autumn barley salad

I love grain-based salads so much i want to marry them. Tasty, versatile, filling, good for you, and delicious served just-prepared and warm, or cold from the fridge! A wonder food if there ever was one. Pretty much all good grain-based salads follow the same basic template:

• a grain
• some veggies
• an allium or two or three
• some type of nut or seed
• some type of fruit (dried or fresh, or both!)
• a vinaigrette or citrus-based dressing

So please don’t let my overly-exacting recipe be what holds you back from finding true grain-based salad fulfillment.

hint: you can call anything “autumn_____” or “winter_____” so long as it includes some combination of ingredients from the list below:

• roasted veggies
• root veggies
• winter squash
• apple
• “warm” spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, cardamom)

But i digress…onto the recipe:

ingredients

salad:
1 c barley (i used hulled since it was what our chickens had to share, and i would recommend it, but pearled is fine too, if less nutritious)
1 star anise
1 small butternut squash, seeded, peeled and chopped into 1/2″ pieces (pumpkin, kabocha or something similar is pretty much the same)
3 or 4 parsnips, peeled and chopped into 1/2″ pieces
some oil for roasting
1 apple, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
1 shallot, minced
1/2 c roasted, hulled pumpkin seeds

dressing:
1/3 c olive oil
3 T white wine vinegar
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 T maple syrup
1 t dijon mustard
1/2 t each: cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, coriander
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. First, soak your barley overnight. If you haven’t done this, DON’T FREAK OUT IT’S OK; you’ll just need to cook it for longer, and probably cook with more water. How much longer? How much more water? I don’t know.

2. Rinse the barley a bit, then combine with 3 c salted water and the star anise. (Or, use more water and just strain it well at the end.) Bring to a boil, then simmer covered for some amount of time ranging from 30 minutes to 1.5 hours depending on who you ask. It’s done when it’s chewy but not hard. Remember to remove the star anise at the end.

3. While that is all happening, preheat the oven to 375°. Chop the parsnips and squash, toss them in some oil with salt and pepper (and if you want, some of the spices measured out for the dressing) and roast them for 20-30 minutes, till tender.

4. Once those are in the oven, blend all the dressing ingredients together, or whisk vigorously by hand. The point is to get the dressing to emulsify and, whether by hand or modern convenience, it’s really worth doing this well to avoid oily separation in your salad.

5. Chop the apple and shallot and toss in the dressing.

6. Once the barley and veggies are done, toss everything together. And you’re done.