Yes, its been a while since my last post, but I have a good excuse.  I have just recently returned from Ashland, Oregon where we’ve been living for the past two weeks!  Joe was taking a bike mechanics course, and I spent a lot of time enjoying the city.  I did, however get tired of living out of a tent.

I’ll post more about Ashland later.  Today, I really want to talk about tabouli!  On the last day of our trip, we traveled up to Portland to meet some friends for dinner at a Lebanese restaurant.  The food was amazing, and I was very impressed with their tabouli recipe.  They used bulgar wheat for a base, and the flavors were simple and delicious.  I immediately thought that I wanted to create a raw version of the dish, even though I think their version was high raw.  There wasn’t much bulgar in the dish.

I decided to use cauliflower for a base, as it makes a good substitute for cooked grains.  A whole cauliflower is needed for this recipe, because I wanted the “grain” role in this dish to play a bigger part, than the version I had in the restaurant.  Here is the recipe:

1 head of cauliflower
Juice of 2 lemons
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
small handful of mint
large handful of parsley

Cut the cauliflower away from the stem then cut into smaller segments. In a food processor, chop up the cauliflower until it is the consistency of a cooked grain, such as rice or bulgar wheat. Usually several pulses with do the trick, sometimes it is necessary to remove the processed cauliflower so that the larger pieces can be processed. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Pulse the remaining ingredients in the food processor until the onion and herbs are finely chopped and everything is incorporated. Fold the lemon/onion mixture into the cauliflower, and then season with salt and pepper to taste.

This is so delicious, so light and so satisfying.  It’s hard to not eat the whole salad in one sitting!  This is a dish packed full of vitamin C, both cauliflower and parsley are wonderful sources.  Not a bad way to boost your immunity and bring in some vital antioxidants into your diet.  It’s also a perfect dish for all of you out there who are looking to reduce your nut intake.  However, chopped, raw nuts can be added to the recipe to make it more hearty as well.  Pine nuts, cashews, macadamia or even sunflower seeds would be excellent options.  I’m thinking a diced heirloom tomato would be wonderful as well.

Play around and have fun with the recipe, that’s all part of the adventure!  Have a great weekend and stay tuned for a post about my trip to Ashland!