Serve up gorgeous bouquets of grilled broccolini on a bed of chewy barley, caramelised shallots and sweet dried cranberries. A grain and broccolini salad perfect for those cooler months or when you’re entertaining family and friends.
In a medium sized saucepan, add ¾ cup of uncooked barley and cover with 3 cups of water. Bring to the boil and then reduce to simmer. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring it occasionally. Watch the water level and add more if evaporating too quickly. When cooked, drain, run under cold water and set aside to dry.
In a large sized mixing bowl, add broccolini, 2 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. In a grill pan on medium heat, grill broccolini for 8-10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Remove the skin of the shallots. Slice very thinly. In a small fry pan, add 1 tbsp of olive and fry shallots until golden brown. Remove and set aside.
Chop pistachio kernels.
Chop the green leaf of 1 sprig of scallion (spring onion) finely.
For the other 4 sprigs, cut off the bulb. We only need the green leaves.
Assembly
When the grilled broccolini has cooled, time to make 4 bouquets. Lay one spring onion leaf horizontally. Place 4 broccolini on top in a bunch. Using the leaf, tie the broccolini together to resemble a small bouquet of flowers. Repeat 3 more times.
In a medium sized mixing bowl, add the barley, caramelised shallots, ½ chopped pistachio, ½ chopped scallion (spring onions) and dried cranberries. Then add 1 tbsp of olive oil, juice of ½ lemon, salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly until well combined.
On a large serving platter, place the barley salad.
Then add the 4 bouquets of grilled broccolini on top.
Sprinkle with the rest of the chopped pistachios and scallion (spring onion) on top.
Serve.
Notes
Tying the broccolini is of course not necessary but just a bit of fun in how a salad can be presented, especially if you’re entertaining. Gorgeous little bundles of delicious vegetables.
You can use any dried berries for this recipe. If you are worried about sugar content, try the unsweetened dried cranberries.
Any barley will do if you can’t find pearl barley specifically. You may need to adjust cooking time pending on the type of barley you can get. You can also adjust cooking time if you like your barley al dente and still quite chewy.
You can caramelise onions if shallots are proving to be an expensive option.
Pistachios not only offer great flavours but also the crunch that’s needed for this salad. They can also be an expensive add on so you can use sunflower or pumpkin seeds instead.