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I always buy barley thinking I’ll use it… then I find it in my pantry several months later just waiting for me. Problem is I don’t like barley in its traditional guise of a starch in soup! So, I end up throwing it out and vowing never to buy barley again. I was thrilled to run into this recipe in Bittman’s “How to Cook Everything Vegetarian” where barley is used in a cold salad. Since I live in sweltering heat for 4+ months of the year I am always looking for new cold salads. And of course I just happened to have some barley in the pantry.

Ingredients

• 1 cup barley
• 2 small kirby cucumbers, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 1 handful grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• 1 cup yogurt
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Place barley in a saucepan and cover with 2″ of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes, until tender. Drain and cool on a plate or under cool water.

Combine barley, cucumbers, scallions and tomatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Mix together yogurt, olive oil and lemon juice in a small bowl. Add yogurt mixture to barley mixture and mix thoroughly. Taste and add more salt and/or pepper, as needed.

This is a new spin on the traditional Lebanese dish. I use a lot less parsley and substitute couscous for bulgur wheat to whip this up in no time flat. It’s a great dish for the summer. You can eat it alone or serve it with grilled chicken or fish.

Ingredients

• 3 C cooked couscous
• 2 bunches fresh parsley
• 1 bunch fresh mint
• 1 bunch scallions
• 1/4 C chopped green olives
• 2 cucumbers
• 3 medium tomatoes
• 4 lemons
• 1/2 C evoo
• 1 T salt
• 1 T cinnamon

Directions

The couscous is pretty easy to cook. You just add hot water to the grains and let it sit covered for a few minutes. It immediately starts to absorb all the water. Put it in the fridge to cool it for the all the fresh veggies (you don’t want wilty mint).

The parsley is pretty much the hardest part of tabouleh because you have to chop SOOO much of it. The trick is to try to get as much of the leaves off without getting the branches. I find that if you skim off the outside leaves, you can get most of them without the twiggy parts. Then chop very fine. For the mint, pull the leaves off the stalks, pile them up and chop.

Chop the scallions, up to 2-3 inches up the green. Cut the cucumbers in half and scoop out the seeds. If you want, you can also peel them, but I kind of like the extra green. Then chop them up. Chop up the tomatoes. If you’re not going to eat all the tabouleh in the next day or so, you might want to consider cutting up tomato each time you want a serving. I feel that the tomato gets a little mushy after a few days and makes the salad a little watery. Cutting up fresh tomato makes it seem fresh each time you eat it.

After all this chopping, you’re going to end up with a beautiful, big pile of veggies.

To make the dressing, squeeze the juice from the four lemons. Mix in the salt and cinnamon. Add freshly ground pepper to taste. Then mix in the evoo. Mix in the veggies, the dressing, and the couscouse and serve.

This is based on a recipe I found online a while ago. I tried to search for it again but wasn’t able to find it so I can’t credit the source of the original.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
• ½ cup coarsely chopped celery
• 1 green bell pepper, coarsely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 16-oz can diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp (gumbo) filé powder
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp Tabasco
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup water
• 1 ½ cups cooked or canned pinto beans, rinsed if canned
• 4 oz tempeh or shrimp in small pieces
• 8 oz vegetarian / andouille sausage links, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 3 cups cooked brown rice

Directions

Start with the brown rice since it takes up to 40-45 minutes.

In a large pot, heat 1 ½ teaspoons of the oil over medium heat until hot. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper and sauté for 5 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add garlic, tomatoes, tomato paste, file powder, parsley, Tabasco sauce, salt, and water. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the pinto beans.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 1 ½ teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tempeh or shrimp and sausage and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Then add it to tomato mixture and simmer about 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings and serve over hot cooked rice.

This is a really great salad. I took it for lunch three days in a row and it was as good on the third day as on the first. Overall, a great and healthy lunch salad.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups water
• 1 cup long-grain rice
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup French green lentils
• ¼ cup finely chopped green onions
• 3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 orange
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions

Make the rice. Bring water, rice, and salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Boil uncovered until steam holes appear and surface looks dry - about 8 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for another 15 minutes.

Cook the lentils. While the rice cooks, simmer lentils in water to cover by 2 inches 18 to 20 minutes, or until just tender; drain.

Begin the dressing. Stir together the green onions, vinegar, and lemon juice and let stand. Remove the peel and pith of the orange (this is easiest with a knife). Cut sections free from membranes and cut sections in half. Squeeze any extra orange juice into the dressing.

Finish it off. Toss warm rice with lentils, dressing mixture, oranges, cranberries, oil, and parsley and season with salt and pepper.

Notes

This keeps well in the fridge for 4 days. On the third and fourth days, if the salad seems a little dry, add a few drops of lemon juice.

Servings: 4

This is my basic polenta recipe. It’s great eaten right away, when it’s hot. Or it can be spread thin, chilled, sliced, then sauteed or grilled to make polenta “cutlets”.

Ingredients

• 4 cups water
• 1 cup coarse-ground yellow cornmeal (polenta)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon butter or olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Cook the polenta. In a heavy saucepan, begin heating the water over medium heat. Slowly whisk in the polenta to prevent lumps from forming. Add the salt and stir constantly until the polenta comes to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and continue stirring for about 40 minutes. Constant stirring is best but frequent stirring is okay.

Season and serve the polenta. Slowly stir in the butter or olive oil and the Parmesan cheese. Scoop into shallow bowls or onto plates and serve immediately. (more…)