Renewing Friendships with Fine Food
April 15, 2004

I invited friends for lunch to get reacquainted after winter’s marathon of schizoid schedules, compulsive carpooling, and impotent weather. Our lives are over-full as the demands of parenting and work keep us at full throttle; ipso facto, we are all habitual offenders of recycling recipes that bore us to tears.

For this rare summit l planned the menu around my five-fingered formula for sharing food: it must be healthy, delicious, fresh, beautiful, and interesting. I visited Healthy Living to get the two cornerstone ingredients, French green lentils and whole wheat bulgur. I gave these standards a spring makeover, and the results were exciting. Just like the food, the joy and delight we took in each other’s company that day was immensely satisfying. Whoever says that “food is love” really knows what they are talking about.

Springtime Tabouli
Tabouli, typically a tomato season specialty, is great with roasted tomatoes at this time of year. Serves 8-12.

- 4 cups whole grape or cherry tomatoes
- 4 cups whole wheat bulgur
- 2 cups each scallions, fresh mint, and parsley; chopped
- Zest of 5 lemons with juice
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Grilled Chicken Breast, sliced

Toss tomatoes in 2 T olive oil; place on a cookie sheet, lightly sprinkle kosher salt and granulated garlic over the batch. Roast tomatoes in a 400 degree oven for 1 hour, shaking the cookie sheet every 20 minutes. Place bulgur in a large bowl and pour boiling water over the bulgur until the water just covers it. Let it set for 10 minutes; fluff with a chopstick. Toss in remaining ingredients. Serve in wide, flat bowl with sliced grilled chicken breast on top.

French Lentils with Confetti of Veggies
- 4 cups French lentils, boiled for 20 minutes, rinsed and drained
- 1 each red, yellow and orange bell pepper cut into a fine dice
- 1 pound asparagus, grilled, and cut into 1" pieces
- bunch of fresh parsley, chopped coarsely

Place lentils in a large bowl and splash 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar over them. Add veggies and salt and pepper, mixing lightly.

In a small food processor pulse:
- 6 garlic cloves, then add
- 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 3/4 cup Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon salt

Pulse, then drizzle in 1/2 cup olive oil, and process until smooth.
Pour dressing over the lentils and adjust seasonings to taste.

Kim Dannies is a graduate of La Varenne Cooking School in France. She lives in Williston, VT with her husband, Jeff, and three college–aged daughters who come and go. ©2008