A 2019 Love Your Farmer, Love Your Food Recipe
Part of the art of cooking with the seasons is substituting traditional ingredients with local, seasonal options. In the recipe below, we give suggestions for local and seasonal substitutions for a few key ingredients. Depending upon what is coming up in your own kitchen garden (like mint and chives) or available at your local grocer, you may find more options for local, seasonal substitutions.
Tabbouleh 2 cups Bulgar wheat (or use local Caviar Black or Spanish Pardina Brown lentils or a local, whole grain)* 4 cups Water ¼ cup Olive oil (try Camelina Gold Oil grown and pressed in eastern Washington) 2 Tsp Sea salt 2 Tsp Allspice — 1 small onion, diced 2 medium leaves basil, sliced thin ½ bunch parsley, chopped 2 sprigs mint, sliced thin (optional) ½ cup green onions, sliced (for a seasonal option, use local chives) ½ cup cucumber, diced ½ cup roasted or fresh red pepper, diced cherry tomatoes, sliced in half (as garnish) Add bulgur, oil, salt and allspice to 4 cups cold water, stirring gently to combine. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook bulgur for 15-17 minutes or until tender, then drain, set aside and allow to cool completely. Once bulgur is cool, fold in prepared vegetables and herbs. Cover and refrigerate until cold, then serve.
If you are substituting lentils for the Bulgar wheat, omit the oil, sea salt and allspice from the cooking water and follow the cooking directions for lentils from the PNW Farmers Co-op website. Mix the olive oil, sea salt and allspice in a separate container. Once lentils are cool, fold in oil mixture, prepared vegetables and herbs.
*The Pacific Northwest Farmers Co-op’s Eat Real PNW website features a recipe for Lentil Tabouli Salad made with Caviar Black Lentils or Pardina Brown Lentils along with instructions for cooking lentils and other pulses. Caviar Black Lentils and Pardina Brown Lentils can be found at the Moscow Food Co-op and at other local grocers. To find local grocers that carry PNW Co-op pulses and support local, family farms, visit https://eatrealpnw.com/where-to-buy/.
This salad was served as an appetizer at the 2019 Love Your Farmer, Love Your Food event which was catered by the Moscow Food Co-op deli. Our thanks to Ryan Town, creative chef and the Co-op’s deli prepared food manager, for sharing this delicious recipe with the Local Foods, Local Flavors blog.
Love Your Farmer 2019 Planning Team: Amanda Argona and Davy Frogley, City of Moscow/Moscow Farmers Market; Colette DePhelps, University of Idaho Extension/Palouse-Clearwater Food Coalition; Max Newland, Moscow Food Co-op; Marci Miller, Rural Roots, Inc.