Assorted Salads For A Warm Evening

Sometimes I'm left with small amounts of various items, that when artfully (I hope) thrown together, turn a cold supper into something special. This was one of those evenings.

Tabbouleh:

2/3 cup fine bulgar wheat (don't use the really coarse stuff-that's for kibbet ;)
1 1/3 cups boiling water
2-3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped (I had curly growing in the garden, and flat in the fridge-so we combined)
4-5 scallions, chopped
3/4 cup chopped mint (you can use more or less to taste)
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt/Pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Soak the bulgar in the boiling water for about an hour. Drain, then squeeze out excess moisture in a dishtowel. Combine vegetables and spices. Blend together lemon and oil and mix all together. Chill before serving.

For The Carrot Salad:

6-8 medium carrots, matchsticked fine, and boiled until tender. Refresh under cold water, and drain.
1/2 cup raisins
1 tablespoons chopped, preserved lemon peel
1/4 cup olive oil
3-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon honey
Spice Mix:
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
Salt/Pepper
1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Combine spice mix with oil and vinegar. Toss everything together in a bowl, and chill well.


For The Radish Salad:

A large bunch of radishes (about 10), sliced as thin as possible
1/8 cup olive oil
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
A drop[ of Golden Syrup
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt/Pepper

Mix and chill several hours before serving. Improves overnight.


For The Chickpea/Potato Salad:

1 tin chickpeas, skins removed
2 large green bell peppers, finely diced
1 bunch scallion, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cups diced, boiled potatoes
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Salt/Pepper
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
Feta Cheese, chunked

In a large pan, heat the oil and cook the peppers and scallions until softened. Remove from heat, stir in everything else adding more oil if it seems to need it. When cool, toss with feta cheese. Serve at room temperature.

How To Make Perfect Hardboiled Eggs:
(because it seems to be a problem from the search hits I get)

Place eggs in a pan and toss in 1 tablespoon white vinegar and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let stand 20 minutes. Remove to a bowl and run cold water over eggs for at least five minutes. You can also soak them in a bowl with ice water. Your eggs will be perfectly cooked without any sulfur smell or green ring around the yolks.

Other stuff you can serve with these:

Saj Bread (recipe in next post)
Yoghurt
Olives
Assorted fancy lettuces and nasturtium petals and flowers (yeah, I had those growing in the garden)
Mint lemonade
Rice cooked in broth with raisins, dried apricots, and fennel seeds


See-you've just cleaned out the veggie bins in the fridge, and no one is the wiser. They think you've laboured away all day preparing a sumptuous feast.