Mexicana to Thai: a carnitas/cabbage study

I solemnly swear to those interested parties that this is my last publicly sung praise of my slow cooker.  I'm moving on to bigger (physically) and better (come on, it's JOHN!) cookbooks, namely this one.  It was a delightful peace offering from a biz trip to NOLA and I'm quite eager to get at it but before I do,  Trodímo̱n please allow me this final last tribute to my lovely slow cooker.

I received this slow cooker from la maman de Trodimon for Christmas.  As a matter of irony, I was incidentally so vocal about my desire for a slow cooker that I also received one from my culinacurious father.  On December 26, 2009 I was the proud owner of TWO slow cookers-- and sometimes I still wish I had two, if only because it would be a physical manifestation of my true love.  Alas, practicality calls and I really needed new cutting boards, knives, a slotted spoon-- you know, the essentials.  For those that are still using old cutting boards that are warped and don't have the fancy stick-ems on the bottom: UPGRADE!  It makes all the difference.

Back to the matter at hand, she who gave the slow cooker happened to be celebrating  une petite anniversaire, and naturally it was not enough to only have a stellar lunch here; we needed to have a two day celebration.  I personally believe that birthdays should be week-long extravaganzas, so a two-day is a must.  With the last evening of slow cooking ahead and a birthday at hand, a new recipe was needed.

Bon Appetit ran a spread on slow cooking in their latest issue, much to my delight, and in it was a lovely recipe for carnitas.  With a pork shoulder in the freezer from a local farmers market, it seemed an easy choice.  I left my slow cooker on low for 8 hours, and then at warming for another 3-- final tip to the slow cooker: when it comes to meats, the longer on the warm setting, the better.  Don't be afraid of a 6 hour cook time-- you can go longer.  In fact, this recipe doesn't call for any liquids to add and I was a bit nervous about the meat drying out.  When you're throwing together salt, pepper, oregano & pork, having good quality meat is key.  I picked up a pork shoulder from Jake's Country Meats at the Logan Square Market and it was phenomenal. 

But then, here I am with 3/4ers a head of cabbage and where to go from there?  I've fallen in love with the Brassicaceae family, so I could not leave such a delightful specimen alone.  New challenge:  how to cook with cabbage.  But let's be honest, none of us like cooked cabbage. I can handle a little saurkraut every now and again but cooked, wilty cabbage?  No merci.  Call in for backup:  I have two friends at work that have been a delightful discovery.  Turns out, when you start to be vocal about your love of food, you never know what effect that can have on a friendship.  One of these you've heard of before but the other, a delighful franco-fille has been an incredible source of new recipes and ideas and cooking dates. (*note to self, we're WAY overdue for another one... ) So Tweedle-dee and Tweedle dum came in to save the day.  Try this they suggest.  Both ladies made this last summer and it won top prize at their respective July 4th celebrations.

But since a cabbage salad cannot stand alone, it came with a side of Thai curry shrimp and Trodimon's homebrew.


Winter Seasonal Thai Cabbage Slaw  adapted from Bon Appetits
1/2 head of green cabbage, shredded into 1/4 inch strips
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
handful baby carrots, chopped
handful of cilantro, chopped

1 T fresh squeezed orange juice
1 T canola oil
1 T asian rice vinegar

Toss veggies and cilantro.  In a separate bowl whisk oj, oil and vinegar.  toss together and voila!  Serve with one of those cheap asian pre-fab noodle dinners.

Locavore plug:  I can't barely stand buying wilty greens from the grocery store these days but am growing fairly weary of potatoes 24-7.  This salad is delightfully seasonally appropriate: cabbage is being sent in most CSAs during this time of year; I used fresh squeezed orange juice from oranges I picked in CA three weeks ago and dragged in my carry-on all the way back.  The frozen corn from the Cap's grandparents' farm (which has appeared before), carrots from a farmer's market and err... cilantro.  Forgive the one exception.

Comforty Chocolate Cake

January has been hard.  A dear friend lost her mother-in-law.  Another lost his brother-in-law.  Another lost an 'aunt/mother/sister/friend.'

