Bulgur Wheat. What's That?

I made bulgur wheat pilaf the other night. I have to say that I didn’t even know what bulgur wheat was until a few weeks ago. But that’s what friends are for – to introduce you to new foods. My friend who’s a vegetarian wanted to bring something fresh and flavorful to a recent potluck party and opened up a vegan cookbook for us to consider our options. Believe it or not, the recipe we chose was one of the simpler ones in the book. But bulgur wheat was not in the local supermarket so we trekked to a special organic store to pick it up. We found that it wasn’t so easy to cook, either; the bulgur wheat remained hard even after we cooked it for the amount of time specified by the recipe.  So we kept cooking it. Finally it looked ready to eat. We did a quick taste test, and it was delicious! What surprised me most was all the meat-lovers at the party raving about the dish, too.

Fast forward to this week. I wanted to make the bulgur wheat dish myself to see if I came out as well as our initial concoction. This time, I changed the ratio of water to bulgur, doubled the recipe and added a little bit more lemon zest. The end result? It came out even better! I think the additional water was what really did the trick.

Chickpea and Bulgur Pilaf

Serve as a side dish or stuff in a pita

Start to finish 40 minutes, makes 4 servings as a side dish

1 cup uncooked bulgur or cracked wheat

(or any other leftover whole grain you have)

2 cups boiling water

1 cup diced tomato (seeds and juice discarded)

1 cup chopped scallions

1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil

16 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon zest

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place the bulgur in a large bowl. Add boiling water and stir to mix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand 30 minutes.

Combine the tomato, scallions, parsley, basil and chickpeas in a medium bowl. Toss well, then add to bulgur and stir to mix.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the zest, juice, oil, salt and pepper.  Add mixture to bulgur and toss well.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

My Guilty Kitchen Pleasure

Butter is one of my guilty pleasures in the kitchen because enhances the flavor and smoothes the texture of every dish I make.  You could call it my “kitchen crutch.” Take fresh salmon filet, for example. I put a couple of thin slices of butter on top before baking it in the oven, and the fish just melts in my mouth. I used to just cover the fish with a stir-fry or sesame sauce. Fresh from the oven, it tasted good, but it could be crusted over and a little dry in spots. For sure, it was never leftover material. Now that I put a couple slices of butter on top of the sauce, it tastes moist whether it’s just been made or has been in the fridge for a couple days.  I’ll make three or four pieces at a time. It’s great for date night and then for one more meal after that.

What you’ll need:

1 ¼ lbs. of salmon filet, cut in thirds or fourths

Sauce

Butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cover metal tray with aluminum foil.

Wash off fish. Layer with sauce of your choice (I like sesame!). 

(Tip: For maximum flavor, sauce should entirely cover top of fish.)

Line up pieces of fish on metal tray.

Put a slice of butter on each side of each piece.

Cook for 35 minutes.

Take out and serve.

For a quick side dish: Cook broccoli with a little water in the microwave for 3 ½ minutes.  

Other sides: couscous, baked potato, mashed potatoes

Cream Of Wheat: A Real Treat Or A Kitchen Nightmare

I cooked Cream of Wheat this morning. I really love this breakfast food because it’s filling and inexpensive. Plus, I’ve discovered that a box of the stuff lasts a few months, even when eaten daily. Okay, I admit that I ate it all the time in college and practically lived on the gruel in grad school. It was my version of Raman noodles. Still, it’s a great start to a long day, especially since I began adding in blueberries and cinnamon. Both ingredients really zip up the familiar flavor.

But Cream of Wheat is easy to blunder. When it cooks too long in the microwave, it boils over. I can’t count the number of times I wasn’t watching the time carefully and found my bowl nearly empty, with Cream of Wheat sticking all over the sides of the bowl and the bottom of the microwave like glue. Afterward, I had to give the microwave a good scrubbing. So I began to put a paper plate underneath the bowl to minimize a mess. The real trick, though, is stirring the mixture in the microwave every 30 seconds after the first minute of heating.

Then, after eating, wash the bowl out immediately.  Loosening leftover mix from the bowl later is a real workout. If it gets to that point, soak in hot water and scrub with a Dobie cleaning pad.

What you’ll need for 1 serving:

3 tablespoons Cream of Wheat mix  

¾ cup milk or ¾ cup of water

A fistful of blueberries

A pinch of cinnamon

1 teaspoon sugar or sugar substitute

Directions:

Mix Cream of Wheat and milk (or water) in a bowl.

Add blueberries.

Microwave for 1 minute. Stir the mixture. Then microwave for 30 seconds. Stir the mixture again. It's best when the blueberries have popped. Depending on your microwave, it may need another 30 seconds. (And maybe another 30 seconds after that. Always stir before and after heating.) 

Stir before eating. It should not be too lumpy.

Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.

Enjoy!

Soup Spectacular

So my culinary adventures this week have been somewhat uninspired. I just wanted to default to oldies but goodies to keep things easy in the kitchen and my stomach and pocketbook full. I've posted about soups before and they have been on the menu at my house since Sunday. I love soups because they are relatively simple, taste great and they can serve as multiple meals or as the first course at lunch and/or dinner.

