Tabbouleh

Every year around this time, my stomach decides it no longer wants hot foods like braises and curries for lunch. Even better if the food requires no cooking during preparation! It's all about salads and sandwiches. When my stomach goes on hot food strike, this salad becomes an obsession of mine!  Even better, most of it is in season and came from Hydro Harvest Farms.

Somehow, my Mom and Dad developed a love of Middle Eastern food while living in Philadelphia and introduced me at a young age.  I can remember being about eight or nine years old and going with my mom on an hour long drive to source out great pita and sumac since we couldn't get it in the Central Florida suburb where I grew up. I was the only middle schooler I knew that knew the difference between fattoush and tabbouleh and the only high schooler waiting in line at the Hovan stand in the local mall for a mixed salad plate of the two along with a side of pita and hummus.   

From that, I went on to college and spent many weekends sourcing out the many great Middle Eastern restaurants and bakeries in the neighborhoods near my school.  In my brief tenure as a teacher, my students knew my love of this delicious salad and even attempted to bribe me into giving less homework by bringing in large amounts of this. I still gave homework, but I'm sure I graded a bit easier while chowing down on this salad.

Now that I have figured out just how easy it is to make, it's made with regularity at home for as long as tomatoes are in season locally. Luckily, I'm in Florida so that season has already started and will last well into summer.  I'm fortunate that my local farm also has beautiful mint, parsley and onions growing.  The onions are on their way out, so I will have to start supplementing soon, but I'm enjoying it while it lasts. 

Directions:

First, set up soak the bulgur wheat to soak. I soaked 1/4 cup of the grain in 1 cup of water for 20 minutes, or until al dente, and then drained it very well (squeezing works well here).

For those of you who haven't yet branched out to enjoy the wonder that is bulgur wheat, here is the box I bought for reference.

 

Set this aside, and begin mincing your herbs and onion. I do this while the bulgur wheat is soaking to save a bit of time.  Core and de-seed your tomatoes, and then dice your tomato.  Combine your minced herbs, onion and tomato in a non-reactive bowl (preferably glass.) 

Add to the bowl the oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Add the bulgur wheat to the bowl and mix to combine.  Adjust this recipe to your taste preference.  Best eaten the same day, but will keep up to three without problems.  It's never lasted any longer around here ... no matter how much I make.


Since posting, I attempted to substitute quinoa for the bulgur wheat and have found that I like it even better.  Substitute a cup of cooked quinoa for a great alternative tabbouleh.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup bulgur wheat or 1 cup quinoa
2 cups minced fresh parsley leaves
1 cup minced fresh mint leaves
2 cups cored, seeded, and chopped tomatoes
1 small white onion, minced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste


This salad is best at room temperature - the flavor of the tomatoes dims when refrigerated - but if you must do so, make sure you bring it back to room temperature prior to serving.

Tarragon Chicken Salad with Walnuts

A few months back, a group of friends brought together online by the love of food finally started eating out together at the many great restaurants in Tampa Bay.  One of our first meals was brunch at Pane Rustica where I braved my fear of mayonnaise-based salads on the advise of a friend and ordered their chicken salad served inside of an acorn squash.  It changed my mind about what this type of salad can be and ever since, I have been toying with the idea of making chicken salad at home.

My local farm, Hydro Harvest Farms, has Mexican Tarragon growing right by their entrance.  Mexican Tarragon is an anise, or licorice, flavored herb more often seen in local butterfly gardens than used in culinary applications.  It's a shame because it is a hardy herb that lends itself well to many dishes.  Think hollandaise! 

Not being able to resist this pretty and flavorful herb, I cut a large bunch from his overflowing pots determined to make something with it!  It's been sitting in my fridge, taunting me, for almost a week now. Finally, I got the ambition today to play when I realized I had a packet of chicken thighs that had to get used or frozen today.  Whole Foods sells vacuum-packaged chicken pieces without polystyrene.  We picked up their chicken thighs knowing we would use it if it's in the house.

I poached the thighs with fresh tarragon, one small yellow onion and two garlic cloves.  Using a technique I've learned from my friends at Chowhound, I covered the contents of the pot with water.  Then, after putting the pot on the stove, I turned up the heat to medium-high heat.  As soon as the contents came up to a boil, I covered the pot and took it off the heat to sit for ten minutes.  I never remember timing, so I set a kitchen timer.  After ten minutes, I strained the contents from the pot and set them off to cool while making the tarragon vinaigrette. If you are cheap like me, reserve the poaching liquid and cook it down for a herb-flavored stock. 

