A Grain Salad with Barley using Ferments

Last week I used up some leftover wild rice to make a side "salad" dish for a really wonderful Kalbi Flank Steak; both recipes were posted 3 days ago. I love grain "salads" though I don't make them terribly often. I had gone for labs last week also, and found my cholesterol is a bit high. In researching foods that help with the LDL side of things, barley was mentioned in many different sites, because of its soluble fiber. While my husband will not go straight for a grain salad, he will eat them. Yesterday when I made this salad he ate other things he preferred, so it was my side dish. Tonight it will be my main dish as he will not be home for dinner and I often go meatless.

Barley Salad with Fermented Red Onion

I initially set some barley to cook without any true idea of what I was going to do with it. As it cooked, I started thinking of how good the Wild Rice and Corn Salad turned out and realized I still had the other half of the red and green bell peppers I had used in the Wild Rice and Corn Salad, so obviously I would use those in this Barley Salad. The other thing I thought of, after the fact, was that I had a jar of fermented Red Onion Relish in the fridge and had yet to use it. I am sure it would have made an excellent addition to the Wild Rice and Corn Salad, had I remembered it. I also have a jar of Fermented Jalapeno Slices in the fridge and I love a little bit of piquant heat in my foods. 

With these two fermented foods in mind, I decided that this time I was going to use them in this new salad, so these items went into my list. Since I am making fermented foods all the time, I have a lot of them to eat so I may as well use them in recipes. Please understand, if you have not

Pickled Red Onions

jumped onto the fermented Foods Bandwagon, it is no big deal. Another relish of choice would also work, as well as chopped up Pickled Red Onions, which are much quicker to make. If neither of these is available, they can be left out completely. 

A few of the ingredients in the Wild Rice and Corn Salad went into this new Barley Salad, though with small variations the flavors went in a completely different direction. I eliminated the corn completely, kept the Feta cheese, scallions and cilantro. I substituted the pine nuts with pumpkin seeds and added in some dried cranberries (craisins). The dressing started out basically the same, using olive oil and lime or lemon juice. I also used the Sichuan peppercorns, just because I have them. These can easily be left out. 

One other ingredient that occurred to me at the last moment was probably one that just absolutely "made" this dish: Kalamata Olive Tapenade. I posted this recipe in April of this year, but will post it here again, because if you like olives, you really must try this out. It is so good, and so very easy to make. And, what an amazing thing to add to this vinaigrette-type dressing!

Kalamata Olive Tapenade

Kalamata Olive Tapenade

7 - 8 ounces pitted Calamata/Kalamata olives, drained
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup olive oil (more, or less, as desired)

Place the olives, parsley and garlic in a food processor to finely chop. With processor running, add in olive oil until the mixture is at the consistency you prefer. 


Here is the recipe I made last evening for Barley Salad with Fermented Red Onion:

Barley Salad with Fermented Red Onion

Serves 8 or more

Barley Salad with Fermented Red Onion

1 cup pearl barley (long-cooking kind)
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
½ green bell pepper (about ¾ cup), chopped
½ red bell pepper (about ¾ cup), chopped
½ cup Fermented Red Onion Relish
½ cup crumbled Feta cheese
½ cup cilantro, chopped (or as desired)
¼ cup Fermented Jalapeno Peppers, minced
¼ cup dried cranberries (craisins)
¼ cup green pumpkin seeds
¼ cup finely chopped fresh ginger root
4 scallions, chopped
½ teaspoon more salt, if needed


DRESSING:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon Sichuan Peppercorns, crushed, optional
1 tablespoon Kalamata Olive Tapenade

Set the barley to cook in a saucepan with the water and the teaspoon of salt. Lower heat and cover. Cook for about 50 to 55 minutes or until the barley is cooked to your taste.

Whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.


