market.html
I’m sure just-picked herbs make a huge difference in taste! Like Nan, I love seeing the all the variations… will give this a try.
My dad used to grow mint in our backyard, and he often made tabbouleh and tahini…Your post reminded me of him.
I’ll bet that salad was the epitome of fresh-tasting
I love tabbouli! It would be interesting to try your dressing, with the addition of the mustard and the honey.
I think you are right about the fresh parsley and mint. I can definitely taste the difference. It’s worth trying to grow herbs in pots inside for as much of the winter as you can get them to grow. I’ve never grown mint indoors in a pot but I’ve had good luck with basil, chives, Italian parsley and cilantro. When we lived in Missouri I could usually get it to last until about February.
I can’t say that I’ve eaten a lot of tabbouli! Looks good though, and love that you can grow your own herbs to put in it!
This does sound great! Don’t you just love fresh herbs in the garden?
This sounds so good and I just love tabbouli. Thanks for this recipe.
I’m sure your fresh herbs made the difference as you say. I enjoy tabbouli too.
I love this served with hummus at the side so the two sort of ooze together at the boundary.
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