March started out slow for us at Garlic, My Soul. It’s been an exciting month, but hasn’t left much time for cooking and kitchen creation. After tackling a simple pizza recipe that’s easily within our wheelhouse for early March, our spirits were dragging a little and we needed inspiration.
We met up this past Sunday for a day of Cucina Fresca cooking, and I confessed to Jennie that cooking was not what I longed to do most that day. It was a beautiful day in Los Angeles. I wanted to soak in the sunshine and browse antiques and handmade crafts at the Melrose Trading Post. Jennie wisely decided we needed an inspirational trip to Whole Foods, which turned out to be just the ticket.
As a rule, we avoid Whole Foods when possible, because it’s the kind of store we can’t visit without spending an obscene amount of money on mostly superfluous food items. This trip was no exception, but it was a justified luxury as we left the store brimming with plans and ideas.
We had some beets from the CSA, that we wanted to feature in a grain salad. So, we chose bulgar wheat as our grain, because I’ve been enjoying it’s texture and nutty flavor lately. We also picked up a mango and a papaya that we couldn’t pass up, and we replenished our middle eastern spices, including some much-needed curry powder.
Back at the ranch, we set up the research station and made a plan:
In case you’ve ever wondered what our recipe research process looks like, it’s pretty much what you see above. Lots of coffee, some snacks, an array of random ingredients, our computers, a cookbook or two, and Jeff working in the background.
And this is what we look like when we try to pose for these research photos. A little ridiculous.
Eventually, we started chopping things.
This process involved a nifty cubing method for chopping the mango.
Jennie tackled the papaya and was a little grossed out by the papaya seeds, especially when I made her eat one. She says they taste like soap. I didn’t think they tasted like anything.
If you have any brightly colored bowls handy, we recommend using them to collect your mango and papaya for a photo op.
Next up, the beets. We peeled two beets, but then it turned out one beet was more than enough.
Add 2 tbsp olive oil!
And 1 teaspoon curry powder.
We consulted this helpful booklet that we picked up in the grains section of whole foods. It told us how to cook our bulgar wheat.
All we needed was a cup! We brought this and 2 cups of water to a boil, then set it to simmer.
While the bulgar wheat simmered, we threw the beets and fruit into the cast iron over medium heat…
and let it cook for a bit, turning it over with a spatula every few minutes….
Until the mixture reduced and looked like this. At this point, the beets should still be a little crunchy, the mango should pretty much stay mango-textured, and the papaya will mostly turn to pulp.
We transferred the cooked bulgar wheat to a bowl.
And we heaped in the cooked beet mixture.
And we added the lemon juice and lemon zest. YUM.
We mixed it all together, and the whole thing turned BRIGHT red. Then we put it in the fridge and chilled it for an hour.
After taking it out of the fridge, crumble about 4 oz of feta cheese (probably half of whatever package you bought at the store) into the bulgar wheat and mix it up.
We plated, we photographed, we served. We decided that next time, we might have to go with yellow beets.