Why is it that so often when life gets messy, friends and good food are the things we turn to?  This Christmas, I was given a lovely book called The Physiology of Taste.  A delightfully philosophical Frenchman belabored over the development of taste, digestion, restaurants and all the social interactions which surround food.  Imagine if you will, my delight on Christmas: food?!  french?! and philsophy?!  This is going to be my main book of choice on my next jaunt cross-country, I wanted to share with you a bit what he says about chocolate:

It has been shown as proof positive that carefully prepared chocolate is as healthful a food as it is pleasant; that it is nourishing and easily digested; that it does not cause the same harmful effects to the feminine beauty which are blamed on coffee, but is on the contrary a remedy for them; that it is above all helpful to people who must do a great deal of mental work, to those who labor in the pulpit or the courtroom and especially to travelers, that it has produced good results in cases of chronic illness and that it has even been used as the last resource in diseases of pylorus. 

And I think he could have gone further. I think chocolate does mighty good for those in grief.  Please, make this for those you love.  It's comforting and thick and good and can be a rest and remedy for those who are belabored and need it.


Comforty Chocolate cake with coffee ganache 
adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites
1/2 circle of Abuelita Mexican Chocolate disc
1/4 c canola oil
1 1/2 c flour
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
1 t baking powder
1 c packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1 t Mexican vanilla extract
3/4 c buttermilk 


Preheat oven 350.  Grease a 10 inch pie pan.
In a small saucepan, heat oil and melt chocolate-- watch carefully!! (I burned my first batch)  Pour into a medium sized bowl and set aside to cool.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, soda and powder. Set aside.
Add sugar to melted chocolate and beat until well blended.  Add egg and whites, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla.  Add 1/4 c of buttermilk alternating with adding 1/3 c of flour mixture, beating well after each addition.  
Pour batter into pie pan and bake for 40-45 minutes or until your toothpicked center comes out clean.  

Coffee Ganache
6 t of this morning's coffee
1/4c powdered sugar


Beat well to combine.  Add more coffee if too thick, conversely more sugar if too thin.
Drizzle atop each piece of Comforty Chocolate cake.

Day trip to the Bayou brought to you by Tasting Table

Slow cooking for the entire month of January has been incredible, and probably will continue well into February but at some point, a girl needs a break. Through a rare stroke of genius this summer, I discovered about 10 different emailed subscription newsletters that send me a little somethin, somethin on food, new restaurants or new ingredient trends every day.  Daily Candy, Thrillist, and Tasting Table are my absolute favorites and if you are new to Chicago, or sick of going to the same 4 bars around the corner from you since moving to Chicago 6 years ago, it's TIME!  Time to expand horizons, go to grand opening parties and socialize with the 70 year olds who are hotter on the scene than you are (true story, met the cutest couple at Branch 27's opening night- she was a hard core Daily Candy supporter and loved dragging her husband to all the new restaurants on opening night).

Recently TT has pulled solidly into the first place spot.  They have sent me pieces on Eco-tourism, farm-to-table meals and most recently a delightful, albeit hair-brained, suggestion for a 'Day Trip to the Bayou.'  Just what the doctor ordered.  We drove 130 miles deep into the flatlands of Illinois, out into the fields where all those plants are labored over, cared for, processed and rapidly fill my grocery aisles.  It's good to get out there and remember where all this food is coming from.  On I-55 about 30 miles outside of Chicago, the highway lights disappear and there's little between you and the earth again.  We coasted through some thick fog, with about 50 feet visibility for 45 miles on I-55 and 45 miles on I-80 to the Uttica exit.

About a mile south, and a mile east of the exit, there arose from the thick mist Ron's Cajun Connection.  

The sign for restaurant hours tells you how good the food is: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday- CLOSED.  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, OPEN 4-9.  That's a 20 hour work week my friends.  I'm instantly jealous. 

We stroll into the Louisiana kitch bedazzled dining room, and the white board reads: Dungeness Crab, Shrimp Etouffee & Crawfish Jumbalaya $18,95 as the main special.  I can hardly believe my eyes.  It's the middle of January and we're in the middle of the dark fields of Illinois and they have fresh crab here?  A wheat Abita,  Boudin sausage, Boudin balls and four quarters in the jukebox and I'm already starting to slur my words, just enough to sound southern-ish, but these locals take one look at my boots and know I'm not from around here.   Everything, including the hot sauce on the table Ron has made himself.  Boudin balls were to die for.  I think I'd make the 2 hour trip just for that warm cosy blend of rice, boudin sausage and cajun spices all rolled up and fried.  Delish.  My trusty frosted mug helps cool down the heat that's building in my mouth and my ears are humming with creole.  I love this kind of music.  Bluegrass mixed with French folk music and a little Afro-Caribbean rhythm thrown in?  What's not to love.  


