Overachiever Vegetarian

Spinach pesto bulgar wheat cakes with roasted chic peas

So I recently acquired a box of bulgar wheat from a friend who has gone to the dark side (gluten free). I've never used bulgar wheat and quite frankly wasn't aware that you could do anything with it unless you were making tabbouleh (which I've never made). After doing some research, I discovered that it can be used as a rice substitute...who knew?

Where this recipe came from
I thought my kids might be more interested in eating Bulgar wheat if I made it into a "cake/patty" form. Like "hey...look little cake/nuggets to dip, this is so fun, I can't wait to eat it??!!" And since we were doing Bulgar wheat, I figured let's go all the way and get some spinach in there. As I was chopping up the spinach in the food processor, I wanted to add some great flavors to make the "cakes" more interested. I somehow ended up with a pesto that I thought would give the wheat a lot of great flavor.

Making the recipe
This was fairly easy to do. I mixed all of the pesto ingredients in the food processor and then mixed with the bulger wheat. Formed those into cakes and baked in the oven. To go with it, I wanted to dry roast some chic peas (another something I've never done), but since my kids love beans, I thought it would be a great way to round out the meal. Halfway through roasting the chic peas, I decided i wanted to add olive oil. I think it helped give these more flavor and a better texture.

The results
Ummmm, probably pretty close to what you would think (as least as far as the kids were concerned). As I was complaining to Brett on the phone about the kids not eating dinner and how stressed I was getting about it, he asked what I made them. All I heard on the other end of the line after I hesitantly told him was laughter...Bodie took one look at these and said he was NOT eating them. After forcing him to take a bite (and sitting through the ensuing gagging/choking/throw up face), I didn't push him to eat any more. he did eat some of the chic peas though. Adela ate a few bites (success!) and most of her chic peas. I thought these were actually pretty good. if I made them again, though, I think I'd need to add some egg to the mixture to hold them together. What I was most impressed with though was the pesto...it was SO good! Like, literally, I was eating it out of the food processor with a spoon. Add that to some goat cheese a stuff a chicken breast with it....YUM!!!

The recipe
2 cups baby spinach
one handful fresh parsley
3 scallions, cut in thirds
zest and juice of one lemon
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup almonds (I used sliced, but whole would be fine too)
salt and pepper
2-4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup bulgar wheat, cooked according to directions
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/4 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400. Cook the bulgar wheat according to package directions (I cooked it in chicken stock, but water is fine too). Meanwhile, Put spinach, parsley, scallions, lemon zest and juice, garlic, almonds and salt and pepper in food process. Process and stream in olive oil until desired consistency.

Once the bulger wheat is cooked, mix it with pesto, bread crumbs and cheese in a bowl (as I mentioned, you might want to add an egg). Form into small patties and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes.

I served these with sour cream (which was mysteriously gone from everyone's plates even though the cakes were still there...)

Roasted chic peas
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can of drained, rinsed and dried chic peas
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Heat olive oil over med heat in a small skillet. Add chic peas, salt, pepper and garlic powder. Cook until the chic peas start to brown - 5-8 minutes.