I love barley, but for some reason, it’s just not my “go-to” ingredient. Barley is packed with nutrients, and best of all, it’s dirt cheap. You can use it to create all kinds of meals — soup, risotto, salads, you name it.
Here’s my Mediterranean-inspired salad with farmer’s market vegetables. Feel free to swap in whatever’s in season and fresh.
(Experiment 58) Barley salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup pearled barley
- 2 lemons
- salt & pepper
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 3-4 tbsp sliced kalamata olives
- ~3cup water
- ~2cups of veggies I did zucchini, yellow bell pepper, celery & cherry tomatoes
- optional chopped parsley, mint, basil
Instructions
- In a pot, combine the barley and water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 35 minutes ( until it’s tender ), drain excess water and reserve. When you mix it with the other ingredients it must cool off else it will absorb all the dressing.
- It’s now time to prepare the vegetables, you have 2 choices here, either you add them raw or you roast them first for 2 minutes. I like to roast them without oil in a hot pan for like 2 minutes. It softens them and brings out some sweeter notes.
- For the dressing, combine the olive oil with the lemon juice, whisk until all combined. Adjust with salt and pepper.
- Combine your cooled barley with the vegetables, add the olives and dressing and fold it all together. I recommend you add some fresh chopped herbs, do some tests and pick the one you prefer. I used basil & mint together and the result is quite interesting.
Notes
You can keep this for a couple of days in the fridge.