Easy Tabbouli

I'm back! I took a longer-than-planned sabbatical for the winter/spring. Originally, I'd planned to change up the look of the site to something more "professional." I ended up deciding that it's fine as-is.

Anyway, here we are in summer. As I've said many time before, I love summer. The weather, sandals, late sunsets and, best of all, the food. Summer veggies are the best. I have a lot in store for you this summer, starting with this little gem.

Every time I'm at a party or potluck where someone brought tabbouli, I wonder why I don't make it more often. I can eat it by the bucketful. I know, it's basically just an elaborate parsley delivery system, but who doesn't love parsley? And mint? I'm already sold right there.

This summer, I planted some potted herb gardens which are going gangbusters. I have no idea mint grows like crazy once it's set loose. Part of the reason I made tabbouli was because of all this excess mint.

This is a back-to-basics recipe. Tabbouli has gotten a bit complicated lately. Nothing wrong with that, but when the classics work, I don't see any reason to mess with them. Aside from oil, this is what you're dealing with:

Ingredients
1 cup bulgur
1-2 bunches curly parsley (depending on how much you like parsley)
12 large mint leaves 
6 green onions
2 medium tomatoes 

1 cucumber 
2 lemons, juiced 
1/2 cup olive oil

Put the bulger in a bowl and fill the bowl with water until it's about an inch over the top of the bulger. Let it sit for about 30 minutes. It won't look like much at first, but it'll double in size during that time. It'll go from this:

To this:

While the bulger is soaking, finely chop the parsley and mint and put them into a large bowl. Peel, slice and seed the cucumber, then chop it and add it to the bowl. Dice the tomatoes and add them as well.

Pour the bulger into a large sieve, pressing out as much water as possible. 

Once it's dry, add it to the bowl and stir to combine it well with everything else. 

To make the dressing, combine the lemon juice and olive oil and whisk vigorously to combine them. Pour it over the tabbouli and add salt and pepper to taste. Keep the tabbouli refrigerated until you're ready to eat.