The pearled barley and vegetable salad is a first vegetarian course that is very nutritious, tasty, and light, to be enjoyed cold. It is a very easy-to-make one-dish meal that can be customized according to your tastes. It’s the ideal dish for those who don’t give up grains in the summer; indeed, both with legumes and grains, fantastic, tasty dishes can be prepared, whether simple and easy or complex. The pearled barley and vegetable salad is perfect to take with you to work, to eat at lunch or dinner and under the umbrella. In addition to enriching it with all seasonal vegetables, we can accompany the cold pearled barley with a delicate and delicious cucumber sauce or tzatziki
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Boiling
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer
Ingredients
- 1 cup pearled barley (or hulled)
- 2 zucchini
- 15 green olives
- 15 cherry tomatoes
- 2 fresh cucumbers
- 10 sun-dried tomatoes
- 10 leaves basil
- 1 fresh green onion
- to taste fine salt
- 5 sprigs chives
- to taste extra-virgin olive oil
Steps
Rinse the pearled barley under running water; then transfer it to a pot, cover with water, and cook according to the instructions on the package.
Wash the not-too-ripe cherry tomatoes and cut them into strips, transfer them to a salad bowl.
Pit the olives and also put them in the salad bowl. Finely chop the green onion or part of it.
Wash the chives and basil leaves and tear them into pieces with your hands.
Also add the cucumbers, already washed, peeled, and cut into thin slices or chunks.
Wash the zucchini, remove the scraps, and then cut them into not too small pieces. Put some water to heat in a pot.
As soon as the water boils, add the zucchini pieces and let them blanch for just three minutes (if you like them firmer).
After three minutes, drain the zucchini pieces perfectly and, in the same water, blanch the sun-dried tomatoes for about 10 minutes, to soften them (for sun-dried tomatoes in oil, this step is not necessary). When they have softened, drain them, tear them into pieces, and put them in the salad bowl.
Five minutes before finishing the cooking of the pearled barley, adjust the salt, stir, and then turn off. Drain it immediately and let it cool down well.
When the pearled barley is cold, transfer it to the salad bowl along with all the other ingredients, salt, and olive oil according to your taste. Mix well and let our pearled barley and vegetable salad rest in the fridge, covered with plastic wrap. Serve accompanied by bruschetta.
Pearled barley can be replaced with hulled barley, depending on tastes and needs. For instructions and cooking times for the latter, refer to the instructions on the packages.