To make the vinaigrette, I combined the oil, salt, lemon juice and tarragon in a large container and blended with an immersion (stick) blender until emulsified.  That's it.  Why anyone buys bottled salad dressing full of preservatives and odd chemicals when this is all salad dressing comes down to just boggles my mind.  This dressing will keep easily for several days. 

Once the chicken is cooled, chop the chicken thighs into small pieces.  Chop half of your boiled onion, and one garlic cloves and add it with the chicken pieces, walnuts, yogurt and some of your vinaigrette. After blending, add salt, pepper, or more vinaigrette to taste.  I'm still not a big fan of mayo, so the yogurt is my substitution.  Feel free to use mayonnaise if you like it, or if you are interested in keeping this recipe strictly kosher.

I have a mini food processor, so chopping the ingredients ahead of time helps me get everything in the darned thing!  You don't have to if you have a normal sized food processor.  Using the food processor helps give this chicken salad a smooth texture, but if you prefer a more rustic approach just chop the ingredients by hand and mix the rest in a large bowl and be sure to incorporate it all fully. 

Serve the chicken salad on top of a lettuce based salad, in lettuce cups or as a sandwich!  If you have any leftover matzo like my house, it's great on matzo too.  If you have them, grapes or celery would be great textural additions. I used walnuts because I had some in the freezer left over from some making Charoset earlier in the week. 

This is lunch tomorrow, Tarragon Chicken Salad with Walnuts over mixed greens (also from Hydro Harvest Farms.) I've got the leftover vinaigrette in a small side container and, with some matzo, plan to enjoy this for lunch tomorrow.  You should too.  Seriously.  Go make this now. 

 

Poached Chicken:
Enough Water to Cover the Chicken
1 pound of chicken thighs (breasts would work well if you have them)
1 small yellow onion, peeled
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/4 cup of fresh Mexican tarragon leaves, tightly packed

Tarragon Vinaigrette (makes 1 1/4 cups of vinaigrette):
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup lemon juice
3/4 cup safflower oil
1/4 cup of fresh Mexican tarragon leaves, tightly packed

Chicken Salad (makes 2 cups or 4 servings):
1 pound Poached Chicken
1/4 cup Tarragon Vinaigrette
1/4 cup plain flavored yogurt
1/4 walnuts

Cabbage Salad

Chag Pesach Sameach/Happy Passover!   After two Sederim, plural for Seder (the ordered meal where we retell the story of the Exodus), I was craving something light and crunchy.  I can only eat so much matzo, meat and starch!  We just got home from celebrating the beginning of this beautiful holiday with relatives in South Florida, and the first thing I did after unpacking was crack open my Nanny's cookbooks for ideas on what to make for the rest of the holiday.   This recipe, with a bit of tweaking, was something I could make easily out of things I already had in the house.  During the seder, "we ask why do we eat bitter herbs?"  Well, after eight days your body will begin screaming "enough matzo already" and will be craving an abundance of herbs to help the matzo along and out!  Why wait?  This recipe reminds me of something I used to have when I was a kid and my family went out for "deli"and is a perfect accompaniment to a meat or dairy meal. 

 This salad, with the assistance of the food processor passed down to me by my wonderful mother-in-law, only took ten minutes from start to finish and made enough that I will have enough for every day left of this wonderful holiday.

Using the grater blade of the food processor, or on the coarse side of a box grater, grate one cored head of green cabbage, three medium sized carrots, one medium onion and two cucumbers.  Put all of these grated vegetables into a large non-reactive bowl - preferably glass if you have it. Then, blend the ginger, sugar, salt, white vinegar and and cold water until the ginger and sugar disappears into the liquid. 

Add this salad dressing to the bowl and mix well.  Let stand for one hour for optimum deliciousness! 

Ingredients:

Salad -
1 head green cabbage, cored
3 medium sized carrots
1 medium sized white onion
2 cucumbers

Dressing -
1 cup cold water
1 cup white vinegar
3 tablespoons vegan cane sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 inch piece of peeled ginger

This makes a party sized amount!