Bulgur Croquettes for a tiny celebration

I like that on international worker's day, I do close to nothing, at least nothing work related. There is an irony there, that Alanis Morissette could have sang about. But beside celebrating work (or the lack of it, in my case), the 1st of May is also the day I started this blog, and it's been 2 years already! It was only yesterday that I realised that, otherwise I would have planned a cake recipe.

So thanks to everyone out there on the internet, who drops by occasionally, by mistake or on purpuse, it has been a great deal of fun for me so far. Let's hope for many more years to come, a lot of discoveries, recipes and culinary adventures on the journey.

Lately I've been trying to refrain on the purchase of magazin, because as much as I pick my books up every now and than, the magazins tend to be read once and end up on a pile. But the nice covers and  promise of great recipes always get me!

So let's make it usefull and try one of the recipe of this month "Saveurs", from it's vegetarian section: Bulgur croquettes. I'm not the biggest fan of frying stuff (mostly because I don't like the smell afterwards), but those are really nice finger food to enjoy in front of the TV and a day like this.

Bulgur Croquettes and Red Bell Pepper Dip

Makes about 12 croquettes

100gr of Bulgur
100gr of Flour
1 Egg
50gr of Cheese (I used Comté)
1 Small Onion
1 Clove of Garlic
Fresh Chives and Rosemarin
Dried Marjoran and Oregano
Olive Oil
Salt Pepper
1 Red Bell Pepper (or 4 small ones)
1 Greek Yogurt
1 Lemon
Balsamic Vinegar

Heat up a pan of water, when it starts to boil, add the bulgur and leave it to cook for 11 minutes, then drain the water and set aside.

In a small blender, blitz together the small peeled onion, the clove of garlic and the fresh and dried herbs (adjust the quantities to your taste), than add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the egg, blitz some more and set aside.

In a bowl, put in the flour, the grated cheese, the cooked bulgur and the herbs/egg mixture from the blender, season with salt and pepper and combine with a spatula.

Form the croquettes using 2 spoons (or your hands if you prefer). In a pan, heat up some olive oil on a medium heat, and start cooking them for about 5 minutes, turn them so they color evenly. Place them on a kitchen towel when they have a nice golden color. You might need to do a few batch depending on the size of your pan.

Wash and dice your red bell pepper, and start cooking it slowly in some olive oil. When it has cooked for about 10 minutes and seems tender, add about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar in the pan, leave it to cook on a higher heat for 2 minutes and set aside to cool a little.

Add the juice of half a lemon to your greek yogurt, than the red bell pepper that has cool down, mix a little and place it in a service bowl.

Voilà, enjoy both together, or as suggested in the magazin you can also have the croquettes with some tomato sauce.