One of the great things about having a food blog is that people keep their eyes open for recipes I might enjoy and send them my way. This particular recipe, though modified, comes from an article my wonderful grandma sent me that included several whole grains recipes. I intend to try them all at some point, but I was particularly intrigued by the wheat berry salad with citrus, toasted pine nuts, feta, and spinach. You may notice that this title doesn't match the title of my post; I ended up making a few changes to the recipe based on what I had on hand. Even so, this recipe was fantastic! I LOVED the citrus dressing (and even halved the amount of olive oil with no consequence) and the variety of tastes and textures within the salad. In fact, I liked this bulgur salad better than tabbouleh (which concerns Ryan, who really wants tabbouleh at the dinner table again soon!). I'm curious to try the original recipe sometime, especially because I've never had wheat berries, but I imagine the flavor is very similar.
This would be a fabulous summer salad, and you could even add chicken to make it a complete meal. We ate this with some interesting sandwiches that'll be posted soon!
Thanks Grandma for sending this my way :)
Bulgur Salad with Citrus, Toasted Almonds, Feta, & Spinach
inspired by the Wheat Berry salad recipe from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
Ingredients:
-1 cup bulgur
-2 cups water
-2 tsp fine-grain sea salt
-grated zest & juice of 1 orange
-1 tbsp freshly-squeezed lemon juice
-1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
-black pepper (freshly ground, if available)
-3 large handfuls spinach leaves, stemmed and cut into smaller pieces
-1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds (could be increased to 1 cup; I only had 1/2 cup on hand)
-1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (or just sprinkle on top of each serving, as I did)
Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, combine 1 cup of bulgur with 2 cups of water. Heat to boiling then cover and simmer for 12-15 minutes, until all liquid has evaporated.
2. To make the dressing, combine the olive oil, orange juice and zest, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Toss hot bulgur with chopped spinach, toasted slivered almonds, and dressing. Top with feta cheese. (I ate it both warm and then cold, the next day. Both were equally good!)
