Black Nile Barley Salad with Tomatoes, Feta, and Green Goddess Dressing |an easy vegetarian recipe

The ingredients for this easy vegetarian recipe were provided by New England Country Mart. They’ve recently expanded their delivery area to include Greater Boston, Southern New Hampshire, Cape Cod, and Rhode Island. Save $20 on your first order of fresh produce and local goods with code elizabethev.

When you start with really great ingredients, you get really great meals. That’s kind of a no brainer. Like most of my recipes (this is an update of a very similar salad I made with lentils back in the day, the use of warm barley and cattle beans makes it perfect for cold New England nights). You can prep both the barley and beans ahead of time for a super quick meal. Let’s do this.

Black Nile Barley Salad with Tomatoes, Feta, and Green Goddess Dressing | an easy vegetarian recipe

Serves two

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of Maine Grains Pearled Black Nile Barley, cooked (Rinse barley in a colander and simmer for 20 minutes in 2 cups of water)
• 1/2 cup of Maine Grains Jacob’s Cattle Beans, cooked (Soak beans over night in salted water, cover with fresh water and simmer until done)
• 4 cups of baby arugula
• 2 cups of heirloom cherry tomatoes, halved
• Approximately 1/4 cup of feta cheese (cut into hearts if you’re feeling it)

Directions:

1. While barley and beans are still warm, divide between two bowls and top with arugula, tomatoes, and feta
2. Drizzle with green goddess dressing (recipe below)

Vegetarian Green Goddess Dressing

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. Sophia’s Homemade Greek 0% fat plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 c. Cabot sour cream
• Juice from half a lemon (more, as needed)
• 1/2 c. green onions
• 1/4 c. fresh basil
• 1/4 c. fresh parsley
• 2 TSP fresh dill
• 2 gloves of garlic
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Add garlic and fresh herbs to your blender or food processor and pulse until finely processed.
2. Add Greek yogurt, sour cream, and lemon juice (a little at a time) and blend to your preferred consistency (you’ll want it to be more dressing than dip)
3. Add salt and pepper to taste
4. Dressing will keep in the fridge for several days

I made this while at the Cape solo yesterday (Bird was there too, but snoozed through this meal) and was literally scraping the bowl to get every last bite. The nuttiness of the barley and cattle beans both have a rich, nutty flavor, making them perfect for this salad. Feel free to add an extra clove or two of garlic to the dressing (I never trust a recipe that calls for only a single clove… like, surely that’s a typo?) and whichever fresh herbs you have on hand. Grace refuses to try new foods (she is me at 7), but Nick and Nicky both indulged my requests to try the leftovers and went back for more.

Curious about the ingredients I used? It’s worth reading a bit about Maine Grains and their story (Cliff’s Notes: They transformed an jailhouse in Skowhegan, Maine into a gristmill with an international following).

Their Pearled Black Nile Barley and Jacob’s Cattle Beans, along with many of their other flours, grains, and beans are available for delivery with New England Country Mart.

Also On Tap for Today:

• Looking for more easy vegetarian recipes? I’ve got you covered.
• Don’t feel like cooking? NECM has a ton of prepared options!
• Uploading a video of this recipe to Instagram — join me there! @elizabethev

What’s your favorite prep-ahead meal?