For main courses I headed straight to frog legs and gator.  I swear I haven't had frog legs since I was 13 at my uncle's house in France so I'm feeling justly overdue.  We dragged along someone who was hungry for the taste of home and so our resident NOLA judge (born and raised) was my true benchmark for authenticity.  Ron strolls into the dining room, takes one look at us and starts narrowing in on NOLA "how'd you like that etouffe, son??"  "and those Boudain Balls?"  NOLA ranks Ron's place a solidy 7, maybe even an 8 against his local favorites.  Not all bad man.  We tried the gumbo, jumbalaya, crawfish etouffee, fried gator, shrimp creole, french fries, Christmas, Wheat & Lager Abita.  Oh! and every plate comes with Ron's raspberry barbecue sauce for dipping, or drinking cause damn it's that good.  Next time, I'm gunning for some blackened catfish.  


We polished off the meal with one piece of pecan pie with cinnamon ice cream to split between the three of us.  The pecans are unbelievably fresh, crust is delicately buttery and hmmm what IS that?  The cinnamon in the pie seems more forward-- not that he's used more, it's just...louder... What'd you do Ron??  "You want to know dear?  You want to know my secret ingredient in that pecan pie?  It's right there on that table girlie."  He picks up the tiny red bottle on the table and slams it back down on the table, "TOBASCO!?!?" 


Next time we GO, I'm planning on making it an all day affair, running around the lovely little state park nearby and then treating myself to a delightfully spicy fried dinner to appropriately balance the day.

Turkey Chili & my slow cooker infomercial

It's cold.  Winter is upon us.  I get out of work and if the sun isn't shining, likely as not, neither am I.  But today, the world vertices have aligned.  Today is the first day since before Christmas that the blustery city of Chicago has seen temperatures above 32.  Today is the first day in I can't remember how long that I can see full, blue sky between skyscrapers.

And today is the first day that I came home to delicious dinner, already prepared by my alter ego.  7 pm last night, "Tuesday night Joanna" sauteed onions and meat.  She opened up can after can of tomatoes, spooned out heaping teaspoons of spices, dug old ice cubes of cilantro made over the summer out of her frosty fridge.  She begged her roommate for the privilege to use Grandma's frozen corn: grown, shucked and frozen by the Captain's very own grandparents in Hamilton, MO.  And then, that Joanna went to bed.

I woke up this morning, pulled my crock pot, already full of uncooked chili out of the fridge, clumsily slammed it into the slow cooker and set it on low- 10 hours.  (Grumbling, I thought to myself, 'I wish I had that kind of setting.  I'd like to be on low for 10 hours.' Sigh.)  Instead I strutted out of my apartment, down the stairs to my bus stop, lightly hopped on the bus and beamed at my alter-ego productivity.  All day, I bragged to coworkers.  I sung the glories of my productive slow cooker.  One colleague immediately called his wife and said, "hey how come we don't have a slow cooker?" "We do!!!"  she retorted.  "YOU!!"

With an extra spring in my step I walked up my stairs and put the key in the door...ahhhh, I can smell it from the hallway even.  Was some dark-haired, argyle-sporting man cooking something deliciously steamy in my kitchen for a mid-week surprise?!  No no no, it's the slow cooker!  (I realize this might be slightly anti-climatic but honestly, I'm seeing him later tonight and daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn look at that chili).

 The brilliant machine has simmered on low 10 hours and now has cleverly switched itself to warm mode. It's beautiful. It's cozy.  It's healthy. 

Whoever you are.  Put down the computer right now.  Stop reading and check your cabinet if somewhere in the depths of your pantry you have a slow cooker.  If you don't, BUY ONE NOW.  You know I'm going to just keep taunting you for the rest of January, and probably February considering the success thus far.

