Great End of Summer Salad

[Rae]

I was looking for a very quick and easy salad recipe to make last night, using up some leftover feta. I found this recipe, and was also able to use up some of the cucumbers and tomatoes from my garden too. I didn't have any celery, so doubled the cucumbers. The recipe didn't call for tomatoes, but I thought they would add nice color. I wanted a quick recipe, that I could make fast and enjoy outside after work - this was exactly what I was looking for. I quadrupled the recipe, so I'd have leftovers for lunches this week.

Lemon Garbanzo Salad with Feta


Bulgur (steamed, dried, and crushed wheat kernels) can be quickly hydrated in boiling water. Combine it with canned beans and feta cheese for a nutritious vegetarian salad. This makes one serving, but it is easily doubled and is even better the next day.


1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup uncooked bulgur
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1/3 cup canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans), rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons chopped peeled cucumber
2 tablespoons chopped celery
2 tablespoons diced red onion
1 1/2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/4 teaspoon dried dill
2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Combine 1/2 cup boiling water, bulgur, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a medium bowl. Let mixture stand for 15 minutes. Add chickpeas, cucumber, celery, diced red onion, 1 1/2 tablespoons feta cheese, and dill; toss gently to combine.

Combine 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper, stirring with a whisk. Drizzle over bulgur mixture, and toss gently to coat. Cover and chill.



Yield: 1 serving (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

CALORIES 390 (31% from fat); FAT 13.6g (sat 3.5g,mono 7.6g,poly 1.5g); IRON 2.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 13mg; CALCIUM 129mg; CARBOHYDRATE 58.9g; SODIUM 713mg; PROTEIN 12.3g; FIBER 13g

Cooking Light, JULY 2004

[ljt2r]

Sounds great--thanks for posting. I think I might try this for lunch soon.

[ljt2r]

This was FABULOUS. I copied below the recipe as I printed it on my blog so you could see what changes I made. We LOVED it. Here (http://thespicedlife.blogspot.com/2008/09/shockingly-successful-lemon-garbanzo.html) are the pics.

Lemon Garbanzo Salad With Feta Cheese
Adapted from Cooking Light

*2/3 cup quick cooking uncooked bulgur, cooked to package's direction
3 T lemon juice (about 1 1/2 lemons)
a few drizzles of extra virgin olive oil
1 15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeds scraped out and roughly chopped
**1/4 t dried oregano
2-3 T chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley
2-3 handfuls of cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced in half if you want to take the time (I did not)
crumbled feta to taste (I used 2-3 oz)
1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
salt and pepper to taste
lemon wedges for garnish

*mine came out very watery--I find it is better to follow each particular brand's directions, CL called for soaking the bulgur in 1 cup boiling water plus 2 T lemon juice

**CL called for dill, fresh or dried. Someday I will remember to buy dill. I subbed oregano, not because it tastes the same but because I think it goes with the same flavors.

Toss everything together and serve with extra lemon wedges in case people want it more lemony.