Pear Barley Salad with Grapes and Feta
Serves: 4
Time: 35 mins
If you are entertaining or taking a plate somewhere, it’s often nice to wow people with something they haven’t had before. This salad is sure to impress! None of the ingredients are out of the ordinary but the combinations are a bit different and taste fabulous together. Dill is a very underused herb; most of us tend to associate it with fish which is fine but it is awesome in a great many other things and one to add as a mystery ingredient when you want a secret wow factor. This salad presents beautifully so would also be fabulous for Xmas.
Leftovers
Lunch tomorrow is exactly the same as dinner but please set some aside before you add the dressing so the spinach doesn’t go all soggy.
What you'll need
2 cups of pearl barley
1 packet of baby spinach
1 bunch of chives
1 bunch of dill
1 large bunch of red grapes
1 packet of cherry tomatoes
1 small red onion
1 x 200g block of danish feta
1/2 cup of raw almonds
1 large lemon
From the Pantry
olive oil
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon of honey
salt and pepper
Prep and Cook
Preheat oven to 160c
Not so tricky Barley
Barley is a grain that I find will be hard for ages and then all of sudden will be over cooked, so packet instructions aren’t always accurate. The key is to keep a close eye on it and check the grains all the way through to see how cooked they are. Take a few grains out and bite into them - you want your barley to still be firm but soft the whole way through. I call this texture nutty.
Cook Barley
Rinse barley in a sieve under cold water then transfer to a large pot with around 8 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring up to the boil then turn down to a gentle boil. Cook for 15 minutes then after that you’ll want to keep a good close eye on it. I find pearl barley cooks faster than the packet instructions say.
Once cooked, remove from heat, strain and cover with a lid to steam.
Chop Salad Ingredients
Slice grapes in half horizontally so that the cut side is round.
Slice cherry tomatoes in half the same way.
Cut chives into batons roughly as long as your little fingernail.
Remove the large stalks from the dill and roughly chop into a similar size.
Shred the baby spinach up. To do this I work in batches. Place a large handful flat on your chopping board, try not to spread it out too much, then carefully shred up fine with a large kitchen knife.
Peel onion and slice into a fine brunoise (tiny little squares).
What's Brunoise
Brunoise is the french classic cookery term for finely diced. To achieve this, you slice the onion in half, using your knife to cut lengthways down along the grain lines. Then you carefully slice across the cut lines and the result is a nice fine dice.
Make Dressing
In a small jar with a lid, combine lemon juice with the dijon mustard, honey, salt and pepper and 4 tablespoons of olive oil.
Shake really well.
Toast Almonds
Spread almonds out on an oven tray and lightly spay or brush with olive oil.
Roast in the oven for 7 minutes.
Remove from the oven and once cold roughly chop but keep them big and chunky.
Plate it Pretty
Combine all the salad ingredients (but not the feta) together in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper. (always taste as you go).
Empty the dressing over the salad and mix all together really well.
In a large salad bowl sprinkle 1/3 of the salad across the base and crumble 1/3 of the feta over.
Do the same again but with this layer don’t go as wide this time so that you are building up in a pyramid-like effect.
Half the remainder of your mixture and build again with the feta, then the last of your salad and finish with crumbled feta over the top.
Enjoy!
Lunch tomorrow
This is a large salad if just feeding two so you will have plenty for tomorrow’s lunch, but remember to take out what you need for lunch prior to dressing. Enjoy!