Turkey, Corn, White Bean Chili

1.25 lbs turkey, defrosted
1 large white onion
3 t dried oregano
2 t cumin
1 1/2 t hot chili powder
3 t cornmeal
6 cilantro ice cubes or 1/2 cup finely chopped
1 can cannelli (white kidney) beans --or 2 if you really like beans
1 medium bag of frozen corn (I think I had around 2 cups, but I love love love corn)
1- 16 oz can diced tomatoes
1- 28-32 oz tomato sauce (though I used only 12 oz can tomato sauce & leftover sauce from the Southwestern Beef Rolls)

In a medium saute pan, heat 2 T olive oil.  Add onions and spicing (excluding cornmeal) and saute until onions are well browned.  Pour into crock pot insert.  Brown turkey in saucepan, using more oil if needed.  Add to crock pot insert.  Add remaining ingredients and stir to combine.  Cook on low for 10 hours and it will patiently wait for you.

If you like, feel free to prep the night before, refrigerate all the ingredients in your fridge and pop into the slow cooker the next morning. 

And yes, it's not even 5:30 and I've already finished my bowl.  And I'll probably have another at 8 tonight.  And 11 AM tomorrow...

January: A Month of Slow Cooking

It's time I slowed down a little bit.

If New Years Resolutions (NYRs) could talk, this one would be bouncing off all 4 walls of my apartment, ceiling and floor shouting, "Isn't it time yet you fanatic?!?!  You've been going going going non-stop since you began to walk, getting triangles (think: worse than a check minus) in self-control on your report cards!! Pick me this year!  Slow life down a bit!!!  Learn to SIT STILL!!!!!"  Well little NYR, you just got lucky because this year, is your year.  Or, err, depending on my diligence, maybe decade.

I love a new year, if only for the excuse to make some drastic ridiculous change to your life and watch your friends do the same.  So many become overwhelmed by the daunting task of picking resolutions.  While it may be a pretty failed concept (I'm supposed to actually rehearse all the things in my mind that I had failed at over the past year and decide which ones I want to pick up again, which ones I'm ready to scrap and what new things can I add to my now overflowing plate????  Breathe...) I think I may just spring for ONE this year.  I don't believe in resolutions.  Last year I picked 5 words that would shape the way I took care of myself.  This year, I've got only one.  Slow.

I move fast at work- trying to keep up with markets (which can be quite the daunting task when you're at it 10 hours a day). I move fast at home- I clean my apartment Tasmanian Devil style, driving forward on Lady Gaga beats.  And of course, I move really fast in the kitchen.  I'm used to cooking by myself and learned to cook by whipping away and throwing things into the dishwasher, cleaning while I cook.  I have this sick obsession with sitting down to a meal and already having 75% of the dishes done, or at least already in the dishwasher.  Friends calmly sit and drink at my kitchen table, sipping on margaritas, wine, what have you, all while I cling and clang away, whipping up something lovely.  This is the way I've cooked.  This is what I know.

Until January.  I asked Santa for a 5.5 qt digital Slow Cooker for Christmas and my oh my did he deliver.  I picked up a modern, well designed, ethnically creative, 'not-your-1950's' slow cooker cookbook  and have begun to tag the recipes I'll start with and swore to myself that the entire month of January, I was only allowed to cook out of the slow cooker.  Prep early, cook for hours and forget about it, and when my friends arrive, I will sit: calmly, serenely, sipping on wine and letting my slow cooker do the work for me.  Well, at least that's the idea.

Thus far, I've made Southwestern Beef Rolls, horridly named (I'm imagining the 49 cent menu at Taco Bell) but this was quite far from it.  Take a roasted green chili, stuff it with chorizo, wrap a round steak around the whole deal, secure with toothpicks and roast in tomato puree, 3 kinds of peppers and hot pepper seasonings.  Straight forward, not too much prep, good. I'm still using all the tomato sauce on pastas and pizzas.

Next up:  Chicken Breasts stuffed with Boursin and Spinach (recipe modified below).  A bit clunky to prepare (read: this is not the recipe you choose to prep before going to work in the morning) but everything turned out splendidly.  Yes, the chicken was unbelievably moist and because I pounded it flat enough, I didn't need toothpicks to secure them shut.  No, the cheese didn't melt all out of the chicken and into the white wine sauce.  It stayed in its proper place, wrapping itself around the spinach and cozily nestled inside chicken.  No, my spinach wasn't too wet!  The cookbook suggested I used a ****potato ricer**** to squeeze all the extra liquid from the spinach and for all of you spanikopita makers out there-- this WILL WORK!  And yes, I did use a whole cup of heavy whipping cream.  It's winter and I need to keep warm.

