Friday, May 04, 2007

Taking bulgur south of the border...

We're heading south tonight for the final trip around the world in recipes we've been doing this week. While none of them have really been all that authentic to what the recipe title implies, it was a fun little game!

One of the things that drew me to this recipe, Mexican Bulgur Salad with Citrus-Jalapeño Vinaigrette, was the fact that I already had almost all of the ingredients on hand! I did need to buy a jalapeño, but everything else was something I had in the pantry, freezer, or an ingredient we just buy every week because we use it so often. There really is no cooking involved here, but you do need a cup of boiling water to soften the bulgur! Since it takes about 30 minutes to absorb the liquid and soften, you have plenty of time to finish preparing the rest of the dish. Tossed with the chewy bulgur are shredded carrots, corn kernels, chunky pieces of Monterey Jack cheese, cilantro and black beans. A bright and zesty dressing is prepared by whisking together fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice, a seeded jalapeño, olive oil, salt and a touch of cumin. This makes a generous coating for the salad and is the highlight to this dish. Since the jalapeño is seeded, it just adds flavor with very little heat - now we like things spicy and would have usually just chopped up the whole thing, but we both thought this was delightful as-is and glad we took the seeds out. The original recipe did call for zucchini instead of carrots, but the ones at the market just did not look good... so in went some carrots instead!


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