Saturday night

I started the day by visiting my friend Sally who has brain cancer and had suffered a debilitating seizure. She is doing amazingly well, and that is in part due to the devoted care given by her husband John and her upbeat attitude. Jim played in a golf tournament . As dinner time rolled around I realized that it had gotten colder and the Sweet Potato Barley Salad as dinner would make Jim very unhappy. So I called him and he picked up some NY strip steaks on the way home. He will suffer through anything good for him if I also serve him beef. He cooked the steaks, medium rare, on the grille. I sprinkled the steaks with Penzeys Chicago Steak Seasoning. Here is the recipe for the salad which by the way was delicious. I got this recipe out of BHG recipe contest. This recipe won Kim Van Dunk of NJ $400. She says makes 8 side-dish serving; as a whole meal 2 is about right. We have leftover as we were having it as the only accompaniment to the steak.


1C regular barley
1C frozen edamame, shelled
1 large sweet potato
1/3 C EVOO
¼ C balsamic vinegar
1t garlic salt
1C fresh baby spinach
1C golden raisins
2 medium carrots, shredded
½ C thin red onion wedges

Rinse barley in sieve under running water until the water runs clear. In a medium saucepan bring the barley and 3 cups of water to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, 25 minutes, drain. Rinse under cold running water until cooled; drain well.

Meanwhile, prepare edamame according to package directions. Scrub sweet potato and pierce several times with a fork. Microwave 5 minutes or until soft. Cool enough to handle, remove skin and dice the potato.

For the dressing, whisk to combine, EVOO, vinegar, garlic salt and black pepper. Arrange the barley, sweet potato, edamame, spinach, raisins, carrots, and onion on a serving plate and pour on the dressing.

This dish is excellent and I certainly could have enjoyed it as a meal. Jim actually pronounced it good. It was a stroke of genius on my part to add the steak or I would have spent the meal with Jim puffing his cheeks out like he is about to gag. As it was he was smiling and chatty, served good wine and fell asleep on the sofa. The wine was a 2000 Chateau Haut-Bages Averous (Pauillac). This wine is not at peak yet, but with big tannins it was a very good accompaniment to the steak.