July 27, 2007
getting spoiled rotten, and loving every minute of it!
In the spirit of full disclosure, let me just be very honest here. I’ve lifted nary a finger in my kitchen this week. I washed a few dishes here and there, but I didn’t even have to boil water. And yet, I’ve been treated to some amazing home-cooked meals every night. Lucky me, right? With KS playing head chef recently, I’ve been one lucky girl, enjoying wonderful food after coming home from work.
Ladies (and gentlemen), let me tell you this much – a man who can cook, and cook well, is more precious than gold, and I am quite grateful for it. I know that there’ve been articles about couples who cannot cook together, that there’s always an alpha cook, one who dominates and tries to take over, with the other person left to feel inferior in the kitchen, and quite possibly in the other aspects of the relationship. But in our case, we let the other person do what he needs to do in the kitchen and kindly play the sous chef role. All in all, it works out rather nicely.
I didn’t mean to be such a slacker this week though, it just kind of happened. It all started with my idea of making tabbouleh, as it is summer and I dream of summery cuisine. Because if there is such a thing as a perfect summer dish, then tabouleh has to be in its Top 10 list. The parsley, the mint, the lemon juice, tomatoes, cucumbers – light, vegetarian, easy to assemble, consumed when cool. What could go wrong with my plan?
Well, naturally, I got the idea to make tabbouleh in the middle of my morning coffee – a time when many a creative thought seeps into my head and while my mind should be focusing on the markets, it veers off and drifts to thoughts of dinner, kitchen toys and grocery lists. This time, while imbibing my morning dose of caffeine, I was taking a mental stock of my kitchen. There was cracked bulgur, a tomato, some parsley and mint – waiting to become that big bowl of tabbouleh. Hot coffee in my hand, I searched online for tabbouleh recipes to get the proportions of ingredients right and assembled a list of ingredients, noting the items I’d need to pick up for the dish.
And then (and you can probably tell by now, there’s a problem with my planning) I read that the tabbouleh has to sit for four hours prior to consumption. Four. Hours. If I got home at 8pm from the gym, then even after all the chopping and assembly, we’d be eating dinner at 1am. In a bit of a panic I sent KS a message, "Can you pick these ingredients up and get the process started?" And he, within a few hours emailed me back with, “All done. Ingredients bought, chopped, mixed. The tabbouleh is in the fridge – will be ready for dinner.” In other words – get home hungry, there’s dinner waiting. Or, quite simply put – you don’t have to cook tonight. And with all my love of kitchens and chopping and sauteeing, sometimes, it’s nice to get a night off – and still get a home-cooked meal! Being spoiled rotten isn't the worst thing that can happen to you, is it?
Adapted from various sources
Proportions taken from Food Network
For the mixture:
1/2 cup medium grain bulgur
1 1/4 cups water
4 cups loosely packed, roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley, about 3 bunches
1 1/2 cups peeled and diced tomatoes, about 3 to 5 Roma tomatoes,
1/4 cup green onions chopped, white and some of the green, about 2 green onions
1/4 to 1/2 cup loosely packed, roughly chopped mint leaves
For the dressing:
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
Pinch kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Bring water to a boil, pour in bulgur, stir, cover, and turn off heat. Let stand 20 to 25 minutes or until most of the liquid is absorbed and bulgur is fluffy and tender. Pour off any remaining liquid.
To prepare dressing, in a small non-reactive bowl, whisk together lemon juice, garlic, salt and oil. Taste and adjust seasonings.
In a large salad bowl, toss together parsley, tomatoes, green onions and mint. Add bulgur. Pour dressing over salad, toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings.
Let sit for 4 hours in the refrigerator - this way the flavors combine and the tabbouleh feels moist and flavorful.
Comments
Lucky you -- a delicious dinner waiting when you get home, and someone to share it with. Doesn't get any better than that.
See, I used to be able to do this--come home from work, not lift a finger, see a delicious gourmet dinner waiting for me. But now my brother (who's looking into becoming a chef) and his wife are no longer between apartments, leaving the house empty of people who are used to cooking on a regular basis.
I miss having an unpaid gourmet cook. :(
That tabbouleh looks so awesome. I always use the Near East brand of tabbouleh and then add fresh cucumbers,green onions and tomatoes . But you have inspired me to try my hand at making it from scratch. My mouth is watering as I type!
oh man, I wish I had the ability to step back and cede control in the kitchen, but I guess I'm just too darn Type A to let it go... The Boy is a master soup maker, and even then I have to be locked out of the kitchen so he can work his magic. But now that you mention it, it would be pretty awesome to come home from work and not have to do a thing... You are a smart woman Radish!