As the days grow shorter and dark nights longer, I find myself craving wholesome, warming food. I came up with this Autumn Glow Grains & Root Veggie Salad to satisfy that craving. It’s nourishing, warming and so tasty. You’ll feel like you’ve unstoppable after this one. Served up with a tahini-lemon dressing that’s quick to whip together and adds a little zing!
Pearl barley is the perfect Autumn grain in my opinion. It takes a little time to cook, is slightly chewy in texture and nutty in flavour and goes so well in soup, stews and warm salads.
Eat this for lunch or dinner, serve it up as sharing platter at your next dinner party or as a side for Thanksgiving.
I’ve called this warm salad ‘Autumn Glow’ because it is absolutely brimming with nutrients and nourishing whole ingredients.
- Pearl Barley
- Carrots
- Parsnips
- Broccoli
- Red Onion
- Dried Cranberries
- Pumpkin Seeds
- Tahini – Lemon Dressing
How do I make this Grains & Root Veggie Salad:
You’ll start by preparing your root veggies – wash, peel and chop them all prepared for the oven. You’ll cook the carrot, parsnip and onion first – adding the broccoli for the final 10/15 minutes.
While the root veggies are cooking, get the grains on to boil in some veggie stock (or use chicken stock if you prefer).
Prepare your sauce by whisking together tahini, maple syrup, lemon juice, salt and water. You can pop this into an airtight container and store in the fridge until ready to use.
I like to serve mine up on a platter, layered with the grains on the bottom, then the veggies followed by your pumpkin/cranberry sprinkle. Finally drizzling on the sauce!
This dish is so versatile, you can switch out the veggies, the stock, the sprinkle, seeds or sauce! Make it your own.
Looking for other veggie dishes, why not try:
Simple Roasted Carrots with Garlic & Thyme
Autumn Glow Grains & Root Veggie Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 100 g Pearl Barley
- 1 litre Veggie Stock or chicken stick
- 2 Carrots
- 2 Parnsips
- 4-6 Spears Purple Sprouting Broccoli
- 1 Red Onion
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- Handful Fresh Rosemary
- 1 tbsp Dried Cranberries
- 1 tbsp Pumpkin Seeds
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- Salt & Pepper
Tahini Sauce
- 3 tbsp Tahini
- 1 tbsp Maple Syrup
- Juice half Lemon
- Salt
- Water
Instructions
Make the salad
- Pre-heat oven to 180C
- Peel and chop your veggies (carrots, parsnips, onion)
- Layer root veggies into a roasting dish
- Add olive oil, rosemary, garlic powder & salt/pepper to root veggie mix
- Stir veggie mix to coat with oil/garlic mix
- Place veggies in pre-heated oven for about 40 minutes
- Meanwhile, rinse pearl barley well
- Add pearl barley to a pot, adding in your stock
- Bring pearl barley to a boil – cook at boil for 10 minutes
- After 10 minutes, turn pearl barley down to a simmer for 20-30 minutes
- When there's 10 minutes left on the pearl barley, add your broccoli into the veggie mix in the oven (it's been in for 30 minutes)
- Let the veggie mix & pearl barley cook for a final 10 minutes
- The pearl barley is done when it's soft but still a little bit chewy
Make the sauce
- Add tahini, maple, lemon juice and salt to a bowl and stir vigorously to combine
- Add tbsp at a time of water, stirring, until the sauce reaches the consistency that you like.
Serve
- Serve with the grains on the bottom, adding your root veg & broccoli on top
- Sprinkle with cranberries & pumpkin seeds
- Finish with a drizzle of your tahini sauce
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