Bulgar Wheat Salad with Pears, Pomegranate & Feta Cheese

                             Bulgar Wheat Salad with Pears, Pomegranate & Feta Cheese

Pomegranates have to be the jewels of the food world.  They make any dish burst into life with their iridescence quality. I've used them here for this colourful, delicious, abstract salad. Pretty as a picture.

A light refreshing & healthy dish that will grace any table, makes a delightful starter or lunch. It's a perfect time of the year for this....pears & pomegranates are both in season and are great value for money just now. There's a delicious contrast in flavours with this salad, sweet, sour, sharp & salt along with plenty of different textures with a nice crunch from the Pomegranate.    



To serve 4 portions as a starter or side dish or 2 for a main meal

1 cup of Bulgar wheat simmered in 5 cups boiling water for 15 minutes ...leave until all water is absorbed
2 Ripe but firm pears cored and sliced lengthwise into 8 pieces per pear (I used Conference)
2 Pomegranates Seeded  * see below for tips of de-seeding
1 red onion finely sliced
4 oz Feta Cheese
handful of flat leaf parsley chopped
handful of mint leaves chopped ( substitute of 2 tsps of mint sauce if you don't have it)
2 tsps sesame oil
1 tsp Ras-el-Hanout  * see below
the juice of half a large lemon.
½ tsp sea salt
good grind of fresh black pepper


Method

Cook the Bulgar as per packet instructions or as I mentioned above
Leave until it is just warm..if all the liquid hasn't been absorbed then drain well
Place in a large bowl
Add the Sesame oil, the lemon juice, salt, pepper, Ras-el-Hanout mix together
Add the parsley, mint, red onion, pomegranate seeds & pears gently fold everything together
Pile on a plate and crumble of the Feta Cheese and sprinkle with a little extra chopped parsley.
Serve  

* Ras-el-Hanout is a Moroccan Spice Mix that includes dried ginger, coriander,paprika, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom amongst other spices. It also has a sprinkling of scented rose petals added.  It's such a versatile mix that I use in a lot of my dishes.  You can buy it readily in most UK supermarkets
You could substitute this with a little dried cumin, allspice, paprika & coriander.  Just use 1 tsp of this combination

Pomegranates from our Turkish Holiday

* To easily de-seed a pomegranate, roll it on your work surface with a firm hand.  You will feel the seeds coming away beneath the skin.  Cut in half, either bang the skin with a wooden spoon over a bowl and they will start to fall out or just remove them with your fingers discarding any of the bitter pith that lies between the seeds. I'd suggest you use gloves for this...pomegranates will stain your hands.