introducing Chef Alice Savorelli

I promised to introduce you to some mouthwatering folks! Here is a lovely recipe sent in by Alice Savorelli - yes "savor" as in savor this lovely dish

Crunchy barley salad with daikon sprouts

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

For the salad

1 cup whole barley, hulled

3 cups filtered water

a pinch of whole sea salt

2 cm dried kombu seaweed

a good hadful of pumpkin seeds

1 cup daikon sprouts

fresh basil leaves for garnish (optional)

For the dressing

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

juice of 1 lemon

a pinch of whole sea salt

1 teaspoon barley malt syrup

Cooking the barley

Wash the barley and soak it in the filtered water for about 8 hours. Place the barley and the water in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the salt and the kombu, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and cook until most of the water has been absorbed, without stirring as you don’t want to alter the cooking process. The barley should get tender in about 45-50 minutes (if you are using a pressure cooker, cooking time will reduce to 25-30 minutes). Do not overcook as the barley should be al dente. Remove the kombu. Drain if necessary (there should be no water left in the saucepan), transfer into a tray or sald bowl and let cool, first at room temperature then in the fridge.

Dressing

Pour the olive oil, sesame oil, rice vinegar, lemon juice and malt syrup in a cup or jar and mix all ingredients together. Season with a pinch of salt.

Assembling the barley salad

Take the barley out from the fridge, add the pumpkin seeds and the daikon sprouts, sprinkle with the dressing and mix thoroughly. Garnish with some fresh basil leaves. Serve cold.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Alice Savorelli is a free-lance writer, as well as a veggie personal chef, menu planner and recipe developer. She is based in Italy and is the author of the green foodblog cotto e crudo (www.cottoecrudo.com/en). You can also find her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/cottoecrudo.