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Pearl Barley and Roast Vegetable Salad

Barley cooked until it splits, tossed warm with roast carrot and zucchini so it takes up the dressing rather than sitting in it.

Pearl Barley and Roast Vegetable Salad. Barley cooked until it splits, tossed warm with roast carrot and zucchini so it takes up the dressing rather than sitting in it.
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Prep 15 minCook 40 minServes 4

Ingredients

Why metric?

Metric avoids regional spoon ambiguity. US uses 5 mL tsp, 15 mL tbsp and 240 mL cup. Small masses stay in grams unless a verified recipe conversion exists. More on measurements

  • 260 g pearl barley (dry), rinsed
  • 300 g carrot, cut into chunks
  • 300 g zucchini, cut into half-moons
  • 80 g baby spinach
  • 150 g feta, crumbled
  • 35 ml extra-virgin olive oil (32 g)
  • 20 ml lemon juice (20 g)
  • 15 g flat-leaf parsley, chopped
  • 2 g dried oregano
  • 1.5 g iodised table salt
  • Ground black pepper, to taste

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 210C/410F. Toss the carrot and zucchini with two-thirds of the oil, the oregano and the salt, spread them in one layer and roast 30-35 minutes.
  2. Give them room. Crowded on one tray they steam instead of roasting and stay squeaky.
  3. Simmer the barley in plenty of water for 30-35 minutes, until the grains have split along their furrow and are tender with a little chew left. Drain well.
  4. Fold the barley, roast vegetables, remaining oil and lemon juice together while everything is still warm.
  5. Stir the spinach through so it wilts in the residual heat, then add the parsley and feta and grind pepper over.

Serve

Lemon is a commonly reported trigger. If it is one of yours, leave it out — nothing here depends on it.

Tomorrow

Good cold the next day. Add the spinach fresh rather than reheating it.

Safety and storage

Keeps
3 days refrigerated below 5°C
Reheat to
steaming hot, at least 75°C

Cool it fast: split large amounts into shallow containers as soon as it stops steaming, and have it in the fridge within two hours. Reheat once only, until steaming hot right through, at least 75°C in the centre.

Where these temperatures come from

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