Won't You Come Home Pearl Barley | Summer Salad

Pearl Barley is an underused ingredient if you ask me. It's high in fiber, chock full of b vits and iron and a cup gives you 4gms of protein. It tastes great and it's as cheap as chips - so instead of leaving it in the back of the cupboard until the winter and then chucking it into a soup as an after thought - have a go at this brilliant summer salad that show cases the humble grain!

Heart Healthy Pearl Barley deserves our love.

This salad is brilliant on it's own or alongside some mixed leaves drizzled with hemp oil and lemon juice and we had it with a juicy classic tomato, basil and mozzarella combo. Heavenly!


Pop this lot on your next shopping list:

1 cup of pearl barley (I soak mine over night to make cooking even quicker!)
1 large bunch of parsley (curly or flat) - finely chopped
8 - 10 black olives cured in olive oil (not the soapy horrid things that come in jars or tins) - chopped.
3tspns nutritional yeast (particularly good for vegetarianeenies)
Olive Oil
Soy sauce (optional)
chicken stock (paste)
Hard Goats Cheese (grated) as much as you like!
pumpkin, sunflower, flax seed - toasted (do a pan-full and save any you don't use for spronklings)

You can also add peas - I didn't this time.

I also stir in extras - like ground seeds but this isn't necessary.

Do it like a Luli!

If you've soaked your pearl barley, then give it another rinse and put it in a saucepan with two cups of water. You can use a good heaped teaspoon of chicken paste stock if you like. Let the water come to a gentle simmer and leave it to cook and absorb all the water. @10 - 15 mins. Keep an eye on it - you can hear when it's getting close to sticking - it sort of crackles.

Turn the heat off, stir in the nutritional yeast, and any other ground seeds you're adding - sprinkle with a little olive oil. Put a lid on it and let it steam.

Meanwhile, chop the parsley and olives and grate the cheese.

Stir in the parsley and olives when the grains are still warm.

If you are going to eat it warm -then you can stir in the toasted seeds and the cheese an serve.

If you prefer to eat it cold - then wait for it to cool down before adding the cheese and seeds.

If you are putting in peas - these can go in whenever you feel like it!

I cup of cooked grains is @193 calories and this will make three good servings - so it's pretty waist friendly even with the cheese!