We've made it to Friday again. This week, the weather has gone from mild to cold, dry to wet, still to windy. Brrrr.
It's not really salad weather here, but this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe was Wheat Berry and Tuna Salad. Luckily, the grains are heated, so I could serve it as a kind of warm salad.
Wheat berries are not sold here, so far as I can tell. The closest I could find was farro, and I didn't bother to buy it when I knew I still had a bag of pearled barley from another Dorie experiment to use up. I used whole tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes, and I used ready mashed avocado because I could only find hard, horrid little avocadoes sold as a three-pack in the supermarket.
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. I made half a recipe so I got two servings out of it. It is not as nice the second day, as some of the sharper flavours in the mix, especially the raw onion, start to take over. However, it is still OK. I am not sure that I would make it again, but for a healthy meal, it is tasty.
To see what the other Dorie cooks thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the website.
Yes this would be great with pearled barley!
ReplyDeleteI think this would be excellent with so many grains...yours looks delish!!!!
ReplyDeleteMmm. Looks good. I have seen wheat berries and never used them. A nice salad.
ReplyDeleteI think the grain component is pretty flexible - one person even used quinoa!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend - stay warm!
Hmm, I imagine that one could substitute a few different grains in this one, but barley isn't really one of my favorites. Not sure why, maybe I just haven't found the right recipe for it yet. And since it's winter over there, maybe throwing it into a bowl of soup would be the better way to go.
ReplyDeleteI think this would be great with any kind of grain salad. I'm going to try some more combinations. Happy weekend!
ReplyDeleteI'm quite glad to hear you say that wheat berries aren't sold here. I've been wanting to try them for ages and was thinking I was somehow overlooking them whenever I tried to seek them out. I'm sorry we don't have them, but am glad I'm not the only one to find them elusive! It looks like you made a good substitution in this dish though.
ReplyDeleteI’m sure the pearl barley was delicious in this salad. I would think the grain pretty flexible in this salad. Funny…we are in the middle of a heat wave here in New Jersey. Temps are in the high nineties. This salad was a perfect lunch.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought to try this with other grains until I starting reading all these posts. I had fun trying the wheat berries since I hadn't had them before, but next time I think I will try something different. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
ReplyDeleteFarro would be a good choice because it is nutty like wheat berry. (Isn't it?) I couldn't find Wheat Berry so went with what was in my pantry also. Really, any grain could work with this. I liked the mustard vinaigrette very much. Warm, hmmmmm. Wonder how that would have tasted. I served mine cold. Your salad looks lovely. You do hard-boiled eggs better than I do hard-boiled eggs. I just cannot leave the yolk a bit undercooked and it is so much tastier your way.
ReplyDeleteVery lovely presentation of your pearl barley salad with those nice vegetables - pearl barley is a perfect substitute for the wheat berries and I think the recipe works equally well with that! The baby spinach leaves (I think that is what they are) look so very pretty the way you arranged them around the salad on your plate!
ReplyDeleteSorry for running so late with comments - it is a pretty busy week!
Have a wonderful Tuesday!
I feel so bad for you Aussies with us all in summer and you guys wanting to put a stew on the stove. Pearl barley is definitely a more cold weather grain, good call.
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