One of the best lunches I have made for myself since I embarked on the journey of homemade lunches is this fantastic barley salad. It’s full of flavor, with lots of chopped fresh parsley and cilantro. It’s substantial and almost meaty, filled with browned mushrooms that have been basted in butter. And it’s a little bit indulgent, topped with pan-fried shallots for some crunch. It’s the kind of salad you want to pick things out of as you assemble.
I’m having a hard time believing it, and I don’t want to jinx a good thing, but, you guys… I think it might be spring. Which means that our shelves will soon be filled with such wonders as rhubarb, artichokes and asparagus, and we won’t want to see another root vegetable for as long as we live. Which means that I don’t have much time to get you this super simple but incredibly tasty recipe for roasted vegetables.
I really try not to have any food-related vices, mostly because, generally speaking, I eat whatever I want and deal with the consequences of that manifesto. But if I had to name my foodie guilty pleasures they would be 1) sharing a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Half Baked with a friend and 2) ordering a greasy Chinese feast always made up of fried pork dumplings, garlic eggplant and beef and broccoli. There’s something about overcooked vegetables drowned in a usually unidentifiable but always delicious brown sauce that gets me every time.
In my ongoing and intermittently successful quest to feed myself at lunchtime without becoming a pauper, I’ve come across a few truly delicious recipes that have joined the relatively exclusive cache of things I might make again. This rice dish is one of them. Admittedly, the ingredient list looks a little off-color at first glance (radishes and ricotta salata anyone?) but I swear that this really works and makes for a delicious lunch you’ll actually want to fetch from the office refrigerator and not abandon for a $14 salad at the last minute or leave it at home “accidentally”.
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