Tabbouleh has indeed been made from the tomatoes. I have always been self-conscious about what I cook – I rarely do traditional recipes on the nose, for example using heirloom tomatoes and cinnamon, cumin, allspice and nutmeg in addition to salt and pepper – but I do work at them. I’m using Aunt Nagla’s parsley cutting technique and chef Nicola’s lemon-soaked bulgur wheat technique and my wife’s green onion recommendations to leave in the leafy greens and the traditional lighter olive oil that my parents used. And I spice to taste before finishing – the last bite of which literally made me stagger, it was so good, to me at least.
But whether people actually like it is an open question. This time, for Easter, on the potluck planning thread, someone asked for it specifically, someone else gave me the thumbs up when I said yes, several people complimented me while we were eating – and the family ate almost the whole bowl.
So they didn’t NOT like it, impostor syndrome be damned.
-the Centaur
