Sharing a good barley salad recipe.

[*********]

Dh's coworker likes to cook (aparently the man almost went into the culinary field, but he now works in the engineering field). He made this salad and brought some in for dh to try. Dh liked it so much he convinced me to make it for him.

 

Veggie-Packed Barley Salad

 

Ingredients

2 cups water

1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley (dh prefers it with hulled barley)

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes (I used roma tomatoes)

1 cup thinly sliced baby spinach leaves

1/2 cup diced green bell pepper (I would use either red, yellow, or orange pepper)

1/2 cup chopped cucumber, peeled and seeded

1/2 cup feta cheese or shredded parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped

 

Preparation

 

Bring 2 cups of water to boil in a large saucepan. Add the barley, cover, reduce heat and simmer 45 minutes. Drain, rinse with cold water, and drain again. Set aside. Combine lemon juice, olive oil and salt in a large bowl and stir well. Add barley, and the rest of the ingredients. Toss to coat. Serves 5.

 

Now apparently the coworker made some changes to the recipe which dh failed to pass on to me before I made the first batch. :glare: So I made a second batch today with the adjustments. Even though the recipe calls for PEARL barley, the coworker used HULLED barley and boiled it for 55 minutes instead of 45. BIG difference in texture between the barleys. I will warn you, however, that I had to go to FOUR different stores to find the hulled barley, and eventually found it at a small Middleastern market. I wasn't even POSITIVE that I had the right thing until I got home and looked up pictures on the internet; the sweet lady that helped me spoke broken english so I wasn't for sure that she understood what I wanted. Plus everything in the store was labeled in a language OTHER than English, LOL.

 

The coworker also left out the basil AND spinach and just used parsley. Of course, with all these changes, it's no wonder that my first batch was so different from what dh was expecting. I think he'll like the new batch much better.

 

It's really tasty, and (I'm kind embarrassed to admit) it's the first time I've cooked barley.

[Jane in NC]

With the parsley, this is essentially tabbouleh although the traditional grain used is bulgur although I have seen quinoa and cous cous substituted.

 

Since tomatoes are not in season, I would skip that ingredient for now and add chick peas. And garlic.

 

Anyway, the idea is that this is a recipe that does not need to be followed exactly.

[kewb]

Looks delicious. Thanks for sharing.