2000s Recipes + Menus
Grilled Portabella and Bulgur Salad “Sandwiches”
Serves4
- Active time:1 hr
- Start to finish:1 1/4 hr
June 2009
Okay, you caught us: There’s no sliced bread here, and you’ll need a knife and fork. But this bulgur and grilled-vegetable salad has so much gusto that it simply cries out for a daring presentation to match.
For Tomato Vinaigrette
- 1 large garlic clove
- 1 pint grape or cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red-wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped rosemary
- 1/4 teaspoon hot red-pepper flakes
for salad
- 8 large portabella mushrooms, stems reserved for another use (see cooks’ note, below)
- 1 small red onion, cut lengthwise into 1/2-inch-thick wedges (keeping root end intact)
- 2 medium yellow bell peppers, quartered lengthwise
- 1 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise
- 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 cups boiling-hot water
- 1 cup medium bulgur
- 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted see Tips
- 2 1/2 oz baby arugula (4 cups)
- 1 firm-ripe small avocado
Make vinaigrette:
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With motor running, drop garlic into food processor and finely chop. Add tomatoes, parsley, oil, vinegar, rosemary, red-pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper and pulse until tomatoes are finely chopped but not puréed.
Make salad:
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Peel skin from portabellas using tip of a paring knife, pulling from edge of mushroom toward center. Gently scrape off gills from mushrooms with tip of a spoon. Toss portabellas with 1/2 cup vinaigrette in a 13- by 9-inch glass baking dish and let stand, turning occasionally, 20 minutes.
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Prepare a gas grill for direct-heat cooking over medium heat; see “Grilling Procedure”.
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Push 1 wooden pick into each onion wedge to secure for grilling. Toss onion wedges, bell peppers, and zucchini with oil, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp pepper. Oil grill rack, then grill vegetables, covered, turning occasionally, until tender (6 to 8 minutes for bell peppers, 6 to 10 minutes for zucchini, 8 to 12 minutes for onion, and 12 to 15 minutes for portabellas).
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Transfer portabellas to a plate and remaining vegetables to a bowl as cooked. Cool slightly, then remove wooden picks and coarsely chop onion, bell peppers, and zucchini.
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While vegetables cook, pour boiling-hot water over bulgur with 1/2 tsp salt in a large bowl and let stand until water is absorbed and bulgur is tender, about 5 minutes. Drain in a sieve if any water remains.
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Add vegetables to bulgur with pine nuts and remaining vinaigrette and toss.
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Put one fourth of arugula on each of 4 plates. Top with upside-down portabella. Pack bulgur mixture into a cup measure, then unmold on top of portabella. Top with another portabella, right side up. Serve with an avocado quarter.
Cooks’ notes:
- Vegetables can be grilled in an oiled hot 2-burner grill pan.
- We also have a Web-exclusive recipe using portabella mushroom stems
- Keywords
- vegetarian,
- grilling,
- paul grimes
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