Mediterranean Barley Salad

With summer around the corner, one is not in a mood to have 'regular' food. Also, summer is the perfect time to gorge on some interesting salads, which otherwise may not be thought of. One of my personal summer salad for the past couple of summers is the Mediterranean barley salad.

As a matter of fact, when I first heard about this salad, I was very skeptical, but one day I decided to give it a try and have been a fan of this salad since that day. I often make large quantities of this salad for dinner and carry the leftover salad as lunch to work the next day.

It can also be used for potlucks, picnics, etc. I also choose to make extra portions of this salad and use it as sandwich filling for the next day's dinner.

There are many Mediterranean style barley salad recipes. Some of the recipes have a big list of ingredients, while there are others which do not have such a big list. When one has a lot of time on hand, one may choose to opt for the recipe which has a long list of ingredients.

This is one of the easiest of the salad recipes which you can make use of when you do not have a lot of time on hand.

Ingredients

• 1 cup barley
• 2 tbsp white wine
• 1 tsp mustard sauce
• 2 tsp olive oil
• ½ cup sun dried tomatoes chopped
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation

• Place barley in a pot and pour water in the pot till barley is covered.
• Cook uncovered on low flame for approximately 25 to 30 minutes till the barley is well cooked.
• Drain the water and run cold water on the barley.

• In a mixing bowl, combine all the other salad ingredients except chopped sun dried tomatoes.
• To the drained barley, add sun dried tomatoes and the sauce mixture, mix well and serve.

If you cannot imagine your salad without meat in some form or the other, then you will want to try this recipe.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup barley
• ½ cup roasted red peppers
• A handful olives chopped
• 12 pieces turkey pepperoni slices
• 1 can navy beans
• 2 small onions finely chopped

• 2 ounces crumbled cheese
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp cider vinegar
• ¼ tsp dried chili flakes
• Salt and freshly ground pepper as per taste

• In a pot, place barley and pour in sufficient quantity of water, so that the barley is covered.
• Let the barley cook over low heat till well cooked.
• After the barley is cooked, drain the water and run cold water over it.

• Empty beans in a colander and run water on the beans as well.
• Combine roasted red peppers, olives, turkey slices, onion, cheese and red pepper flakes in a mixing bowl.
• Combine beans, cooked barley and turkey mixture and serve.

Here is another recipe of the salad. Although this is a vegetarian recipe, meat of your choice can also be added to the recipe.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup uncooked barley
• 2 tbsp virgin olive oil
• ½ tsp mustard sauce
• 1½ tsp lemon zest
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar
• 8 olives halved
• ⅓ cup cheese

• ¼ cup chopped onion
• ⅓ cup parsley chopped
• ½ red bell pepper chopped
• ⅓ cup walnuts chopped
• ¾ tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preparation

• Place barley in a sauce pan and cover with water.
• Cover the pan and keep the barley on low heat till cooked.
• After it is cooked, remove from heat, drain and keep aside.

• In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and toss well.
• Place the bowl in the refrigerator for half an hour and serve chilled.

These were some of the recipes which you can try to make barley salad. You can also choose to add other vegetables to the salad, or meat and/or beans as well. The salad can be stored in the refrigerator and served chilled, if you like cold salad.