vegetarian recipe for bulgur pilaf with fennel, raisins and pine nuts

Youngsters realize raisins are a treat, and it's no time like the present they were embraced by grown-ups, as well. This Italian-motivated dish does precisely that.

Now that I'm a parent, I'm never without raisins. The week by week shop generally includes besting up the raisin container, which is utilized in numerous exchanges. In the mean time, raisins in grown-up life have for quite some time been overlooked. In the mid 90s, they had a second in couscous servings of mixed greens (and, all the more locally, in my mum's raita), however I believe it's no time like the present they were freed. The southern Italians know they're great in cooking and use them generously in pasta con le sarde with fennel and in a seared spinach dish with pine nuts, the two of which I have acquired from to make the present recipe.

Bulgur pilaf with fennel, raisins and pine nuts

Prep 10 min

Cook 30 min

Serves 4 for lunch

300g bulgur wheat

50g pine nuts

40g raisins

6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tsp fennel seeds

1 huge onion, stripped and daintily cut

2 fennel bulbs, managed and daintily cut, green fronds saved (500g net)

1 tsp fine ocean salt

3 garlic cloves, stripped and finely cut

3 tbsp tomato puree

350g child spinach

125ml dry white wine

1 lemon, squeezed

Put the bulgur in a heatproof bowl, add 450ml just-bubbled water, cover with a spotless tea towel and put away.

Put an enormous skillet on a medium intensity, add the pine nuts and raisins, and broil for three minutes, until the nuts turn a pale brilliant brown and the raisins begin to puff up in the intensity. Tip into a bowl and put away.

Put the oil in a similar container and, when it's hot, add the fennel seeds and sear briefly. Mix in the onion, fennel and salt, cook for eight minutes, then add the garlic and cook for a further two minutes. Mix through the tomato puree and cook for an additional two minutes.

Add the spinach small bunch by small bunch, blending it into the combination to shrink (this could require two or three minutes). The spinach will deliver water, so cook that off totally, which ought to require around five minutes. Add the wine and let that sizzle away, as well.

Cushion up the bulgur wheat with a fork and mix into the fennel combination with a portion of the raisins and pine nuts. Mix in a tablespoon of lemon squeeze, taste and add more lemon if necessary. Spoon into an enormous serving bowl, top with the finely slashed held fennel fronds and the excess pine nuts and raisins, and serve.