Magic Bulgur by bookseller

Saute 1 diced onion in 4 tablespoons butter. You could use olive oil, and you could probably cut the amount in half. Recipe says to add a couple stalks of celery; I'd rather get root canal with a rusty can opener. Stir the onion around over medium heat until it's translucent.

The stir in 1 cup bulgur -- I like the coarse grind, recipe doesn't specify. If you're looking for more of a porridge-y texture, fine would probably be the way to go. Add a pinch each of kosher/sea salt and black pepper, and stir this all for about 1 minute, till the bulgur starts to smell a little toasty.

Add 1.5 cups chicken broth or water, cover the pan, and let everything simmer (that probably means turning down the heat under the pan) for 15 minutes or so, until the bulgur is tender. At this point, if you'd like to cook it ahead and reheat it, you can. Stop, scrape everything into a bowl, stick it in the fridge. Later, you can heat it up in a bit more oil or butter (which will make it crisper and toastier and altogether more delicious) or you can steam it in a covered pan with a little bit of stock or water, which will still be tasty, but hey, steaming v. butter...choose your own sin.

When the bulgur is hot and you're ready to eat, stir in about 2 tablespoons good plain yogurt (I'd go with Greek, personally) and the same amount of chopped parsley (my choice) or dill (if you want a northern European flavor -- which would be very good with fish). In my vegetarian days, I used to make entire extremely happy meals out of a bowl of this stuff and some steamed veg -- cabbage and carrots in particular. But I also love it as a side to any kind of plain fish or seafood, either grilled or steamed, and I bet it would be great with lamb chops, in which case a raw zucchini salad with a sharp oregano vinaigrette, and maybe a few soaked currants in the bulgar, would be pretty fab.

Oooh, you know what I bet would be great? Make this up, but with butter and yogurt only, no onions or pepper, no parsley or dill, no savory ingredients. Eat it hot with some cold stewed fruit, like a classic eastern European kompot of apples or pears and dried apricots and prunes stewed with sugar or honey, a vanilla bean and some lemon rind, and either water or juice or red wine. That would make some kind of fabulous breakfast. With a nice glass tea, you'd be ready to go pick mushrooms in the forest with Zasha and Yevgeny.

ETA In fact, with a little forward planning, this would be an extremely easy breakfast. Not only does the kompot keep well, but I know from personal experience that it also freezes well, like in little 1/4-cup twists of Baggie. We already know the bulgar can be made ahead. The night before, take one of your Baggies outa the freezer, and leave it to thaw in the fridge overnight. In the morning, nuke some bulgur till it's hot, stir in a little yogurt, and top it with your cold, syrupy fruit. If you are determined to get fancy and cause your breakfast guest to adore you, toast a few heart-healthy walnut halves while the bulgur is nuking, chop them roughly and sprinkle them on top.

Your guest will never leave.