Monday, July 15, 2013

Grilled Meatball Subs & Barley Salad with Tomato & Herbs

That was one tasty meatball! I started out with a pound of grass feed ground beef. To that I added 2 slices of Italian bread that was soaked in milk, 1/4 cup of minced yellow onion, 2 tablespoons fresh parsley and Parmesan cheese and 1/2 teaspoons of salt and pepper. I combined all the ingredients and shaped them into 1 inch meatballs. They were refrigerated over night. Chris grilled them and the rolls and we heated up some sauce. Sprinkle some Parmesan cheese (was sure I had mozzarella!!). Fantastic. The flavors were perfect.

Now about that Barley Salad with Tomato and Herbs, it was suppose to be made with Farro. But I did not have Farro in the house so I substituted Pearl Barley. Another hit! The Farro Salad recipe is from Giada De Laurentiis.
The tomato was our first tomato from our plant on the deck! 

Barley Salad with Tomato and Herbs, adapted from Giada De Laurentiis

Ingredients -
3 cups water *
1 cup Pearl Barley
1 pound tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 sweet onion (recommended: Walla Walla) chopped
1/4 cup snipped fresh chives
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Method -
Combine the water and barley in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cover and reduce heat; cook 50-60 minutes. Drain well, and then transfer to a large bowl to cool. Freeze or refrigerate half of the barley for another time.

Add the tomatoes, onion, chives, and parsley to the barley, and toss to combine.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the vinegar, salt, pepper, and olive oil. Add the vinaigrette to the salad and toss to coat.

The salad can be refrigerated overnight. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Note - * This amount of water and barley make double what you need for this salad,  but the barley freezes perfectly.

2 comments:

Angie's Recipes said...

That's a hearty and satisfying barley salad! The sandwich looks great too.

Lucia from Madison said...

Thank you Angie. The salad is really good. I wish I had more leftovers. Love to bring it for lunch.