In a large mixing bowl, combine the bell peppers, Red Onion Relish, Feta cheese, cilantro, Jalapeno peppers, craisins, pumpkin seeds, ginger and scallions. Once the barley is cooked through, drain any excess water and allow the barley to cool slightly. Once cooled, combine the barley with the ingredients in the bowl and toss. Pour in the Dressing and toss well to coat. Taste for salt, adding more only if needed. The salad is best served at room temperature.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Lamb Burgers to Die For

Birthday Cake with Blackberry Mascarpone Filling 

Hello! I have had guests for the past weeks, coming and going. It's been wonderful having our friend Rich visiting, as well as his significant other, Heidi, and always a stupendous lot of fun when my son Kenneth and his wife come to visit. Because of the amount of guests, and amount of food prep and other things attendant on having guests in the house, I hadn't managed to get to a blog for about 11 days now. It is good to have the house quiet again, no matter how I love them all. So here I am, back at my blog, and a year older, too!

I just had my 65th birthday yesterday, though we celebrated with our guests last weekend. Yesterday was totally normal day with work to be done, though my friend Deb took me out to lunch, which was excellent.

My Calamata Tapenade

When my son and his wife visit, I try to make some favorite things. I have used a recipe for lamb burgers found on the internet quite a few years ago. This was long before I had any idea about writing a blog, maintaining a website or any such thing. This year I got out the recipe and taking a good look, realized I probably never actually used the recipe except as a guideline. For example, the original recipe calls for 2 ½ pounds of ground lamb and only 2 cloves of garlic, for starters. I love garlic, and so does almost everyone I cook for. I used 6 large cloves of garlic when making these burgers last week. And, so it went with a lot of the recipe.

The recipe called also for making a tapenade to go on the burgers and while I like tapenade (or what passes for tapenade in jars in the grocery), I had never made it myself. My husband wouldn't eat it anyway, so if it is just the two of us, I wouldn't bother. But in talking to friend Rich, along with Ken and Julia - they all love tapenade, or at least olives, so that was the one totally new and different thing I did this time. Julia made a run to the nearby grocery and brought back some marinated Calamata/Kalamata olives. If I made this tapenade again (and I most certainly will!), I would look for these same olives, because the flavor was so excellent. I had only 4 remaining ("orphan") Kalamata Olives in a jar in the fridge, so I added these to the ones Julia brought home in making the tapenade.

My son, Kenneth

I pride myself on grilling things pretty well, but I have to hand it to my son - he just has a knack. My grill racks get scraped down when I grill and all, but I have not cleaned the pan below. The lamb was quite fatty also, and all this contributed to a total conflagration. On my own, I would likely have burnt the burgers. Ken came out to tend them and managed to bring in perfectly done burgers, with perfectly soft Feta on top. I was way amazed at his grilling prowess. Yea, Kenneth!

We came to the table to eat and such was the excitement that I absolutely and completely forgot to take photos of these amazing burgers. Good grief! All I got was one photo of the two remaining burgers on the serving plate and the dregs of the remaining tapenade. Not the best or prettiest photos, for sure, though one can certainly see the perfection of the grilled burgers. While great photos are sadly lacking here, I pray that anyone who loves lamb might try these recipes out, because oh, MAN are they ever just to-die-for-good!

Perfectly Grilled Lamb Burgers

Lamb Burgers with Grilled Feta and Tapenade

Makes 6 large burgers

BURGERS:
2¼ - 2½ pounds ground lamb
6 cloves garlic, finely minced, or through a garlic press
2 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves, minced
3 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, minced
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Garrigue Seasoning, optional

8 ounces Feta Cheese, cut into approximately 6 slices

Mix all the burger ingredients well and form patties of approximately 1/4 pound apiece. Grill the burgers to desired doneness. Use a grill pan for the Feta, to soften. Feta does not really melt, but will warm nicely. Set one slice of Feta atop each burger. Serve with Tapenade on buns. A heftier, larger type of bun is needed for these large burgers than the cheaper types of bun available!

 

 

Olives I used for Tapenade

TAPENADE: Enough for 6 burgers
7 - 8 ounces pitted Calamata/Kalamata olives, drained
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely minced
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup olive oil (more, or less, as desired)

Place the olives, parsley and garlic in a food processor to finely chop. With processor running, add in olive oil until the mixture is at the consistency you prefer.

Serve the tapenade on the side, to spread onto the buns when serving.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.