Getting Into Those Whole Grains
Three Grain Salad Primavera with Lemon Vinaigrette
This is a hearty, nutty, soul-satisfying salad from my sister-in-law, Julia. She picked it up while attending a holistic culinary school in San Francisco. The best part: you can use up those remainders of random grains stashed in the back of the cupboard. I used soft white wheatberries from Stalford Farm here in Oregon (the same source of my locally-grown chickpeas), black wild rice and an Israeli couscous/quinoa blend. This is a recipe that’s hard to screw up, thankfully. I also didn’t have flax seed oil so just doubled the olive oil in the dressing. Dan threw in some grape tomatoes (which he purchased against my will. I’m trying to abstain from eating tomatoes outside the local season. Winter tomatoes or those from Mexico just don’t compare.)
Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy (feel free to half the portion, but it keeps well in the fridge for the week):
Three Grain Salad Primavera with Lemon Vinaigrette
(serves 16)
Grain salad options (you will need 1 cup of three of these grains):
spelt
quinoa
wheatberries
wild rice
bulglur
barley
Israeli couscous
Choose three of these or other favorite grains — you will want to end up with 7 cups
cooked product total
Vegetables for salad:
1/2 red pepper, chopped
1/2 yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 orange pepper, chopped (NOTE- i used 3 whole peppers- just eyeball it)
1/2 pound green beans or snow peas, slivered
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
1/2 bunch italian parsley, chopped
1/2 bunch fresh mint, finely chopped
Dressing ingredients:
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 teasponns dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup other vegetable oil like flax seed oil or safflower
2 tbsp warm water
2 teaspoons lemon zest, finely chopped
Choose three grains and cook 1 cup of each separately. Set them aside to cool while
preparing the vegetables and the dressing. As the vegetables and herb s are chopped, put
them into a large mixing bowl.
Combine all of the dressing ingredients except water and lemon zest, and whisk together
or put in a blender or small food processor. Cover and blend. Add warm water and blend
until smooth while the machine is running. Taste, adjust as needed, and then add the
lemon zest. (Dressing will keep in fridge for up to 2 weeks).
Measure out 7 cups of the combination of cooled grains. Add to the vegetables in the
mixing bowl and toss to combine. Add 1/2 cup of the dressing and toss to coat the grains
and vegetables lightly. Taste and adjust if more dressing is needed. Serve chilled or
at room temperature.
BaltimOregon to Maine 
Looks good Laura! However, as an Israeli I just wanted to comment that “Israeli Couscous” is indeed eaten in Israel, but is not really what we call couscous. Our couscous is the same thing as everywhere else…
Yoni
January 23, 2009 at 8:43 am
So what do you call that bigger pearl couscous? I’ve heard it called Moroccan couscous too and that made Israelis mad. It’s really more like pasta than couscous, huh?
baltimoregon
January 23, 2009 at 10:24 am
I agree it is more like pasta. There is nothing “pearly” about real couscous. You”ll find the Israeli name for it here, but I’m not sure what to call it in English: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_couscous
Yoni
January 23, 2009 at 10:44 am
Another interesting link on this:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708569187&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Yoni
January 23, 2009 at 10:58 am
There was a heated debate about the Israeli/Moroccan couscous thing on this Baltimore food blog: http://coconutlime.blogspot.com/2007/11/israeli-couscous-with-broccoli.html
Do you eat Ptitim much? I like the Osem kind and Trader Joe’s has this good blend that has quinoa, orzo pasta and split peas in it too.
“Ben Gurion’s rice, huh.” It goes down really easily. I like the texture.
baltimoregon
January 23, 2009 at 11:03 am
Wasn’t this the salad that we had at your shower? judy
Judy
January 23, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Yep and I thought it was delish!
baltimoregon
January 23, 2009 at 2:28 pm
holy shit, that looks tasty. just ate a side-splitting plate of pasta and now i’m hungry.
infogluttony
January 23, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Thanks you should make it for Becky. Healthy and easy. I ate it for lunch all week:)
baltimoregon
January 23, 2009 at 8:17 pm
oh, narcissism of small differences! yeah, i’ve heard this naming debate before and wish that was the extent of the mid-east controversy….hmmmm. yes. anyhow. sigh.
i love grainy things. i also agree with your previous verdict in the farro post– totally not worth the extra dough for farro. not at all!
also, it is sometimes fun to use whole-grains for breakfast or dessert. my cooking school teacher used to make us quinoa porridge with cocunut flakes, tumeric, and sliced strawberries for breakfast. southern italians make this awesome dessert thing called “cuccia” that involves wheat berries and you are supposed to eat it from a wooden bowl: http://splendidtable.publicradio.org/recipes/main_cuccia.shtml
and on another note, have you gotten much into polenta? it’s so cold here right now that i think i might make some for my dinner– i have an awesome recipe that is polenta with adobo sauce if you are interested!
hope you are well!
there in spirit
January 24, 2009 at 8:27 am
yeah there’s this wheat berry breakfast bowl that looks good, almost like a cuccia: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/wheat-berry-breakfast-bowl-recipe.html
Would love to see that polenta recipe. You are such a cooking inspiration!
baltimoregon
January 24, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I love this blog; I had wanted Julia’s fabulous dish from the shower. I plan on trying it. Thank you Julia and Laura!
Nancy
January 25, 2009 at 8:22 pm
[…] out the meal was Julia’s always reliable, amenable whole grain salad. I threw blanched green beans from our garden and roasted local Italian peppers into it. I […]
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