This salad is not for the faint of heart – its packing some heavy flavours - but in a good way! I find pasta salads dry up and lose their flavour after a day or two, not so with this one. Which is why I highly recommend for lunches through the week. I served it with grilled colossal prawns, and grilled asparagus – we consumed all the prawns, but the leftover asparagus was chopped and added to the remaining salad for leftovers the next day. Then the 3rd day, I cooked up some hot Italian sausages, and added them to the leftovers - wicked good - love barley!
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Pinch plus ½ tsp sea salt, divided
3 tbsp sherry vinegar, plus 1 tsbp apple juice
2 minced shallots
¼ cup olive oil
5 cups water
2 cups pearl barley
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 2 tsps dried and crumbled
1/3 cup pitted and chopped kalamata olives
1/3 cup drained capers
½ cup toasted pine nuts (I used half pecans, half pine nuts)
¼ cup finely chopped green onions
Plus I added a bunch of chopped Italian parsley
Bring the water to a boil, add the barley with the remaining salt and bay leaves. Simmer until the barley is tender - approx. 45 minutes . Remove from heat & cool.
Place cooled barley in a large bowl, and stir in the dressing and remaining ingredients. Chill for 2 hrs. I then brought to room temp to serve.
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