If you’re looking for a quick and satisfying lunch or dinner option that won’t weigh you down during the summer months, Food Network personality Giada De Laurentiis Millet Tabbouleh fits the bill.
With just seven ingredients, the chef’s recipe works just as well as a side salad or as a light meal.
De Laurentiis gluten-free tabbouleh recipe replaces traditional bulgur
In his cookbook, Eat Better, Feel Better: My Recipes for Wellness and Healing, Inside and Outwhere that recipe is, chef Giada De Laurentiis explains why she opts for millet grain in her updated tabbouleh recipe.
“Millet is similar to quinoa, with small grains that cook fluffy and break apart, and like quinoa, it’s a good source of protein as well as many minerals and vitamins,” she writes. “…Here, millet serves as a gluten-free alternative to bulgur; this makes for a lighter, more refreshing tabbouleh.
De Laurentiis strays even further from the classic Middle Eastern salad with the inclusion of strawberries in its version:[T]although quite non-traditional, [strawberries] bring a little softness and a nice touch of color.
How to Make De Laurentiis Easy Salad
With only 10 ingredients, the Simply Giada the star salad is bursting with fresh, herbal flavors. It is perfect for beginner cooks and serves four people. His salad includes raw millet, flat-leaf parsley, fresh mint leaves, shallot, diced English cucumber, chopped strawberries, kosher salt, fresh lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and, optionally, arugula, spinach or kale. .
The millet is boiled in a saucepan with salt and simmered, covered, over low heat for 20 minutes. After that, it is removed from the heat and left for about 10 minutes so that the grain is fully cooked. It is then “puffed up” and cooled. The resulting amount of millet is more than is needed for the salad, and De Laurentiis suggests reserving a cup for this recipe and freezing the rest.
Herbs, shallot, cucumber and strawberries are added, along with salt, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. It is tossed and tossed to evenly distribute the ingredients and can be served immediately with the greens, if used. Or, the salad can sit down to allow its flavors to blend well.
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The chef offers these variations
De Laurentiis in his cookbook noted that this tabbouleh recipe can be turned into “an even more substantial starter salad”, with “chunks of chicken or salmon”. Otherwise, it can also be served “as an accompaniment to a simple summer meal”.
The chef wrote on Today website that to save time, millet can be cooked in advance. Cooked grain can also be frozen, she says, “for up to 2 months and is easy to thaw and use on a whim.”
Also, if millet isn’t your thing, “you can use quinoa instead.”
RELATED: Giada De Laurentiis’ Best Recipes For When “You Don’t Want To Spend A Lot Of Time On The Stove”
