THE TIN ANGEL CAFE
I’ve never asked the owner of a restaurant to share a recipe, until just a few weeks ago.
Some of our most favorite people on the planet had come to Salt Lake for a brief visit and we met them for dinner at The Tin Angel Cafe. Opting to dine outside on the patio, our lovely evening in early Autumn turned out to be a bit of a fiasco. Five minutes after our food was served a crazy storm blew into the valley. We kept thinking that the wind would die down, but it didn’t. At one point I realized that I was listening and nodding to polite dinner conversation with my eyes pinched tightly shut, hair blowing straight back from my head.
But it didn’t matter because the food was so good!
I had ordered the fresh grilled Ono on a bed of Mediterranean Bulgar Wheat Pilaf, and it was fabulous. The wheat was the best I’ve ever tasted at a restaurant. So good that I thought about it for days and then collected the courage to write one of the owners/Chef, Jerry Liedtke, and asked if he would be willing to share the recipe. What follows is his gracious response to my email and the requested recipe. It’s probably a bit too advanced for my limited cooking skills but for those of you that really know what you’re doing in the kitchen, this bud’s for you.
Mediterranean Bulgar Wheat Pilaf:
Put Bulgar wheat in a large mixing bowl and cover with boiling water. Put to the side and make the spice blend. Spice Blend: toast whole coriander, cumin and fennel in a dry frying pan until just brown (don’t burn). Grind in a spice blender. Put off to the side and make the Pilaf.
Pilaf: Fine dice shallots and yellow, green and red peppers (spicy or not to taste) and saute’ until just caramelized (light brown). Add chopped garlic. Add spice blend. De-glaze with white wine. Pour the pilaf over the Bulgar wheat in the bowl and stir/ fluff with a fork. Don’t mash with a spoon. Salt and pepper to taste. Top with fresh diced parsley. Serve hot. Can also be used the next day cold with a salad (delicious) or reheated by sauteing over medium heat with a little oil. This gives it a crunchy texture and a nutty flavor which is sometimes better than the first cooking. Nuts like pine nuts (toast like the spice blend and add to the pilaf) and fruits like dried currants (add to saute’ pan with shallots and peppers) are also nice additions. I am glad to see you enjoyed the use of this grain. I hope your readers will like it too!
Thank you so much, Jerry. Your food is wonderful and we’ll certainly be back for more.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:01 pm
That’s not that hard, Leisa! You could totally do that – it’s just like making fried rice. Think of the bulgur as the rice. You get it all ready to go, then cook all the ‘pretty stuff’, then add the bulgur back in, and you have it!
I’ll have to give this a try soon – it sounds like it’d be awesome with cranberries and pecans at Thanksgiving!
October 21st, 2009 at 10:35 pm
Really? You make it sound easy, Laura. But what about not having a spice grinder and de-glazing the pan with wine? Don’t laugh. I’m serious! Tell me your suggestions. I love your idea of adding cranberries and pecans. I’m not kidding, that this recipe from The Tin Angel was soooooo yummy.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 am
You could either put the spices in a coffee grinder (I have a little Krups one I use for that, since we aren’t coffee people) or you could let them cool, but them in a baggie and use a hammer to break them up well. I have a meat tenderizer ‘hammer’ that has smooth sides…something like that woud work. A rolling pin could work too.
I bet you already de-glaze pans. You know how there is a bunch of ’stuff’ stuck to a cast-iron skillet after you cook hamburgers? That stuff is called ‘fond’ – French for ’stuff stuck to the bottom of the pan when you cook food’. When you put some water in a skillet to loosen up the fond, you are technically de-glazing. So, for this recipe, cook the shallots and peppers until they’re starting to brown, add the spices and garlic, splash in some wine to loosen the fond (it is a major source of flavor), and then dump the whole deal into the bowl of bulgur and stir.
I hope that’s helpful! Also, I bet this would be really good with quinoa in place of the bulgur.
October 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 am
Er, that should be ‘put them in a baggie’…not ‘but them in a baggie’. Sorry.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:47 am
You could also use a mortar and pestle for the spices, if you happen to be like me and have a mortar and pestle collection.
October 24th, 2009 at 10:27 am
Don’t worry Laura. I say but all the time! But this, but that, move your butt or I’ll…
Thanks for the expert coaching. I have one of those hammer thingys and I’m going to give it a try. If I’m not even a wine-cooker (see above post) what should I use to go after the fond? (Man, that sounds bad…BUT… I’m willing to trust you. I thought fond was the stuff that gets under my fingernails.)
October 24th, 2009 at 10:28 am
Does anyone think it’s rude the way Elizabeth constantly brags about her mortar and pestle?
(kiss kiss)
October 26th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
You can use chicken broth in place of white wine. I think in the recipe above the chicken broth would probably work fine flavor wise. Or try diluted white wine vinegar – use 1 tablespoon vinegar per 1/4 cup water.
I’ve toasted spices and then ground them in my blender before…wasn’t perfect but it worked okay. I’m not a coffee-drinker, but I do have a Krups coffee grinder on my Christmas list just for that purpose.
October 26th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Thank you Candi! Great information. I appreciate your suggestions.
With all the encouragement, I just might be brave enough to actually give this a try.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
True culinary inspiration shows when you’ve had something in a cafe and want to make it at home! Hat’s off to the Tin Angel cafe for encouraging use of good grains, and sharing chef’s secrets that make it all taste so beautiful!
February 12th, 2010 at 6:07 pm
I too have a motar and pestle. I got it last September and now I don’t know how I lived without it! I use it everyday. (Mostly for the dog. – She is allergic to dog food and requires lots of extra vitamins since I cook her dinner. I grind the vitamins up and add to the food.)
Since then, I have expanded to include using it for cloves and other whole spices. Now, I buy whole spices whenever I can, (better for food storage as well!)
You won’t regret getting one.
February 15th, 2010 at 10:03 am
I’ve forgotten about the motar and pestle because I’m amazed that you’re cooking dinner for you dog? THAT’S LOVE! I grumble about having to trick our dog into eating antibiotics now and then and it’s only a three step process, and only a little crazy. I hide the pill in peanut butter, roll it in dog food, and then cover it in little chunks of cheese. Doggie truffles.
My hat’s off to you, Kathleen!