1 cups cracked wheat (bulghur)
1 cups very hot water
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1 small tomatoes, chopped
1/2 bunch green onions, (4) sliced
1/4 cup fresh chopped mint
1 cups fresh chopped parsley
1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

Dressing:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
3/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
pinch of pepper
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Soak the cracked wheat in the hot water until the water is absorbed, about 30 minutes. When it’s ready, drain any excess water, if necessary, and squeeze dry.

Meantime, prepare the vegetables for the salad and mix the dressing ingredients together. Set aside.

Stir the prepared wheat, other salad ingredients, and dressing together in a medium bowl.

Serve chilled or at room temperature. Makes about 4 cups, 6 to 8 servings.

Thanks to http://www.greatpartyrecipes.com/tabouli-recipe.html (their recipe serves 12 to 16 – great for a party)

- 1 small cucumber, peeled and grated
- 300g of natural Greek yoghurt
- 2 tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley
- 3 cloves of garlic
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Place cucumber, yoghurt, parsely, garlic and black pepper in a bowl and mix to combine.
2. Cover and put in fridge for at least an hour before serving.
3. Serve with Turkish bread.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Total cooking time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4 as a side dish

4 large potatoes
1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 teaspoons mustard seeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon chopped fresh chili
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt and pepper

1. Boil, steam or microwave the potatoes until tender. Cool, peel and chop. Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan over medium heat. Cook the cumin, coriander and mustard seeds for 1 minute, stirring constantly.

2. Add the sesame seeds; cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring until golden. Add the turmeric, chilies, potatoes, lemon rind and juice. Stir until well combined and heated through. Season to taste, with salt and pepper.

Yum.

From The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook, Murdock books

Roll the asparagus in pesto. Put in a roasting dish with a little oil and cook at around 200 C for 5 to 10 minutes.

I like to use it as an addition to my Big Breakfast style Vegetable Hash Stack

Tonight I resolved to cook something, anything, using just the ingredients that I had on hand. This was complicated by the fact that we’re house sitting at the moment and don’t have a well-stocked larder. I came up with the following and it was damn good.

Potato, Chickpea and Tomato Casserole

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

• 3 tbsp extra light olive oil
• 3 medium potatoes
• 3 tsp ‘cajun spices’
• 1 medium onion
• 1 can chickpeas (drained)
• 1 can tomatoes in juice (not drained)
• 1 cube vegetable stock and a little hot water
• salt
• A bit of grated Parmesan to go on top

Method

1. Wash and chop up the potatoes into small chunks (I am a fan of leaving the skin on)
2. Put the olive oil into a large frying pan and bring to a medium-hot temp
3. Add in the potatoes and then sprinkle the spices over them
4. Turn occasionally and cook until fried golden and worth snacking on
5. Drain any excess oil and turn down the heat to medium
6. Chop the onion and add it
7. Stir the potatoes and onions until the onion is just done
8. Drain the chickpeas and add them
9. Chuck in the tomatoes
10. Dissolve the stock cube in a little bit of hot water and add it
11. Put the plates in the oven to warm up, and simmer the dish for 10 minutes or so
12. Add salt to taste
13. Serve and sprinkle some parmesan on top
14. Get the person who didn’t cook to wash the dishes

~Thomas

For a while I was intimated by the idea of frying cheese but it’s so good I just had to try. It turns out it’s actually rather easy.

You just need to heat olive oil in a non-stick frying pan until it reaches a high temperature. Add your haloumi (cut 7mm thick). Fry each side until golden brown (about 20 secs per side). Then eat. It is so worth it. Fried cheese!

Enjoy,
Kim

It’s good as a side-salad.

It’s good as a main

I just added a little canned tuna to bulk it out.

Guess what I’m having for lunch tomorrow?

Bean salad recipe

• 1T olive oil
• 2T salted capers
• 1 can cannellini beans
• 3T lemon juice
• 1/2 C chopped Italian parsley
• 1 large red chilli, seeded and chopped
• 1 tomato, roughly chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• sea salt and cracked black pepper

Put it all in a bowl, toss well and let sit at least an hour before serving.

Thanks to my friend Jackie for this recipe.

Enjoy!
Kim.

Now I live with Kim and we both like mushrooms on pizza and in hamburgers, but I can’t get her to appreciate the simple beauty of mushrooms on hot buttered toast. Sadly I think that the fault might be mine as I seem to have an inability to cook them consistently. There seem to be three possible outcomes whether I fry or grill them:

1. Too dry – burnt and leathery
2. Too wet – soft and slimy
3. Just right – hot and juicy and tasty

Today’s effort was one of the better ones and I’m going to keep using this technique until I learn a better one (tips greatly appreciated!).

Take sufficient portobello mushrooms. Shake off the dirt and slice thickly. Heat a large (in relation to the amount of mushrooms) frying pan with a little bit of canola oil. Put the mushrooms in and shake/stir them fairly continuously. Put the toast on when the mushrooms are starting to sweat. Butter the toast and put the (with any luck) cooked mushrooms on top. Eat with a knife and fork.

~Thomas