Tomato-Bulgur Sunshine Salad accompanies dishes from the grill, or stands alone as light summer supper
Tomato-Bulgur Sunshine Salad
Peggy Lampman | Contributor
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Tear the herbs instead of chopping them for a more fresh and herbacious flavor.
If you are a tabouli lover, bulgur is already a known component in your favorite salads. This recipe is a take on tabouli, with loads of tomatoes and herbs that are torn, rather than finely chopped, as in tabouli.
If time allows, let the salad sit out in the sun a few minutes before eating; it only gets better as the tomato runoff sinks into the grain making an addictive bite. By the way, they may not be on your vine yet, but grown in Michigan soil tomatoes are available in abundance at the Kerrytown Farmers Market.
Yield: 3-4 main course servings ; 4-6 side salad
Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients
1 cup dry bulgur
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 scant teaspoon finely minced garlic
Cayenne pepper
2 cups (2 medium-sized tomatoes), cut into 1/2-inch dice
1-2 tablespoons chopped red onion, optional
1 cup loosely packed basil, stems removed, torn and washed
1 cup loosely packed mint, stems removed, torn and washed
Directions
1. Cook (soak) bulgur according to package instructions.
2. Make a dressing by whisking together lemon juice, olive oil and garlic. Season to taste with kosher salt and cayenne.
3. Toss bulgur with dressing, tomatoes, onion, if using, basil and mint. Add additional kosher salt and cayenne to taste.
Comments
Thara
Wed, Jul 4, 2012 : 11:25 a.m.
Thanks Peggy for a very simple yet elegant recipe. I am always looking for substantial salad recipes and this comes handy. I was going to suggest using those pretty grape tomatoes (gold and red if available) for this salad. And a sprinkling of feta cheese maybe? I love the combination of basil and mint.
Peggy Lampman
Tue, Jul 3, 2012 : 7:35 p.m.
Hey DBH. I do believe that in our little cocoon named Ann Arbor, readers are more knowledgeable about nutrition. But leave this town (and others with a similar demographic), and I'm pretty sure you are spot on; there is a lack of sound nutritional information "out there" and what we are bombarded with on-line is often misleading. And your point is well taken that one remedy is with a nutritional analysis, which I will think about using (again)! The programs are not necessarily accurate from critiques I've read about them in the past. But I was researching them a few years ago and times have changed. I will put this into my proverbial pipe, and I thank-you for your wise thoughts! And I do believe that if folks started eating more scratch-made cooking at home than in restaurants, there bodies would thank them. (I know what they put in those pesto cream sauces to make them taste so good!) Peggy
Peggy Lampman
Tue, Jul 3, 2012 : 4:16 p.m.
Hi DBH: Boy oh boy - I must not have had sufficient caffeine when I read your note. And I read your response (well caffeinated) with great interest. I'm in your camp re: nutrition and . And I concede to your point re: nutritional analysis: An analysis is a good starting point, esp. for ready-made foods. What bothers me (I'm speaking gross generalities here) are the clever uber-hip marketing campaigns with colorful packaging fat-free, sugar-free, lactose-free, calorie-free, whatever is trending now-free screaming at me from grocery shelves. Meanwhile, fresh produce and grains sit quietly in bins across the store. Personally, I love eating vegetables and grains and salads such as this - recipes such as this are a major part of my diet; I write recipes for healthy foods such as this often. But yesterday I was thinking how good a fried chicken slider on a buttermilk biscuit would taste too, and when I make recipes such as this, I think my readers know foods such as this are the occasional soul satisfying, albeit vascular clogging, treat. I do realize I have an obligation to be balanced, and one of my great hopes is that folks will be inspired to cook food using ingredients that grow from the ground, not from a lab. Love your thoughts! Thanks very much for allowing me to join you on your soap box. (I'm dizzy too!) Peggy
DBH
Tue, Jul 3, 2012 : 5:06 p.m.
Peggy, thank you for your thoughtful and respectful reply. All in all, I agree with almost everything you wrote. The one disagreement I have is on the knowledge of nutrition of your readers. While those on this site MAY be more well-informed than most, knowledge of nutrition by the general populace may be less than you think (I could be wrong). I write this because in my interactions with family, friends, acquaintances and others, such interactions reveal to me the dearth of familiarity of many with basic nutritional principles and facts. Nutritional analyses in recipes bridge that gap somewhat (though not everyone provided such information knows how to assess it and apply it to their food consumption), which is why I have been an advocate for including the information after recipes, such as is done with those AnnArbor.com publishes from the AP (e.g., J.M. Hirsch). To me, the more knowledge the better. If it's there, one can choose to use it or ignore it. If it is not there, that choice is, for the most part, not available.
DBH
Tue, Jul 3, 2012 : 1:43 a.m.
Boy oh boy, I don't need one of dem dere formal nutritional analyses to know that this is one healthy dish. And it sounds and looks delicious. Kudos on the food photography. Nice job!
DBH
Tue, Jul 3, 2012 : 2:20 p.m.
Peggy, I am glad I was able to add a little positivity to your day with my complimentary comment. Regarding nutritional analyses, this recipe was so obviously nutritious and (therefore) healthy, that my comment was meant to say that an analysis was unnecessary to determine if it was or not healthy. I did not mean to disparage nutritional analyses in general. I do not ascribe to the adage "Ignorance is bliss" when eating or with any other activity I can think of. I don't know why a nutritional analysis of a recipe would take the fun out of eating for anyone, unless the recipe is sufficiently unhealthy that, knowing its poor nutritional value, it would make the eater regret in some way putting that food into his/her body. If that should be the case, then that person might want to reconsider what they are eating. And I have one request of you, if I may. Please remember that you are publishing recipes for the reading public to make and to eat. In my opinion (and I recognize it is MY opinion), you have a near-obligation either to publish recipes that, on balance, are ones that most would consider to be nutritious or, barring that, provide nutritonal information (yes, one of dem dere nutritional analyses) so the reader/cook can decide for him/herself if it might be something that they want to ingest, no matter how tasty it might be. The eating public is bombarded with messages from so many sources that encourage us to eat unhealthily that I feel responsible food writers should at least provide us with the nutritional information needed to determine for ourselves if a particular recipe is one we want to eat. I also would welcome more recipes that are themselves more nutritious, such as the one in this column. I have to get off my soapbox now - I'm getting dizzy.
Peggy Lampman
Tue, Jul 3, 2012 : 12:32 p.m.
DBH - what a great comment to wake up to. Thank-you! I, too, tire of "dem dere" formal nutritional analyses - for me, it takes the fun out of eating. Indeed the dish is a healthy one, and man oh man, it scratches the itch in this heat!