My garden is still doing quite well and I’ve already replanted a few of the cooler weather crops – beets, spinach, swiss chard, carrots – while planting I realized I have a lot of flat leaf parsley.

I thought, ‘why not make tabbouleh? (a Levantine Arab salad)’ It’s a refreshing summer salad and it requires a lot of parsley. Add in a few tomatoes, a bit of lemon juice, olive oil, bulgur, salt, pepper and mint and you have a perfect (and easy) end of summer salad. The fresh, crisp flavors compliment each other beautifully… serve along side hummus, kalamata olives, sliced cucumber, flat bread, feta and olive oil and you have a simple appetizer or a light meal. Tapas anyone?

Ingredients + how to;

2 cups presoaked bulgur*

3 cups finely chopped parsley (about 2 large bunches)

1/4 cup finely chopped mint (fresh is best – I improvised with dried)

3 green onions flatly sliced (I didn’t have these, so I substituted finely chopped red onion)

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 tsp. ground cumin seed

2 medium tomatoes – the juicer, the better – diced and seeded (I personally didn’t seed mine and it was just fine)

3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice (I use the juice from 2 small lemons) – add more or less as you like.

*To presoak bulgur: place 1 cup bulgur in bowl – add 1 cup water and let stand 30-60 minutes (until water is absorbed). Yields 2 cups presoaked bulgur.

In a large bowl, gently mix all ingredients except for lemon juice and oil. Add lemon juice, toss, and chill for at least an hour before serving – let the flavors blend…this is one of those dishes that is always better the next day….

Just before serving, toss again with oil and serve.

Deliciousness…