Pearl barley salad with rocket pesto and cherry tomatoes

Versione italiana. In a buffet aperitif, especially in the hot season, you cannot miss some fresh and tasty salad, like this one with pearl barley, dressed with rocket pesto and cherry tomatoes. It is perfect both as a single portion and inserted in a buffet lunch or dinner.

Since it is a very simple and poor dish, it is very important to use quality ingredients, starting with Le-gumì Perlato Barley, which found on the Bu-net online shop and that cooks easily in a maximum of half an hour, without the need for soaking. The quality of the oil used for the pesto is also very important, which provides a characterizing taste to the dish and must be decisive, but not too bitter given the presence of rocket, which already has notes of this type. Therefore we propose to use Settimo Vittone Extra Virgin Olive Oil, perfect for this type of preparation and so on!

Pearl barley salad with rocket pesto and cherry tomatoes

Ingredients: (6-8 people, about triple if you’re preparing finger food single portions)

• 300gpearl barley
• 80g rocket
• 30g peeled and toasted almonds
• 30g parmesan or grated parmesan
• 60g Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 200g cherry tomatoes
• 1 pinch of salt
• White pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Start by boiling the barley, according to the directions on the package, in lightly salted water. Then drain, season with a drizzle of oil and let cool.
2. While the barley cools, prepare the rocket pesto by putting the rocket and almonds in a blender and blending coarsely before adding the other ingredients.
3. Then add the grated cheese, salt, pepper and oil and then continue to blend until you get a homogeneous puree.
4. Wash and dry the cherry tomatoes, then cut them into small pieces. It is important that the pieces are small, especially if served in finger food mode. Otherwise you can leave them even slightly larger.
5. Then proceed to season the barley with the rocket pesto and the cherry tomatoes, mixing well and then serve creating single portions for finger food, or in a serving bowl.