Just a suggestion for all of you cooks out there who are looking to be healthier, stay warm, have leftovers, save on buying lunch out-- embrace that slow cooker.   I'm planning on using ONLY this lovely little cooker for the next month, or maybe two depending on how cold February is, with more recipes to post on.  Stay tuned...

Chicken stuffed with Boursin and Spinach

6 chicken breasts, pounded to 3/4 inch thick
1/4 c shallots, minced
16 oz frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry ****
1 5.2 oz Pepper and Herb Boursin Cheese
2 t nutmeg
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 c chives, finely chopped

Sautee shallots in 1 T olive oil for 2 minutes.  Add spinach and saute until spinach is dried and flaky.  Pour into a medium sized bowl and allow it to cool.  Meanwhile, pound chicken breasts to about 3/4 inch thick.  I use 2 sheets of clear plastic wrap and place my chicken inside, pounding in it with my rolling pin and listening to Lilly Allen for extra motivation.  Sprinkle each chicken with salt and freshly ground pepper.  Combine Boursin, spinach mix and nutmeg.  Scoop about 1/2 cup of mixture onto each chicken.  Roll lengthwise and tuck the ends underneath the roll.  If they don't sit flat (ie. come unrolled) use toothpicks to secure.  Place in your slow cooker.  Cover with chicken broth and wine and add a little extra salt and pepper for good measure.  Cook on high for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.  When chicken breast reads 170 when poked at with a meat thermometer, remove from the slow cooker and keep warm.  Pour remaining broth into a medium saute pan and reduce by half.  Add cream and reheat.  Add chives and serve over chicken.  I served with steamed lemon brussel spouts and whole wheat pasta shells.

Christmas time for the Uber-Swede

Am I the only one that, upon the holiday season, digs into her little ancestry and therein, finds the most over-the-top, ethnic-loving, tradition-embracing, uber-Swede there ever was?  I'm a staunch supporter of celebrating Christmas during the Christmas season so there are no Christmas carols or ornaments or gift shopping (to be honest) before Thanksgiving.  But man oh man, on Black Friday I awake with a little Swedish flag painted over my heart.  I don the right clothing (Scandinavian sweaters, don't you DARE say they're Norwegian), place little clogs and straw goats under my tree, make the only Swedish foods I know of (which, for the record are all poor man's food made to stick to your ribs and get you through the brutally dark cold winter).  I convince myself that I thoroughly enjoy winters in Chicago because it reminds me of the years of bitter winters and famine up in the dark north.  Where else do you find a saint honored for feeding people with candles on her head?

This year, I maybe went a little over the top.  Now most folks for Christmas like to go to the beach.  Hawaii, Florida, California-- anywhere that's warmer than here.  Who, after all, needs a white Christmas when we've been having a white November, white December, and Lord knows we'll get a white January, white February, white March and goodness knows maybe even white April.  I must seriously be a glutton for punishment because this year, I decided I wanted to spend my Christmas week in Anchorage.  One of my sisters ran away up to Alaska after college and never came back and I hadn't been there in the winter since 2001.  It was time.  I needed more darkness, and more cold.  So I happily spent the shortest day of the year in the darkest state in the US.  For the record, the sun rose at 10:14 AM and set at 3:41 PM.  That's a whopping whole 5 hours, 26 minutes and 57 seconds.

Enter uber-Swede.  I loved it.  We went cross country skiing everyday while I was there.  Normally Katherine and I take little Jack Jack the wonder dog hiking and backpacking with us (he has his own little camping pack that holds doggie treats and his shovel to bury the things he leaves behind) but this time, we took him out to skijor.  He was a little unhappy with the booties but was quite excited to be out with us in the cold snow, skiing past moose seen and unseen.

