Spring Vegetable Barley Salad – The Secret Recipe Club

Happy Memorial Day! I hope you all have a fun day planned with your friends and family. It’s raining here today and we’ve spent the last few days working outside in the yard and getting our pool ready. We’re planning to go to the movies later today – not sure what we’re seeing yet, but I’m looking forward to a day to relax before another busy week of work starts.

May had an extra Monday and that means a special theme day for The Secret Recipe Club! The theme was picnic or BBQ foods. So many options to choose from! My assignment  blog was Thyme for Cooking. Such a fun blog name, right?! Katie shares about her life in France, restoring an old farmhouse and all the amazing food that comes along. She also keeps busy with weekly menu planning that she shares over on her other site.

I explored her blog and found so many unique and different recipes, but settled on her recipe for Barley Pilaf with Spring Vegetables. Our spring vegetable season has gotten off to a very slow start with the majority of May being rainy and cold, so I had to substitute with frozen vegetables. I’m definitely planning to make it again as we all loved it. I also love that it’s a mayo free salad so I don’t need to worry about keeping it cold when we go to picnics or BBQ. Below is Katie’s recipe with the vegetables she used in her pilaf, but you could change it up to whatever is available and in season. It’s such a versatile recipe!

2/3 cup quick-cooking barley
1 1/3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
6 oz asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 oz snow peas, sliced into thirds
3 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried chives

1/2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp sherry vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried Herbs de Provence

Cook barley in the stock according to the package instructions. In a medium sauce pan, bring water to boil and cook the asparagus for 2 minutes and add in the snow peas to cook for 1 minute. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop them from continuing to cook. Combine the cooked barley, asparagus, snow peas and dried basil and chives in a medium bowl.

In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, Herbs de Provence and vinegar. While whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil to make the vinaigrette. Drizzle over the barley and vegetables and stir well to combine. Gently fold in the halved cherry tomatoes and serve.

Check out all the other great recipes in today’s picnic and BBQ reveal!