Tabbouleh with Parmesan cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato
Tabbouleh with Parmesan cheese and Sun-Dried Tomato
Function often follows form; that was the case with this delightful salad. A little hat of thinly sliced sun-dried tomatoes needed a different color for contrast and provided an excuse to use my new vegetable peeler. The function is the really good taste. All this good looking stuff mingling on your tongue! Susanne said as I impatiently walked this plate over to the table: “wait, let me take a picture”, as she waited for something to download.
It is helpful to have the results of drying 70 kilos of tomatoes in the refrigerator before making this.
The base of the tabbouleh is bulger. You can often buy it at a Moroccan green grocer. I also ask them for a market bunch of parsley, about a kilo. This also has black Moroccan olives; a home made harrissa with sun-dried tomatoes; green Italian peppers, and cucumber finely diced; and chocolate mint. A few fresh tomatoes finely diced. Two lemons juiced. It’s a lot of rata-tata-tat chopping , because I prefer finely chopped parsley and a lot of it— so sharpen your knife. Then the Parmesan and dried tomatoes in olive oil to yell out: this tabbouleh is made with David’s homemade harisa like sauce that is really very, very good and oh so simple if you got the time and patience and a sensitive tongue. Lot’s of chilies would due, but I get the long ones from Muhammad down the street. I marinade them briefly in extra-virginal olive oil with lot’s of fresh ground black pepper from all over; Indonesia, Cambodia, Mali… then roast them either on the BBQ or in the wood oven. Into a grinder or a Thermomix add the dried tomatoes; dried Basil; fresh basil; the roasted chilies; fresh garlic and olive oil and grind it all up. But only share this goop with people you don’t like, because your friends will demand a jar and you’ll soon be out of it — for a year! Someone you do’t much care for, you just send them this link and say: “go for it!” Anyone your sleeping with will hold the tasty bits for ransom.
It is helpful to have the results of drying 70 kilos of tomatoes in the refrigerator before making this. Drying these tomatoes started out a few years ago with a thin plank of pine, but has widened to a ritual of summer anticipated as a Bull Moose looking forward to mating season. This “pairs” well with an ice cold six pack of beer and a skinny-dip in the swimming hole with the one you love.