The sad, or rather, fantastic part of it all is, I loved it.  I loved skiing in dim twilight at 2:30 in the afternoon.  And mostly, I loved cooking my little Swedish heart out with my sister.  Before I even arrived she had made 6 loaves of Swedish coffee bread, so we skipped that one this year.  But we made pepparkakor and Swedish meatballs.  And you know what?  it's lovely being a wanna be Swede over the holidays.  It's incredibly good to point to life-long traditions and know they were there even before little me.  So, uber-Swedes unite!  And I'll see you again in December of 2010.

Alaskan Pepparkakor

3 3/4 c flour
2 t baking soda
1 t ground cinnamon
1 t ground coves
1 t ground ginger
1 t ground cardamom
1 c butter
1 c sugar
1/2 c brown sugar, packed
1 egg, beaten
2 T birch syrup (to be bought at
       the Alaska state fair)

Whisk flour, salt and four spices together in a medium bowl.  In a separate large bowl, beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Mix in egg and syrup.  Slowly add flour mixture until evenly blended.

Divide batter into 4 equal portions, form 2" x 4" x 8" bricks and wrap in clear plastic wrap.  Refrigerate overnight. 

Preheat oven to 375.  Using one "brick" dough at a time, allow the brick to sit on the counter for about 5 minutes or until maleable, just barely. Roll out on well floured space, about 1/4 inch thick (or thinner if you're Cynthia Erickson and have mad pepparkakor skills).  Use as much flour as you need so that the dough does not stick to the pin, the counter, or you.  Cut into cookies using a star or heart shaped cookie cutter.  Using a silpat (I'm a new convert!!) place on cookie sheets and bake for 5 minutes.  Watch closely!!!  you don't want the edges to brown at all, so if you have a hot oven, watch them!

Consume with lots and lots and lots of good coffee.  Preferably Kaladi Brothers.

 Swedish Meatballs

Florence Nightingale Soup

It must have been a miserable fall for the healthcare community.  Not only have these folks been in the spotlight in terms of new legislation (which let me tell you, as part of the financial community, that's NEVER a fun spotlight to be in) but they've also been swamped with more patients than ever.  My mom aka. Best Public Health Nurse in the State, has been doing double duty helping low-income women find breast and cervical cancer screening and moonlighting as a flu shot provider on the weekends.  Craziness.

I'm officially up to using both hands to count the number of people in my office who have caught H1N1, and while I really want to call this soup by that name, I think I should opt for inciting, rather than funny, no? Flo Night Soup it is.

My Scandinavian genetics have been holding strong and diligent vitamin popping has certainly paid off this fall.  No serious colds or influenza, yet, hand-sanitized-fingers crossed.  I picked up this recipe from Coco Pazzo's chef demo at the Green City market this summer and so far, have made it for 2 under-the-weather loved ones.  I've been reading lately about how fantastic mushrooms are for your immune system and I may say that this soup is proving their point.  It will stick to your ribs, pump you full of vitamins and is much much much better on the second day.  I have used fresh herbs and even the frozen ice cubes I make every summer from abundant herb producers on my windowsill and both are equally flavorful-- quantity of herbs is the key here.  The caramelized butternut squash adds a nice sugary snap to the deep salty flavored mushrooms.

Florence Nightingale Soup
2 cups 1/2 cubed butternut squash, peeled
2 t cinnamon

2-3 T olive oil
2 onions, chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
1 leek, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
2 c mixed mushrooms
1/2 c dried porcini mushrooms

1/2 c mixed herbs (tarragon, sage, rosemary, basil) chopped
2 cups bulgar
3 quarts chicken stock
salt & pepper
1 bay leaf

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 T oil.  Add butternut squash and cinnamon and sautee until carmalized well, about 5 minutes.


In a large soup pot, saute onion, celery, leek and carrots until the onions turn translucent.  Season with salt and pepper. Add sliced mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally until the mushrooms release some of their liquid.   Add dried mushrooms and bulgar and caramelized butternut squash.  Add chicken stock and bay leaf and bring to a simmer.  Adjust seasoning and cook until bulgar is tender (probably about 20-30 minutes). 

Starch from bulgar will thicken up this soup A LOT!!  I always buy a whole extra carton of chicken stock to add to each serving as I reheat.  Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup stock to each full cup of soup. 



Again, this soup is much better the next day and promises to be a lovely healthy kick in the butt for your loved ones.  A votre santee!