mediterranean barley salad

tonight is june's vegetarian society's potluck in the park!  once a month vegans and vegetarians in sudbury get together to share in a meal.  there's a great core group of people who attend every month and sometimes the group swells to a full-on party size!  there are usually happy, veg kids running around and it's a wonderful mood. 

everyone is welcome at these potlucks - all you need bring is a vegan (or vegetarian) dish with a copy or 2 of the recipe for swapping.  after that it's all about chowing down and meeting some great people!

tonight i decided to bring a barley salad with flavours from the mediterranean.  barley is such a nice switch up to the traditional pasta salad.  not only is barley high in fibre & a good source of protien and it's got such a lovely, chewy texture and is in my opinion, totally underrated.

{barley & fixings, ready to be dressed}

 

{mediterranean barley salad}

mediterranean barley salad
1 cup uncooked pot barley
3 cups water
1 cup broccoli, chopped
2 leaves of kale, torn into bite-sized pieces
1/4 cup sliced sundried tomatoes in oil, drained
1/2 cup olives, pitted & chopped (i used oven-dried black olives - my favourite!)
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
sea salt & pepper

rinse the pot barley well under cold water.  add to a pot along with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil.  reduce heat to low, cover & let simmer for about 40 minutes - until tender and all the water has been absorbed.  remove from heat, fluff with a fork and allow to cool.

transfer the barley to a serving bowl, add the broccoli, kale, sundried tomatoes and olives.  whisk together the oil, lemon, salt & pepper until emulsified.  pour over the barley, toss to coat and serve!

i made this in the morning, well in advance of tonight's potluck and let it wait for me in the fridge where the flavours melded and it tasted even better 6 hours later... potluck, here i come!

 {chewy, delicious barley}