…..(plus a playlist at the bottom if you want to get your 1971 groove on and feel the Chez Panisse vibes)

I have a pantry full of grains I never use because I don’t know what bulgur is, I can’t remember how to use couscous vs barley, and I saw a recipe for freekeh once that looked good but I never made it, so there it still sits. Do grains get old? Probably. How old is the bulgur wheat I’m going to use today? Oh, what’s a number that means ageless? Can bulgur wheat be ageless like Audrey Hepburn in a black cocktail dress? I have this friend what used to buy Peeps every Easter just to sit them in a closet for years because he had it that stale Peeps were infinitely better than fresh Peeps. Had them labeled 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, etc. Eventually he would figure out the ideal vintage of Peeps. That’s my philosophy with grains. Feel free to hit me in the comments if you disagree. I’ve never gotten a comment before, so that should be fun.

So how old is this bulgur? I think it’s survived two moves, and I have no memory of buying it. It can’t be from the Obama Administration, can it?

Let’s call it a Heritage Grain.

Alice Waters’ Tabbouleh Salad (with heritage grains) from The Art of Simple Food.

½ cup bulgur wheat
1 ½ bunches parsley (about 1 ½ cup chopped)
1 bunch mint (about ½ cup chopped)
1 bunch scallions, white and green parts (about 1 cup chopped)
2 ripe medium tomatoes, cored and diced small
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Cover the bulgur by 1 inch with cold water. Soak for 20 minutes to plump the grains, then drain in a sieve. One could probably use chicken or vegetable stock for this as well. I’d think. I let this go longer than 20 minutes as it still had quite a bit of, what do you call it, rawness. Or maybe not. Not sure how crunchy was still too crunchy.

Sidebar: Ok here’s a thing. From what I can tell there are different grinds of bulgur wheat, and I don’t know what grind mine is because I’m a tiny container nut and I empty all my grains into tiny containers. I also put my nuts in tiny containers. So I’m a tiny nut container nut in that case. And I also don’t know what grind Alice Waters wants because she doesn’t specify either. But fine ground bulgur can be fully plumped up with soaking, and other grinds may need cooking, or hot water. Right now I’m trying to soak it longer just to see.

Took more like 30 minutes, but maybe the extra hour of letting it sit after it was all mixed would have done that too. Soak according to your own needs and tastes. If you must soak, soak within your heart.

Also, for the parsley, I had one big bunch of parsley, so I kept the stems and cut them up very finely, but more properly I should have had 1 1/2 bunches and not included the stems. But use what you have, and if that includes stems, then so be it. Worked.

While the bulgur in soaking, prepare the other ingredients.

Mix the herbs, onions, and tomatoes in a large bowl.

With your hands, squeeze the soaked bulgur to remove as much water as possible and mix it into the chopped herbs and tomatoes. (Wooden spoon and a fine sieve worked fine too.)

Add the lemon juice and olive oil.

Add salt to taste. I used about 3 full pinches. Is there a name for that, when you pinch all of your fingers together, like a hand pinch? A five-fingered pinch? Like a Muppet pinch?

Taste, and add more salt, lemon juice, or oil if needed.

Let rest for about an hour before serving to allow the bulgur to absorb the flavors.

It’s going to seem like a lot of herbs for not a lot of grain, and that is correct. There are a lot of sources out there that have much more cultural right to speak to the relative mixtures of tabbouleh, the history of it, and even the various spellings of it. I am not so qualified. My research tells me this is on the right side of herb to grain ratio, and could even possibly go with less grain, or more herbs. I’ve seen versions asking for only 1/3 cup bulgur and 2 bunches of parsley.

Here are some folks more qualified to say so:

Maureen Abood Lebanese Tabbouleh Salad Recipe
David Lebovitz with Guest Anissa Helou Tabbouleh Recipe