Warm Bulgar Salad

Earlier this month, Husband and I planned out our week's dinner menu. One night we had hanger steak with warm bulgar salad. This was my first time making bulgar and I was a little skeptical. But it was easy and turned out well. The recipe I used is from Food & Wine Annual Cookbook 2010.

Here's what you need:

1 1/2 cups bulgar, rinsed
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 large onion , chopped
2 carrots, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 turnip, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
2 tablespoons chopped mint

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium baking dish, mix the bulgar and cinnamon. Then stir in 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and the boiling water. Season with salt & pepper. Cover the dish tightly with foil and bake for 20 minutes, until the water absorbed. Fluff the bulgar with a fork and cover to keep warm.

Get out a large saucepan and melt 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of evoo. Add in the onions and cook over moderate heat until barely softened, about 2 minutes. Then add in the carrots and turnips, season with salt & pepper, and cook for another 2 or 3 minutes...until they've softened. Add in 1/2 cup of chicken stock bring to a simmer (that sounds weird "bring to a simmer"). Cover and cook over low heat until the veggies are tender, about 10 minutes.

Next stir in the veggies & liquid into the bulgar and add in the lemon juice, parsley, mint. Drizzle in a little more evoo, toss it all together and serve!


We ate the bulgar warm but it was also good cold. It was light and clean tasting; I didn't feel bad eating it. It's a great side dish to any sort of meat and a good recipe to have in your arsenal. You can easily customize this with whatever veggies you want. I would love to try it with red onions, tomatoes and pine nuts. Or broccoli, raisins and slivered almonds. Yum!