Pure Pantry - Almost - Barley Salad With Tomatoes and Beans

I've been diligently eating leftovers and drawing down the freezer inventory, but I really needed a break. I needed to make something. And there was the big pile of grain containers staring me in the face. Ah, good old barley! I love the chewy tenderness of barley. And it takes on flavors so well, be they cooking liquid or dressings.

The cupboard had several options, the fridge others, and then there were fresh grape tomatoes, red and yellow, and a yellow bell pepper left over from a tri-pack of red/yellow/green. Yes, I can do something with this!

I cooked the barley in water with Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Base (BTB is my go to stock substitute when homemade is not available...which is pretty much all the time). I chopped up an onion, bell pepper, and sliced the tomatoes in half. I added a can of canneloni and a can of red kidney beans. I made a dressing of pinot grigio vinegar, olive oil, capers, oregano and some jarred olive paste (olivada).

I have some Barilla tricolor penne (all Barilla .88 at Ralphs! Got mini penne, whole grain penne, tricolor, farfalle, rotini, spaghetti) and thought about adding it. Not now but maybe in 4 days when it needs a change for lunch at work.  And maybe some feta?

Mangia!


It sort of looks like this but the beans were kidney and the onion yellow.


Barley Salad with Tomatoes and Beans

1 cup pearl barley
4 cups water
1 Tbsp. BTB Veggie Base
Large onion
Yellow bell pepper
2 cups sliced yellow and red grape tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can large white beans (canneloni)
1/4 cup olive oil
4 Tbsp. pinot grigio vinegar
2 Tbsp. capers
1 Tbsp. dried oregano
2 Tbsp. jarred olivada
S and P to taste

Cook the barley per instructions on bag. Add the stock base to the water. Let cool.

Chop onion, bell pepper and slice tomatoes and add to barley. Drain cans of beans and rinse beans. Add to barley. Make a dressing with remaining ingredients and toss together.