Greek Barley Salad - ☺♥

I was looking for barley recipes and came across this one via the Food Network® ... And it takes care of two needs at the same time ... It provides both a carbohydrate and fresh vegetables to accompany my prime rib steak! This recipe looked to be pretty good. Actually, it turned out to be excellent. The only change I made was to double the amount of salad dressing.

My daughter-in-law, Jane, should love this salad as she is a vegan. I suspect she would forego the prime rib steak part. Oh, well ...

It is best to make the Greek Barley Salad at least 3 hours ahead of time so the flavors have time to mingle during refrigeration while chilling the salad. It is also wise to eat all of the salad at the first sitting as the barley gradually absorbs enough of the salad dressing to make the salad too bland by the second day.

You might, however, serve the dressing separately from the salad, in a shakeable container, and have each guest mix the two together in their individual salads. Another method would be to keep the barley separate from the rest of the salad until serving time and have the guests mix it into their individual salad servings.

Ingredients: (four to six servings)

1 cup of pearled barley

Kosher salt

2 cups of yellow and red cherry tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup of crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup of pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise

3 tablespoons of chopped fresh mint

1 small red bell pepper, seeded, ribs removed and diced

1 shallot, minced (or equivalent finely diced purple salad onion)

1 small cucumber, diced

6 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Combine the barley, 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt in a medium-size saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to very low and simmer, covered, until the barley is tender, about 45 minutes. Drain the barley in a colander and let it cool to room temperature in a wide shallow bowl. If you want, you can chill it in the refrigerator, covered, for faster cooling.

Combine the tomatoes, feta cheese, olives, mint, bell pepper, shallot and cucumber in a large salad bowl. Add the cooled barley and mix gently but well.

Whisk together the red wine vinegar and the olive oil in a separate small bowl. Season it with salt and pepper.

Pour the dressing onto the salad and toss the salad to mix all of the ingredients well with the salad dressing.

Cover the salad with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve it.

Serve it in pre-chilled salad bowls, along with whatever else you have made for your meal.

Enjoy! This stuff is quite good ... Tasty and refreshing.