Forgotten Summer Bulgur Shrimp Salad Recipe

Last year, in a faltering attempt to better categorize and organize my recipes, I took a bunch of my handwritten ones to my office. I think the plan was to photocopy them and put them in a binder. I never got around to it. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post about the Dutch Baby, I was convinced that Santa Maria’s recipe for the breakfast treat was among them. Alas, I’ve looked at the file and it’s not there. I’ll get her to write down her best-remembered version of the dish, and as soon as I do so, I’ll post it.

When I was looking through the wrinkled pages of collected recipes today, I came across one I had forgotten about. It was in Santa Maria’s handwriting, but it wasn’t for something that she had made. Rather, it was for something that she had enjoyed so much that she was inspired to write it down.

One summer a year or two ago, I was playing around with bulgur, the ancient cereal grain that traces its origins to the Middle East. Bulgur is made by cooking, drying, and crushing wheat kernels, and it is high in protein and folic acid, low in fat, and quick cooking. It has a nutty and earthy flavor that can be a bit addictive. We had some in the house because I use it for a Turkish Lentil Soup recipe that’s in one of the Moosewood Cookbooks. Summer isn’t really the time for lentil soup, so I was looking for another use for it.

I paired it with some tomatoes, fresh herbs, scallions, and shrimp and came up with the following summer salad. It was easy and delicious. I’m not sure why I haven’t made it more often. (For more tantalizing bulgur recipes, check out this article in the San Francisco Chronicle.)

Summer Bulgur Shrimp Salad

• 1 cup bulgur
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 to 3/4 shrimp, cleaned
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 red pepper, chopped
• 4 scallions, chopped
• 1 cup mint leaves, chopped
• 2 limes, juiced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

        Cook the bulgur in the water the way you would cook rice. It will be done in about twenty minutes.
        Cook the shrimp in a little oil in a frying pan until curled and pink.
        Combine the bulgur, the shrimp, and the chopped ingredients.
        Dress with the lime juice and olive oil.
        Salt and pepper to taste

            

Comments

[Jill Mann]

I love your blogs because you like to make all different kinds of salads and seafoods.