Serves: 6

• Ingredients

3 cups vegetable stock
1 cup pearl barley
1 bay leaf
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
4 green onions
1/2 green pepper
1-19 ounce can red kidney beans

Dressing:
1/4 cup vegetable stock
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

• preparation

Combine stock, barley and bay leaf. Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 40 minutes.
Stir in carrots and celery; cook for 5 minutes or until stock is absorbed and barley is tender.
Discard bay leaf; transfer to large bowl. Fluff with fork. Meanwhile, chop onions and green pepper; drain and rinse beans. Add to barley mixture.
Dressing:
Whisk together stock, vinegar, mustard, basil and thyme; whisk in oil. Toss with barley mixture. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or for up to 8 hours. Stir in parsley. Serve on lettuce leaves.

Serves: 4

A delicious salmon recipe adapted from Canadian Living Magazine. Tested till perfect.

• Ingredients

1 tsp fennel seeds
4 small skin-on salmon fillets, 1 pound (450 g) total
1 tsp (5 mL) olive oil
Pinch each salt and pepper
lemon wedges

Sweet Corn Barley Risotto:

2-1/2 cups (625 mL) vegetable broth
2 tsp (10 mL) olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup (250 mL) pot barley
1 cup (250 mL) fresh corn kernels, (about 2 cobs) or frozen corn kernels
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup (125 mL) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup (60 mL) chopped fresh chervil or parsley
1 tsp (5 mL) lemon juice
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt

• preparation

Sweet Corn Barley Risotto:
In saucepan, bring vegetable broth and 2-1/2 cups water to simmer; keep warm. Meanwhile, in large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook onion and garlic until onion is softened, about 3 minutes. Add barley; cook, stirring to coat, for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium; stir in corn and green onions. Add hot broth mixture; cook, stirring occasionally, until creamy and barley is tender but still slightly firm in center, about 45 minutes. Stir in Parmesan cheese, chervil, sour cream, lemon juice, pepper and salt.

Meanwhile, using bottom of heavy skillet, crush fennel seeds. Arrange fish on greased rimmed baking sheet. Brush with oil; sprinkle with fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Broil, 6 inches (15 cm) from heat, until fish flakes easily when tested, about 7 minutes. Serve with risotto and lemon wedges to squeeze over top.

Serves: 6

The little dark (greenish black brown) lentils called lentilles du Puy are really the best for this, because they hold shape so well. You may find other small lentils, like those little black lentils, work too.

• Ingredients

1/3 cup spelt
1/3 cup pearl barley
1/3 dark green lentils
3 leeks, white portion only
2 carrots, chopped
2 bay leaves
1/2 t. of fresh or dry thyme
1 head of garlic, all the cloves peeled
1 28 oz. can of tomatoes/or your own canned tomatoes,chopped
Sea salt
Olive oil

• preparation

Rinse your grains and lentils off in a fine colander, set aside.

Put about a tablespoon of olive oil, about 1 teaspoon of sea salt, the herbs, leeks or onions, and carrots in a heavy bottomed soup pot. Turn the heat on fairly low and cook them covered for about five minutes, so they soften but don’t brown. This is called sweating.

Add the whole can of tomatoes, juice and all, then add about 5 cups of water. Bring this to a simmer.

Add the grains, lentils and all those garlic cloves (The garlic cloves are the secret weapon! If you or your family is garlic shy, don’t worry, the soup doesn’t taste very garlicky when it’s done.)

Simmer covered until the grains are tender, about 45 minutes, depending on the grains. Add more water if necessary, to keep it at the thickness you prefer.

Test for seasoning. Add some fresh ground pepper, and serve in bowls drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Don’t skip the olive oil swirl. It really makes it, somehow.

It’s that easy, and that good. I usually double this recipe for leftovers.

Note re: leftovers: The grains soak up all the liquid when the soup is sitting in the fridge, leaving the soup a semi-solid mass–so you’ll have to add a good deal of water when you go to reheat. This doesn’t effect flavor at all. It’s an excellent leftover type soup.

Serves: 12

• Ingredients

1 large egg yolk
6 oz super fine sugar
3 oz whole milk
9 oz salted butter, softened
14 oz flour by weight
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• preparation

Mix the butter and sugar in a mixer until creamy .
Combine egg yolk and milk and mix in the butter-sugar.
Add flour , baking powder and butter; mix and knead the dough for 5 minutes by hand but without excess.
Cover the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Place the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and spread to a thickness of 1/4 inch
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cut the dough with greased 2 1/4-inch circles.
Arrange the circles with the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake 12minutes, then unmold the cake .
Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container !
In the Biscuit manufacturing Company of Traou Mad in Pont Aven they mark each cake with a stamp before baking.

Serves: 5

• Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil (30 ml)
1 onion, cut in 1/4-inch dice
1 clove garlic, minced
2 carrots, cut in 1/4-inch dice
2 celery stalks, cut in 1/4-inch dice
1 19 oz -can plum tomatoes, chopped
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
4 cups chicken broth (1 L)
1/2 cup pearl barley (125 ml)
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper

• preparation

Put a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and onions and sauté for 5 minutes over medium heat while stirring occasionally. Add garlic, carrots and celery and continue to sauté until softened.
Add tomatoes, thyme, chicken broth, barley and bay leaves and simmer until the barley is tender, about 30-40 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serves: 6

Soup is generally filling, light and low in fat and calories. Certainly this soup is.
It can be refrigerated for 2 days. Reheat gently and add a little water if necessary.

• Ingredients

3 medium leeks, white parts only, halved lengthwise and chopped
2 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon thyme
Fine sea salt
One 14-ounce can peeled whole tomatoes, crushed, juices reserved
6 cups cold water
1 head of garlic, separated into peeled cloves
1/3 cup spelt
1/3 cup dark green lentils
1/3 cup barley
Freshly ground pepper

• preparation

In a 4-quart enameled cast-iron casserole, combine the leeks, carrots, olive oil, bay leaves, thyme and 1 teaspoon of salt. Cover and cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring a few times. Add the tomatoes with their juices, the water and garlic and bring to a boil over moderate heat. Add the rice, lentils and wheat berries, cover and simmer over low heat until the grains are tender, 45 minutes to 1 hour. Thin with water if needed. Discard the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper and serve.