Warm barley and roasted carrot salad with parsley and dill

Working with The University of Sheffield

Season: AutumnSummerWinter

Our Jess was talking about a yummy meal-in-a-bowl salad she concocted – a good prompt to get a roots-based winter salad on the recipe page. Always good to put carrots back in the spotlight, but roasted parsnips or beetroot would work too. Use feta if blue cheese is not your thing.

This dish would be pretty easy to veganize. Substitute some nuts, eg walnuts or hazelnuts, toasted and coarsely broken up, in place of the cheese. And use a rich tasty nut oil in the dressing.

Recipe by Georgina Fuggle on bbcgoodfood.com.

P.S. Soak the barley for a couple of hours to cut down on cooking time.

Ingredients

500g carrots, peeled and cut into diagonal slices

5 banana shallots, quartered (or a couple of small red onions cut into sixths)

4 garlic cloves, lightly crushed

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 tbsp olive oil

300g pearl barley

small pack parsley, roughly chopped

½ small pack dill, roughly chopped

140g blue cheese (or feta) crumbled

Fennel or dill tops to garnish (optional)

Method

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put the sliced carrots in a large roasting tin with the shallots, garlic and fennel seeds. Drizzle over the oil, toss everything together and season. Roast for 35-40 mins until everything has caramelised and the carrots are tender.

Meanwhile, boil the pearl barley in a large pan of salted water until al dente, about 20-30 mins (less if pre-soaked).

Remove the carrots from the oven. Strain the pearl barley and toss through the dressing, carrots, dill, parsley and half the cheese. Finish with a few wisps of fennel leaves or dill and the remaining cheese.

Serve warm or cold with a slice or two of warm buttered soda bread, if you like.