Sunday, November 1, 2009

Barley and Roasted Pepper Salad


My mom's neighbor gave us 5 peppers (red, orange, yellow) and I decided I wanted to roast them, but had no idea what to do after that. Later that day I opened How To Cook Everything Vegetarian (surprise) to look up something totally unrelated, and when I opened the book it happened to land on page 87. I happened to notice a recipe on this page called "Wheat Berry or Other Whole Grain Salad with Roasted Peppers." The first sentence of the recipe says "This mild, rich salad is not only delicious but also gorgeous, especially if you use red and yellow peppers you've roasted yourself." Not surprisingly, I made it the next day.

This recipe takes a bit of advance preparation. I roasted the peppers and cut them into long thin strips the day before. I also should have cooked the barley at this time. I wanted to use wheat berries as the recipe mentions, but I couldn't find them in my freezer or refrigerator. I know they are buried somewhere in there. One of these days I will come up with some kind of organizational system.


I didn't have fresh basil, so I added some dried basil to the dressing of olive oil and red wine vinegar. I mixed it up before pouring it over and mixing it in. I got a little too crazy with the dressing so I will have to have some self control next time so I'm not eating spoonfuls of oil with each bite.

This kept for several days in the refrigerator, although I made sure to eat it at room temperature. I like grain salads best at that temperature. It was definitely easy to make with all the prep work done.

No comments:

Post a Comment