Harmony Kitchen

Oct 18, 2025 Recipe of the Week: Tabbouleh!

This week we are celebrating foods that just get better with a bit of frost as well as those that are reaching the end of a great season.

The herb beds always amaze me with their steady production all season long. Parsley especially reaches its peak in flavour after a few cold nights.

We are almost ready to say farewell for another season to our hard working tomato plants. Their production is slowing down and the availability will slowly dwindle as their last fruits slowly ripen.

The recipe this week combines these flavours in a delicious and filling salad that you can make in bulk and eat for lunch all week long!

Pantry items: ~ 1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil – 2 lemons – 1/2 cup medium grind bulgur (you can find it at New Horizon Foods in Brockville) – Salt and pepper

Equipment:

Knife and Cutting Board

Mixing bowl

Citrus juicer (or a fork)

“easy sprout” container (or a bowl for soaking and fine mesh colander for straining)

2 deli container lids (optional)

Method

Start by soaking the bulgur in some hot tap water. Add enough water to cover it by about one inch. You can use a sprouting jar or just soak it in a bowl. Set this aside to start to expand while you prep the tomatoes. The goal is to partially hydrate the grains and then let them finish hydrating with the juice from the tomatoes.

Next, wash and cut the cherry tomatoes. A quick and easy way to cut them is to place them between two deli container lids and cut crosswise while holding the top lid down firmly. If you would like them quartered, you can then rotate their orientation and repeat the process. Place the cut tomatoes in the salad bowl and sprinkle with a little salt to help to release the juices.

Next, finely chop the green onion and herbs. In my photos, I am using some green onion from our fridge. The enormous onion in your box this week will need a bit more chopping! Put this in next so that the tomato juice will start to mellow the sharp onion flavour.

Top with chopped herbs. Try holding the herbs firmly together in a bunch and chopping very finely in one direction and then rotating and doing one last chop crosswise. This will save most of the flavour for the salad rather than leaving it on the cutting board (as often happens with finely chopping herbs!)

Next, strain the bulgur and add to the veggies and herbs.

Top everything with the juice of two lemons (roll the lemons firmly before juicing to maximize the juice you produce) and enough olive oil to gently coat everything. Give it a taste and then season with salt and pepper until it tastes perfect!

You can eat this right away but try to wait an hour or so if you can. It will only get better the longer it sits in the fridge and all of the flavours come together.

.

Time Savers, Storage Tips and Spin off Recipes

• Any leftovers from this recipe keep well in the fridge (and will just keep getting better!)
• Save parsley stems and any unused green onion bits in your freezer-soup bag to make your next great broth

Did you Know?

Herbs are phytochemical powerhouses. The parts of a plant most exposed to the elements are most loaded with the plant’s defense system.

The delicate leaves on herbs defend the plant and provide us with an abundance of antioxidants, reducing cell damage that can lead to diseases like cancer and heart disease.

This Recipe’s Plant Count: 8

Time Required: ~20 minutes

4 servings