Balsamic Barley Salad Recipe: Our Sunday Afternoon Tradition

Michael and I are slowly building our own set of traditions. Not the every-Christmas-we-buy-each-other-such-and-such sort, though. So far, our traditions revolve mostly around meals: Friday mornings Michael makes us a big, Bob Evans worthy breakfast. Friday evenings we make homemade pizza. And, adding to the rotation, on Sunday afternoons we enjoy this tasty barley salad recipe.

The thing I love about this recipe is that you make it ahead of time, and really the only preparation is boiling the barley (though it does take about 40 minutes for that portion). But other than that, you don't really have to tend to the recipe and then when it's all done, shove it in the fridge until you're ready to dig in. So I usually will fix it either on Saturday or Sunday morning before church, so that buy the time we arrive home (sufficiently famished!) lunch is ready to be served!

Balsamic Barley Salad (adapted from Epicurious)
1 cup pearl barley
1 garlic clove, chopped or minced (I use a cheese grater to get it into tiny pieces)
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. olive oil
3/4 cups cooked corn
chopped mozzarella cheese (I usually just eyeball this amount)
cherry tomatoes, halved (a handful or two)
chopped onion, small handful
chives (I use dried chives and just sprinkle them on to my heart's content, but if you use fresh it's about 1/4 cup)

Into a pot of salted boiling water, stir the pearled barley and cook at a slow boil for 40 minutes.
When finished boiling, drain well and put into a large mixing bowl. Stir together the rest of the ingredients, and mix well. Refrigerate until cool and serve chilled. Salad may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. (Serves 2 hearty portions.)

Do you have any mealtime traditions?

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