Lemon-Basil Bulgar Risotto with Garlic Shrimp, Carrot Harissa Salad and Root Beer Chocolate Bundt Cake

Date: August 28, 2011
Cook: Robin
Main dish: Lemon- Basil Bulgar Risotto with Garlic Shrimp (Food Network)
Side dish: Carrot Harissa Salad (SmittenKitchen.com)
Dessert: Root Beer Chocolate Bundt Cake (thekitchn.com) and Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (The Ultimate Ice Cream Book by Bruce Weinstein)

I've been a little behind on the blog, but being a band mom is surprisingly time consuming. I had to post about this meal. Neither Jimmy or I had eaten bulgar wheat before, but I had some sitting in my fridge and thought I'd better use it. For those of you who have had this before, do you have to store it in the fridge? That's where they had it at the health food store. Also, do any big grocery stores carry it? We don't have a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods on this side of the river, and Kroger and Meijer employees just looked at me when I asked.

All recipes with bulgar were either salads or risottos. I love a good risotto, so I tried this one. I switched out basil for mint, because I'm not a big fan of mint. I also just omitted the mint in the Carrot Harissa salad. I just thought the bright orange salad would look so pretty on the plate with the green basil in the risotto.

We tried to pass the bulgar wheat off as a type of rice, but our youngest wouldn't touch this dish. This left more for me and Jim. This meal was delicious! I plan on making bulgar wheat risotto in the future. It's another source of protein that isn't a packaged, over-processed product. I still eat those, too, but it's nice to avoid. Also, I'm a vegetarian who doesn't like raw vegetables, but this carrot salad was so good. The harissa gives it a warmth, the lemon juice gives it tang, and the feta cheese gives it a little yummy-ness.

For dessert I tried the Rootbeer Chocolate Cake. This time, I had a little problem with dessert - the cake fell apart when I removed it from the pan.

But the delicious rootbeer chocolate icing covered all mistakes. This icing was so complex- not overly sweet, not overly chocolate, and the root beer gave it a caramel taste. This rich dessert needed the an icecream to complement it, not overpower it, so I went with a simple vanilla.