Jul 18, 2011

pearl barley

I was recently asked to come up with some tasty ways to use barley (besides beer!). I've never actually cooked barley, so this was a good excuse to try it out. I started off with a simple salad. Unfortunately I somehow lost the pictures... not sure what happened there. Anyway, it was a mix of pearl barley (cooked and chilled), Roma tomatoes, cucumbers, roasted corn kernels, fava beans, mint, basil, parsley, and a mustard/lemon vinaigrette. I really liked the texture and nuttiness that the barley brings to the salad, and it actually made for a pretty hardy meal.


The second dish I put together was more of a breakfast/brunch dish. Again, I started with cooked and chilled pearl barley which I warmed up on a frying pan with a nice chunk of butter. At the same time, I roasted some cherry tomatoes and a Serrano pepper in the oven and fried up some bacon. I mixed everything together, added a fried egg on top and finished the whole thing with a few dashes of hot sauce. A very solid breakfast indeed!

Directions
Cook barley in salted boiling water or broth for 45 minutes. Use as a starch anywhere you would use rice or potatoes.

No comments:

Post a Comment