Tennessee

Tennessee Tabbouleh

Lily S. (original recipe)

I don't observe holidays right now, but many of you do, so I thought, OK, you have a nice Valentine's day dinner reservation but did you think about lunchtime? And looking ahead at the schedule, this seemed like a good pick for the occasion.

Driving through Tennessee on the highway, when we got to Memphis, there was a loud terrible noise. It was hot but we had to roll up the windows anyway because the noise was so terrible. I'll always wonder what that was. We'd planned to visit Graceland but got sick on corporate pizza so kept the journey on-ward.

In college, a wise hippie told us, a small group of volunteers at a historical site pertaining to the women's suffrage movement, after showing us her FBI file, some of the wisest wisdom I've come across. She told us, Look for the racism in your heart. I took this to mean, not being afraid to scrutinize your own views and behaviors. I doubt Ron DeSantis has ever done this.

This recipe seems awesome except I don't really like tabbouleh because I don't love parsley. Would it be sacrilege to swap in cilantro? Am I a racist because I don't like certain foods? Probably not, but then again, am I the best person for the project if I don't embrace a diverse fabric of cuisine? -- if I am to continue, I must be brave. That said, I don't think I can bring myself to eat a giant wad of parsley. Maybe I need to build tolerance more slowly. So I will concoct the ultimate substitute herb blend (which would be a lot easier in summer and especially if growing your own special varieties like chervil). We will start with 1/3 parsley. Update: I had limited ability to shop and what was available to me dictated I use 2/5 parsley, which is about 7% more than I'd planned, so I am over-achieving clearly.

I don't think it's racist to not like onions but it's not a bad question to ask
I don't care if it sounds really dumb and woke because woke is good
It means you are aware of injustices in the world
You want to make the world a better place

Tofu Topping

• 1 Tbs. Veganaise

• 1 tsp. Olive oil

• 1 tsp. Apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard

• 1/4 tsp. White miso paste

• 1 1/2 tsp. Nutritional yeast

• 1/4 tsp. Garlic powder

• 1/8 tsp. dried Oregano

• 7.5-oz. block Tofu, extra firm

Couscous

• 1 cu. Water

• 3/4 tsp. Olive oil

• 1/4 tsp. Salt

• 3/4 cu. Whole-wheat couscous

Tabbouleh

• Juice of 2 Lemons

• 1 Tbs. + 1 tsp. Olive oil

• 1/4 tsp. heaping Salt

• 1 cu. Cherry tomatoes, halved

• 1/2 large Cucumber, chopped

• 1 Scallion, sliced thin

• 3 Tbs. Cilantro, chopped, packed

• 2 Tbs. Parsley, chopped, packed

• To serve: Bed of Lettuce or baby kale

Almond-Chickpea Cakes

• 3 Tbs. ground Almonds

• 2 Tbs. All-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp. Aleppo pepper

• 1/4 tsp. heaping Garlic powder

• 1/4 tsp. ground Cumin

• 2 large dashes Nutritional yeast, to taste

• 1 15-oz. can Chickpeas, drained

• 2 generous splashes Soy sauce

• Oil

Preparation

In a bowl, combine all the tofu topping ingredients up until "Tofu." Then crumble in the tofu and stir to evenly coat.

For the couscous: To a small saucepan add water, oil, and salt and bring to a boil. Add couscous, cover, and remove from heat. Let it sit for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork.

Combine all tabbouleh ingredients in a large bowl along with the couscous. Plate on a bed of lettuce or baby kale.

In a large bowl, combine all the cake ingredients up until "Chickpeas" and mix thoroughly with a fork. Now on a plate or shallow bowl, mash up half the chickpeas with a fork. Add this to the bowl of dry ingredients, then mash up the second half and add that too. I drain but do no rinse my chickpeas. Add the soy sauce, stir with fork to combine, then refrigerate until ready to use.

You have enough dough to form four balls. You can make one or two now and save the others for later. Heat the oil for a couple of minutes, then flatten the balls into patties and fry. How long will depend on how hot your pan is. Last time my oil was pretty hot so I fried them for 2 minutes on one side and 1 1/2 minutes on the other. It might take you longer.

Discussion

Turned out pretty well. It's refreshing so I wish this wasn't the middle of winter. I handled 40% parsley pretty admirably. In summer I'll try 60%. I'm sure Lily will be impressed.

I'm not sure Lily's exact ethnicity but about 8 years ago I was researching cuisine from the latitude 36-degrees North (which runs through Tennessee) and became mildly obsessed with sabzi khordan, which is an Iranian side dish consisting of fresh herbs and vegetables. Here is an amazing photo from an Iranian website.

Worth a thousand words, right?

The almond-chickpea cakes is another of my recipe staples. Normally I'd put a little fresh herb in them, but again, the tabbouleh has this covered. The almond-chickpea cakes complimented the rest of the dish perfectly. I wish I could call them fritters but turns out fritters are deep-fried while these are pan-fried so they're close but not quite there.

North Carolina

Tennessee "Help me, information / More than that I cannot add Only that I miss her / And all the fun we had We were pulled apart / Because her mom would not agree Help me get in touch with her / In Memphis Tennessee" -Not one of Tennessee's 10 State Songs

Texas