Tonight I whipped up my adapted version of the classic Vegetable Beef Barley (that is really a Turkey Veggie Barley) in 45 minutes.

I prefer to use ground turkey instead of the usual ground beef. I browned the ground meat with a little onion and minced garlic.

I absolutely hate soup recipes that only have frozen or canned vegetables, the Beef Barley Recipe that I use calls for both sliced carrots and celery along with canned diced tomatoes (look for no salt added) and  a bag of the frozen mixed vegetables. I usually decrease the barley from 1/2 cup to 1/4 of a cup and use low-sodium chicken broth instead of bouillon cubes or beef stock.

Instead of the standard dried basil and bay leaf, I used 1/2 tsp of herbs de Provence and 1/2 tsp of pepper to keep my taste buds happy!

Ok, so this soup is a slight stretch from the original, but it is still delicious!

Chili Days of January!

Today we were hit with another flurry of flakes that covered the streets making the commute to work an adventure and taking the dog outside miserable. When the weather is wicked outside I really just want to enjoy something hot, satisfying and filling. A big bowl of chili and warm slice of cornbread often does the trick for satisfying my taste buds and hunger on these cold winter evenings .

There are many chili recipes out there but I found one of my favorites in Anne Quinn Corr’s cookbook the Seasons of Central Pennsylvania. Don Plott’s Make Your Own Chili recipe provides the guidelines for creating your own fabulous dish. You can select your base (liquid) of choice, water, beer or red wine along with your preference for meat and beans. It’s quick, hearty, easy and seriously delicious. It does make enough for a crowd, so I oftentimes freeze leftovers in individual containers for days when I want to heat up something for a quick, healthy meal.

A Dish That's an Old Friend

There's one dish I never tire of eating: spaghetti and meat with tomato sauce. Not a tomato meat sauce. In my meal, the meat is cooked separately, poured over a bed of pasta and sauce, and then mixed in with them. For me, this dish is like coming home to an old friend probably because I’ve been eating it since I was old enough to say spaghetti. It was the first meal I could cook myself, though I definitely scorched the meat and onions a little as I was learning. Growing up, it was a Monday night tradition in my house. Now, I often cook a week’s worth, and that’s what I did last night. I find it to be a great comfort food in the snowy season, when I had a lot of studying in grad school or when I’m exhausted from a long day of work.  Plus, it is so easy to make!

What you’ll need:

1/2 box angel hair or spaghetti
Tomato sauce

1 Pkg. of 85 percent or 93 percent lean ground turkey (85 percent is tastier; 93 percent is healthier)

1 large onion

Directions:

Dice onions.

Cook turkey in a frying pan for about 20 minutes. Watch and flip frequently to avoid burning the meat. (There’s no need to put oil or butter in the pan. The juices of the turkey will suffice. )

When meat is no longer pink, add in onions.

When onions are translucent, remove from fire.

Boil water for the pasta and add a drop of olive oil.

Cook pasta: 6 minutes for angel hair, 8 minutes for spaghetti.

Cook a bowl of tomato sauce for 1 ½ minutes or until hot in the microwave.
Drain pasta.

Pour meat and sauce over a bed of pasta.

Mix together.

Season with oregano, basil and bread crumbs.

Serve with a salad for a healthier meal. (Helps you eat less pasta!)

The Challenges of Replicating a Family Recipe

There’s nothing like a homemade family meal to make you feel warm and special. In my family, my mother and my grandmother are known for their sweet and sour meatballs – a recipe my mom first picked up from my dad’s cousin, also known for her cooking skills. When I was growing up, we looked forward to these mouthwatering meatballs at large family dinners with my uncle, aunt, and cousins.  I was always so proud when I had the chance to help my mom and grandmom make them from scratch.  The thing about these storied family dishes is that they never disappoint – maybe because they’re made with so much love by people I love dearly.  So would my family’s famed sweet and sour meatballs be as tasty if I made them myself? I decided to see if I could replicate all their brilliance in the kitchen.  I didn’t want to mess up so I made my mom write down every single item and instruction before I got started. Line by line I followed her recipe, tasting the mixture as I went. The result: the meatballs were tender; the sweet-and -sour tomato sauce sublime.  I only wish my grandmother were here. She would have been proud!

What you’ll need:

2 ½ pounds of 93 percent lean ground turkey

2 very large onions

2 eggs

1 cup Italian bread crumbs

¾ cup sugar

2 lemons

1 can tomato paste

1 can crushed tomatoes

Directions:

Chop 1 large onion and cover bottom of pot.

Mix eggs with turkey.

Chop 1 large onion and mix with turkey.

Mix in 1 cup Italian bread crumbs.

Roll into meatballs. Place meatballs over chopped onions in the bottom of the pot.

Pour hot boiling water over and cover to top of meatballs.

Let cool for 1 hour.

Then add 1 can of crushed tomatoes and 1 can of tomato paste.

Cook 45 minutes, and then turn off the fire.

Add sugar and lemon.

Mix and let sit for ½ hour to 1 hour.

Serve with or pour over rice.