“Let the Games Begin.”
Stop. Wait, Don’t light the Flame yet.
Being Foodies, we all know the Games of the XXX Olympiad cannot officially begin until we have our menu planned for tonight’s opening ceremonies. Luckily this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe choice, with a tweak or two, fits nicely into my All-American lineup.
The star is Barley, which Dorie calls “an odd-man-out kind of grain” in the French (and, American) kitchen. Also called “groats”, barley is a hardy, earthy grain, commonly used for animal fodder and beer. This week we’re using its most polished version, Pearl Barley, to create Lemon Barley Pilaf. Since we are still suffering 110 degree temperatures here, I preferred Dorie’s Bonne Idee and made a cold Ham & Barley Salad.
A delicious cold Summer entrée: HAM and BARLEY SALAD.
I cooked the barley, as suggested, and let it cool to room temperature before putting it in the refrigerator. Meanwhile, I cored, seeded and cut one red bell pepper into small cubes and sliced a dozen black olives. I tossed that together with 3 cups of diced ham (a 1 1/2 pound center-cut slab) and refrigerated it also.
A look at the butter, finely chopped onion, salt, pepper and pearl barley as it initially cooks before the broth, water and bay leaf are added.
For the dressing, I made a lusty whole-grain mustard vinaigrette:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons whole-grain Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1-2 teaspoons salt (since the ham is salty, back off a bit, if you wish)
1 tablespoon minced garlic
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3-4 drops of Sriracha
Directions:
In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients until thoroughly blended. Chill. Just before serving, pour lightly over the combined barley, ham and vegetables until thoroughly coated and to taste.
This salad will make 4 ample servings. I plan to add sliced heirloom tomatoes (seasoned), chunks of American swiss cheese, and crusty country bread to the plate. Beer, wine or soda all compliment this menu.
For dessert, it’s Blueberry-Nectarine Pie from Greenspan’s Baking with Julia paired with Vanilla Ice Cream, Philadelphia-style, from David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop.
After adding the broth, water and bay leaf, everything comes to a boil and then simmers, covered, for 45 minutes (longer than Dorie suggested).
You can’t miss the Olympics, even if you try. NBC will broadcast 272 1/2 hours, starting with the opening ceremony tonight (Friday). MSNBC has 155 1/2 hours with NBC Sports picking up 292 1/2 hours of team sports. CNBC has 73 hours of boxing. Bravo has 56 hours of tennis. There’s more: NBCOlympics.com will live stream every event for a record total of 5,535 hours.
With memories of and honoring the Israeli athletes murdered forty years ago at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games, my wish is for a safe, harmonious, and peaceful global competition during the next two weeks.
I’ll be hooting and hollering for my country’s athletes just as other FFWD bloggers, Paula, Andrea, Mardi, Rose, and Cakelaw, to name a few, are cheering for theirs.
Isn’t this our World at its best?
Image by http://shaunelle-kitty.blogspot.com
I am so glad the heat spell finally broke up North. It was in the 50’s overnight last night. My thick blood took to that very nicely 🙂
Your ham salad looks perfect for a light lunch & I am very excited about the Olympics. Yeah!
I too, thought the bonne idee was the best option. Not that I made it, lol, I had to skip this friday again. Will catch up next week! I do like barley but opinions are very divided today. I absolutely love the addition of olives!
Thanks for the backlink Mary and have a great weekend! Enjoy the Olympics
That is a wonderful way to prepare this recipe, the ham seems to really work. I turned my
leftovers into a chicken soup, which considering the temperature here in PA, was not the
thing to do right now. But it tasted good anyway.
Have a great weekend.
How fun! Looks like a great salad!
Yum, your barley salad is much better for the hot weather! Since I live out in the tropics, I just might try this idea out.
I think I really would have loved a few drops of Sriracha in this one. Great idea!
Mary, Ham and Barley Salad and the Blueberry-Nectarine Pie with Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert sounds like a winning combination to me ! I watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games last night (it went until two o´clock in the morning our time, four hours long!) and I was thinking that you were having your wonderful and colorful looking salad and watching the “show” at the same time! Those moments in life never cease to amaze me!
So, let the Games begin, 16 days of exiting competitions – well, I do have my favorites such as fencing and rowing – it will be fun!
P.S.: I loved Her Majesty in the Queen playing a leading part in a movie for the first time in her life!
Wonderful tweaks to this recipe, Mary…the ham adds the oomph this dish needed 🙂
I love the look of your dish and I love your enthusiasm this week. I took took the salad route with this one and was very happy that I did. It was quite tasty.
As for which country I will be cheering for… team USA of course!
I didn’t love this dish but I have to say after a day in the fridge I ate it cold and liked it much more.
Such a fun post, Mary! I would love to try the Bonne Idee for chicken next time I make this. I really enjoyed it as a side with our grilled chicken! Your Ham Barley Salad looks and sounds delicious…a perfect accompaniment for the Olympics! Your dressing sounds wonderful, too!
I made my pie last week for a dinner party, and am really missing it right now!!
Funny, I never thought that all of us were watching together…an amazing world we live in!
Have a great time watching the games!
I like the look of this ham and barley salad – it would be delicious in warm weather. It’s cold here, so the hot version suits me.
I love barley & ham so I bet I would love this combo … Happy Sunday 🙂
Yes! This is our world at its best.
I love that you turned this into a salad. And…I’m so glad that we finally have August recipes – Luckily, I have everything I need on-hand for the tomato tartlets. I can’t comprehend how it’s okay for someone to just go on vacation for 6 weeks and drop everything with no thought of having a back-up plan. Let’s hope she’ll be true to her word and select a second administrator – we have a long way to go to get through this book. I’d like it to continue to be fun.
The Olympics are so much fun! I am definitely into them more this year than 4 years ago, I think it is because of my son, I remember watching when I was a kid, so I am glued this year! The cold version of this looks amazing, I love the dressing and the olives. I will have to try it!