Tabbouleh and Crudites

French people have much different eating habits than Americans. To describe it the best, you can say that “In France they live to eat, whereas in the US, we eat to live”. This means that French people live to enjoy the food and to savour it, while Americans eat to live. They eat for nourishment. And this translates in their respective eating habits. French people will not settle for a sandwich for lunch, instead they will have a long lunch that lasts 1 to 2 hours.

I don’t know if this is still done since the world is changing so quickly, but growing up I came home for lunch to join my parents. And after lunch, I walked back to school. See in France, lunch break for school and many companies is 90 minutes.

Anyway, since people have time to eat during lunch time, they tend to eat the copiest meal for lunch (and it is much healthier that way). Therefore, dinner is usually a lighter fare where soups, quiches, salads are usually served.

Today for dinner, we had crudites ( an assortment of fresh vegetables), Saucissons ( French salamis), Tabbouleh and Cheese.
Yum….

Anyway, I will share with you the recipe of Tabbouleh. Tabbouleh is originally from Lebanon. It is very very refreshing, and can easily replace pasta salads.

Ingredients for about 8 servings:

2 cups of bulghur wheat or ( couscous),1 1/2 cups of boiling water, juice of 2 lemons ( about 1/4 cups), 3 tbsp of olive oil, 3 scallions chopped thinly, 1 cup of fresh mint chopped, 1 cup of fresh parsley chopped, 1 cucumber (peeled, sliced and diced), 2+ tomatoes ( peeled and diced), salt and pepper to taste.

Place the bulghur wheat or coucous in a bowl and pour the hot water over it. Let it rest for 5 minutes until all the water has been absorbed, and the bulghur wheat or couscous is tender and cool. Add all the other ingredients and mix well. Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours ( overnight preferably: the longer it marinades, the more flavorful is your tabbouleh). I hope you will enjoy it. It is really really good!