Orange Tabouleh (Tabouli)

I got a strange request from my husband last week. He asked if we could eat a little healthier. I wonder if Paul Child ever asked Julia that and what did she reply? "Sorry about so much meat last week," I said. I had all the good intentions of putting us on a post- holiday detox "diet" of fish, veggies, and grains, but my teaching schedule got in the way. I was teaching a Meat class and a Sauce class, which took me to all the wrong stores for a detox diet and resulted in large amounts of all the wrong leftovers. But now we are finally back on track. Cooking healthy food for Jason is a pleasure. By healthy, he doesn't meal low calorie, low carb, or low fat. The guy needs to eat 2 lunches to avoid getting too thin. He also eats absolutely everything (except for scrambled eggs). So I started pulling out all the boxes of grains I had stashed away in my cupboards and putting them to good use.

Last night I found a box of bulgur wheat and some leftover sectioned oranges from the Knife Skills class. I tried putting the two together into a cold salad similar to tabouleh, replacing the more traditional cucumber with oranges. It worked exceptionally well. One thing that's great about bulgur is that it's already pre-cooked, so all you need to do is add boiling water and let it reconstitute for 30 minutes.

1 cup Bulgur Wheat (I used Arrowhead Mills)
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
1/3 cup olive oil
2 large tomatoes, diced (or lots of small ones diced)
1 tsp orange zest (optional)
2 oranges, sectioned, each section coarsely chopped*
a very large handful or parsley (or parsley/dill combo), stemmed and minced
4 scallions (white and green parts), sliced very thin
Salt and pepper to taste

1) In a large bowl, pour boiling water over bulgur wheat and 1 tsp salt. cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Uncover and cool to room temperature.  This can be done hours in advance and kept in the fridge after the initial 30 minutes.

2) Add all the other ingredients. Season to taste with salt and pepper, stir well and taste. Keep tasting and adding salt, pepper, lemon juice, and oil until it feels right.

* tangerines from a can work well too.