Bulgar, Spinach and Tomato Pilaf
Well, after such a meat-centric dish, It's probably time to go mostly vegan, right? The dinner can be completely vegan if you choose, just omit the yogurt.
Tonight's dinner (to celebrate a fabulous friend's successes!) was bulgur wheat pilaf. One regular at dinner has taken to calling it "Vulgar Wheat," and that sort of stuck. It's a tasty combination that is a variant of a recipe from Heidi Swanson's fabulous blog, 101 Cookbooks. For my purposes, I streamlined the recipe a bit and served it with some hummus, baba ganoush, cucumber/tomato salad and pita chips. A lovely middle-Eastern inspired feast!
Recipe (serves 3-5):
1 Medium sized white onion, diced
5-8 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 cups bulgur wheat
(I prefer the finer ground wheat, but the coarser grinds work as well, they just take a bit longer to cook)
2 cups vegetable broth
10-12 oz. fresh spinach
12-15 plum tomatoes
2 tbsp. balsamic vineagar
1 1/2 tsp. chili garlic hot sauce (like Cholula)
2 tsp. soft brown sugar
Directions:
1) Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2) Cut the plum tomatoes in half. Mix half of the olive oil, hot sauce and balsamic vinegar together. Toss the tomatoes in the mixture.
3) Place the tomatoes cut side up in a baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake tomatoes for 20-25 minutes.
4) Heat a large skillet over medium heat with the remaining olive oil. Fry the diced onion in the oil until it is starting to turn golden on the edges. Add garlic and cinnamon and fry for another 1-2 minutes.
5) Add spinach to the pan and cook with onions, garlic and spices until beginning to wilt. Add lemon juice and cook for another minute.
6) Add vegetable broth and warm. The broth doesn't need to boil, but should be warm.
7) Add bulgur and stir. Cover the pan and cook until all the liquid is absorbed.
8) Add tomatoes on top of the mixture. You can also pour any of the remaining olive oil/balsamic/hot sauce mixture over the pilaf at this point, if you want.
Serve with Greek yogurt, pita chips or just by itself. Mostly, just enjoy it!
Until our next dinner,
ceh.
Well, after such a meat-centric dish, It's probably time to go mostly vegan, right? The dinner can be completely vegan if you choose, just omit the yogurt.
Tonight's dinner (to celebrate a fabulous friend's successes!) was bulgur wheat pilaf. One regular at dinner has taken to calling it "Vulgar Wheat," and that sort of stuck. It's a tasty combination that is a variant of a recipe from Heidi Swanson's fabulous blog, 101 Cookbooks. For my purposes, I streamlined the recipe a bit and served it with some hummus, baba ganoush, cucumber/tomato salad and pita chips. A lovely middle-Eastern inspired feast!
Recipe (serves 3-5):
1 Medium sized white onion, diced
5-8 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves of Garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 1/2 cups bulgur wheat
(I prefer the finer ground wheat, but the coarser grinds work as well, they just take a bit longer to cook)
2 cups vegetable broth
10-12 oz. fresh spinach
12-15 plum tomatoes
2 tbsp. balsamic vineagar
1 1/2 tsp. chili garlic hot sauce (like Cholula)
2 tsp. soft brown sugar
Directions:
1) Preheat over to 350 degrees.
2) Cut the plum tomatoes in half. Mix half of the olive oil, hot sauce and balsamic vinegar together. Toss the tomatoes in the mixture.
3) Place the tomatoes cut side up in a baking dish. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Bake tomatoes for 20-25 minutes.
4) Heat a large skillet over medium heat with the remaining olive oil. Fry the diced onion in the oil until it is starting to turn golden on the edges. Add garlic and cinnamon and fry for another 1-2 minutes.
5) Add spinach to the pan and cook with onions, garlic and spices until beginning to wilt. Add lemon juice and cook for another minute.
6) Add vegetable broth and warm. The broth doesn't need to boil, but should be warm.
7) Add bulgur and stir. Cover the pan and cook until all the liquid is absorbed.
8) Add tomatoes on top of the mixture. You can also pour any of the remaining olive oil/balsamic/hot sauce mixture over the pilaf at this point, if you want.
Serve with Greek yogurt, pita chips or just by itself. Mostly, just enjoy it!
Until our next dinner,
ceh.
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