Somehow this week has turned into a Mediterranean fiesta. Can you even say that? Who knows. I am saying it anyway. But thus far this week I have posted Grilled Branzino with Ladolemono and Lamb Souvlaki Sandwiches with Tzatziki Sauce. Including this dish, this is more Mediterranean food than I think we have ever made in such a short span. Look at us mixing things up! I'm fairly proud of myself - make that ourselves since Alex helped me cook the souvlaki and the branzino. But I get to take most of the credit for picking out/making up the recipes. This recipe was one that I stumbled across last week while looking for some new shrimp recipes. We make a lot of shrimp (we probably cook almost as much shrimp as we do chicken) and I am always interested in finding new healthy, shrimp recipes. This particular recipe appealed to me because it was a different flavor profile from our usual dishes and involved a new ingredient that I had never cooked with before - bulgur. I know that bulgur is traditionally used for tabbouleh (or tabouli or however you spell it), but when I have made tabbouleh in the past we have used other grains like quinoa. But it's always fun to try new things. And now that I have bulgur I have to figure out other uses for it, which is even more fun!
Alex particularly enjoyed this dish. I thought it was nice and fresh. I particularly liked the tabbouleh salad, although I thought the shrimp didn't absorb quite as much lemon flavor as I would have liked. That might be due to the fact that we only marinated the shrimp for 15 minutes, rather than the 30 that the recipe specified, but I just don't know if marinating the pre-cooked shrimp for an extra 15 minutes would really have resulted in much additional flavor. But roasting the shrimp definitely intensified the flavors of the shrimp themselves, which I think is a good thing. Actually, I think it would be a fabulous cold picnic dish. I feel like I say that fairly often, but this dish really would be. It would be just as good served cold as it would room temperature and it's a wonderful alternative to pasta salad or chicken salad.
Recipe after the jump!
