A bulgar pilaf

Okay, OKAY!!!

Yet again, I've been called out to have a blog from my fellow gardeners at ACG.  Well, since I've had this little ditty started, maybe I should be more productive in my posts, eh?   Well, for you fellow ACG'rs out there, I sure will try.

Here is a recipe that I made last night for dinner guests.  It was totally delicious!!  It got rave reviews and I don't think they were all just out of niceness.  We made it as a side and while it says that it is good for 8 side servings, we found that it was better for 4-5 side servings.   Below, I've added the recipe as published on the website, but have scratched out  the items that I didn't do.  The beautiful part is that you can really customize this to your taste or to your guests tastes.

Since it is summer....or almost summer....I left out some of the cinnamon and brown sugar and made more of a "naked" version of this.....just tomatoes and oil and balsamic roasted.....just strained yogurt...you get the drift.   I was also a bit thin on the onion side of the world and so I left that layer totally off of the dish.   I used the last of my garden spinach and some newly picked garlic heads to make this recipe.  The nice part was that I made up the yogurt and tomatoes earlier in the day so when my guests arrived, I could quickly cook the bulgar and the dish came together very quickly.  The tomatoes and their juices along with the yogurt made this a moist dish (but not runny) and the flavors played very nicely together.

Enjoy a healthy entree or side dish......preferably with friends~

http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/a-beautiful-bulgar-and-spinach-pilaf-recipe.html
1 onion, finely chopped
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves
6 ounces bulgar wheat
1 1/4 cups (10 fluid ounces) vegetable or chicken stock
salt and pepper
10 1/2 ounces spinach
leaves torn from a small bunch of mint, torn
extra-virgin olive oil

For the labneh:
1 1/8 cups (9 fluid ounces Greek yogurt)
1 fat garlic clove, crushed
pinch of salt
For the tomatoes:
12 plum tomatoes
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoon harissa
2 teaspoons soft dark-brown sugar
For the onions:
2 onions, very finely sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon soft brown sugar
juice of 1/2 small lemon

You have to start the labneh the day or night before. Just line a sieve with a bit of cheesecloth and set it over a small bowl. Put the yogurt into the cheesecloth and refrigerate the while thing. The yogurt will lose a bit of excess moisture over the next 24 hours, leaving you with a firmer mixture, a bit like cream cheese. (or sour cream)  Help it by giving it a squeeze once or twice. Tumble the yogurt into a bowl. Add the garlic, a little salt and mash it all together. Cover and put the labneh into the refrigerator until you need it.
Halve the tomatoes lengthwise and put them in a small roasting pan or oven proof dish. Mix together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, harissa, some salt and pepper, and pour this over the tomatoes. Turn them over, making sure they get coated, ending with them cut-side up. Sprinkle the soft brown sugar over the top and put in an oven pre-heated to 350F degrees. Cook for 40-45 minutes (hs note: less time if you use smaller cherry tomatoes), until the tomatoes are shrunken and sweet. they can either be hot or at room temperature when you add them to the pilaf, so you could do this part in advance.
For the pilaf, saute the chopped onion in half the olive oil in a fairly heavy-bottomed saucepan. When the onion is soft and translucent add the garlic and cook for another couple of minutes. Tip the bulgar wheat (or alternately couscous - see headnote) into the pan (on top of the onions you just sauteed), pour in the stock, and season. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and let the bulgar simmer in the stock for about 15 minutes. All the stock will have been absorbed by then. Cover the pot and let the bulgar sit to fluff up for another 10 minutes.
Take the stalks off the spinach and wash the leaves well. In a covered pot, cook the leaves in just the water that clings to them after washing. they will wilt in about 4 minutes. Squeeze out the excess moisture and chop the leaves very roughly. Saute the spinach for a few minutes in the remaining olive oil and season it well with salt and pepper. Stir this into the bulgar wheat.
Quickly cook the finely sliced onions in very hot olive oil - you want them golden brown with some crispy bits. For the last minute of cooking time, add the cinnamon and brown sugar. Stir this around and, once the sugar has melted and begun to slightly caramelize, add a good squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper.
Layer the different components in a broad, shallow bowl: tip in the bulgar wheat, sprinkle on half the mint, then the tomatoes, then the rest of the mint. Break the labneh into lumps and scatter them over the tomatoes. Now strew the onions on top, drizzle with a slug of extra-virgin olive oil, and serve.
Serves 4 to 8 (main / side).

As you can see, it is a very forgiving recipe that allows you to think out of the box.

Is your onions, tomatoes, garlic ready for harvesting?  Or is it the spinach and mint?   Do you have some homemade vegetable stock canned or in the freezer?  Mushrooms cooked with the onion layer could be a really nice addition as would some sweet peppers or even a minced up jalepeno.  And as you build on it, maybe it will become your main entree instead of just a side dish?  Are you vegetarian or having a guest over who is...maybe you'd like to consider this recipe.

Bon Apetite !