Means of Seeing what the eye brings

Tabbouleh, tabbouleh, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways… I’ve been churning out these dishes over the past few days, and trying my best not to gobble them all up as soon as they’re made. Yum! I’ve been using all kinds of bases; couscous, amaranth, rice, orzo, quinoa, take your pick. There are a few variations and “special tips/tricks”, but it’s essentially the same no matter how you spin it: equally delish!

Into the blender the dressing goes:

• Juice of one large lemon
• Olive oil to equal the above amount
• 1 large clove of peeled raw garlic
• Fresh leaves: a bunch of mint, a little less parsley, a little less than that of basil.
• salt & pepper

I can’t stress the importance of fresh leaves! My come from planter right outside, and if at all possible, so should yours.

Chop and drop into a bowl:

• 1/2 sweet onion (I prefer red), minced
• 1 field cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1 medium tomato (or a few cherry tomatoes) diced
• More leaves, minced, for texture

Steam, boil, simmer, or nuke your base as required. I like to use a little vegetable stock in the cooking water. Saffron and fresh black pepper stirred into hot Israeli couscous make for some drool-worthy fumes! The red and black varieties of quinoa are nuttier-tasting and visually more interesting. In any event, you ought to let the cooked base cool before slopping the whole thing together, although I seldom do.

Whenever you do mix it all together, don’t forget the sprinkles: re-test the amount of salt & pepper, then get loopy and drop in a wee shake of cinnamon, cayenne, allspice, or all three. Oh yes oh yes!

I looked in the fridge this evening and saw baby potatoes and feta cheese, so I made a salad out of them. Something like this:

• 2 cups young red taters, cut into 16ths
• 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
• 1/4 red onion, small diced
• 1 little block of feta cheese, diced
• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

Boil the potatoes as little as possible, just edible-ly un-crunchy. toss them in a bowl with the the rest of the veg, and top with a dressing of:

• 5 tbs olive oil
• 2 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tbs dried basil
• salt & pepper

Only because I already had a few hard-boiled eggs handy, I peeled just one, chopped the white into the salad, and blended the yolk into the dressing. I let the whole works settle in the fridge while we made the rest of the meal, but I’m thinking it would do just as well for a hot’n’cold side with the spuds right off the boil.