Directions
Do you know what is the dish that should never be missing on a picnic?
Barley salad. In this case barley salad with aromatic herb pesto, capers, and olives. A simple and very easy to make, completely vegan dish that you can serve only cool as appetizer or light and super proteic first course.
But why will you have to prepare a barley salad with olives and capers pesto?
Simple: it is delicious, light, with no fats, therefore very healthy. And you can also prepare it the day before and then serve it during picnics and bear huntings as cold pasta.
There are no particular difficulties in this recipe. Just be careful to put not too much salt, since capers are already salty enough. And choose olives that are not bitter, otherwise, with the other green flavors, you risk tilting the zen-sensorial balance of the barley salad.
The recipe for this delicious dish was provided to us by the Cucinot restaurant in Imola, a small paradise for vegans, which we highly recommend!
Ingredients for making vegan barley salad with aromatic herb pesto, olives, and capers
For 8 people
- 700 grams of barley
- 350 grams of olives, a mixture of taggiasche and greens from Cerignola would be perfect
- 200 grams of salted capers
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 2 sprigs of marjoram
- 2 sprigs of mint
- 4 sprigs of basil
- salt and pepper
- extra virgin olive oil
How to make vegan barley salad with aromatic herb pesto, olives, and capers
The longest part is cooking barley: toast it in a pot with oil and 1 chopped onion and then cover with 3 liters of water, or broth, and cook for 40-50 minutes. If you use the pressure cooker the cooking time drops to 25 minutes.
Please, don’t buy pre-cooked barley. Sure it’s ready in 10 minutes, but it is not the best and has lost many of its nutritional properties. We don’t say it to make terrorism, but all the time you invest in preparing a healthy meal will be ruined if you use that kind of ingredients.
And after this moment of culinary Confucian wisdom let’s move on to the recipe.
Wash the capers and all the aromatic herbs.
As we already said when it comes down to pesto, time is the main ingredient. If you use a sharpened knife or mezzaluna you will do a great dish. If you put everything in the blender and grind, you save time and burn many nutritional properties.
The recipe is spartan, but feel free to add grilled aubergines, courgettes, shiitake mushrooms and other amenities to your pesto. Even two almonds or some hazelnuts are good.
Once the barley is cooked, drain it and let it cool.
Season the pesto of olives, capers and aromatic herbs with a vinaigrette of EVOO, salt, pepper and the juice of 1 lemon.
Stir, put in a salad bowl with an airtight lid and bring it to your picnic: your friends will erect in your honor an extra dark chocolate Maori with chili pepper.
Which wine to pair with vegan barley salad with aromatic herb pesto, olives, and capers?
We choose an elegant and round white wine such as Vermentino di Sardegna Vign’angen di Capichera. Champagne and Prosecco are great options too.
If you want to pair a cocktail, the mentholated and aromatic flavor of Mojito is perfect.
