Barley salad with muhammara dressing

 Barley is awesome stuff...yet not many people think of the grain with versatility. It can be used for salads instead of rice or pasta, as your risotto base, in soups, etc. I made up this little gem to highlight how darn good barley is!

1 cup barley, 3 cups slightly salted water

zest of an orange

zest of a lemon

juice of one lemon

3T. fresh parsley

2 diced san marzano tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup crumbled feta

1small zucchini, baked and cubed

1 small diced avocado

Place barley and a tiny pat of butter in a sauce pan. Saute until the barley starts to pop. Add the water and cook on medium heat for about 20 minutes or until fluid is mostly gone.  Strain the barley and cool.

Place the remainder of the items together in the salad bowl. Once barley is cooled and drained, add and toss ingredients lightly. Don\"t go crazy or the feta will get all smushed and that\"s not cool. 

Toss with dressing before you serve!

Dressing:

Muhammara:

1 green pepper, sliced

1 red bell, sliced

1 large shallot sliced

2 tomatoes, quartered

3 cloves garlic

1 serrano pepper

1tsp salt

2tsp za\" atar 

2T. olive oil

Muhammara is a red pepper paste traditionally served with mezza in Lebanese cuisine, but I love to also use it as a paste for meat to grill, in dressings, on charcuterie plates.  

Heat oven to 400F.  Place all of the veggies in a bowl and toss with salt, za\"atar, and oil.  Spread out on a cookie sheet and bake until bubbly.  For this recipe, bake the zucchini above with this, but keep to the side because it doesn\"t go in the dressing.  Once cooled, blend until mostly smooth with more olive oil and the lemon juice.

For the dressing:

Muhammara (3T)

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup rice vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Mix it all up and put aside until ready to toss and serve.