Wheat Berry Sunshine Salad

I know, I know. The name sounds hippie-ish. But it’s healthy, it’s tasty, and vegan girls love it. And vegan girls make the best chocolate cake, even if theirs is better for you than the regular sinful stuff.

This salad goes great with the glaze made for the miso glazed cod dish. Lose the cod and the glaze itself is actually a nice vinaigrette.

The only thing that slows this down is the wheat berries. Chuck ‘em in water for a few hours in advance, or overnight the night before, or as you leave for work in the morning if you’re going to be cooking this for supper that night. Really; chucking something into water isn’t a huge effort, it’s just something you have to pan for. Otherwise the berries will take a lot longer simmering on the stove.

Okay ~ let’s get to it:

• ½ cup soft wheat berries
• 1 ¾ cups water
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup peeled and cubed butternut squash
• 2 ears of corn
• 4 flying saucer squash (a.k.a. summer squash)
• ½ bunch asparagus (approximately a dozen spears)
• 3 green onions
• ¼ cup feta cheese
• ¼ cup dried cranberries
• 3 tablespoons miso vinaigrette (follow the link for the recipe)
• Olive oil, salt and pepper for sautéeing

A couple of things you can do for bonus points (after all, people love magicians and those who cook with flair. And who doesn’t want to be loved? or at least lusted?):

Tip 1: cut the stems off the flying saucer squash, sliced them vertically down, in half, flip them onto the cut flat side, and cut up into semi-circle slices. This makes them easy to quarter into smaller triangle shapes to get them bite-sized.

Tip 2: turn a small bowl upside down and place it into the center of a large mixing bowl. Cut off the very tip of the corn cob, so you can rest this blunt tip on the flat bowl bottom. Now, to trim the kernels from the cob all you have to do is slice or saw down along the corn and the tip won’t fly around everywhere like a power drill on metal without a pilot hole. Voila!

Tip 3: Cit the asparagus into ‘coin’ shapes. It doesn’t make the preparation any easier, but it’s kind of fun and it’s part of that flair I mentioned.

To prepare the salad:

Start with the wheat berries, as they can take an hour to cook through 9a bit less if you soaked them beforehand. See? Planning is good.) Rinse the wheat berries and place them in a saucepan. Combine them with the water and salt. Bring it to a rolling boil, them reduce the heat to a simmer and cover. Let it simmer away for an hour or until the wheat berries are tender. Drain any remaining liquid and set the prepped berries aside.

Preheat the oven to 450°F. While it’s heating up, peel and cube the butternut squash then place it in a mixing bowl. Toss the squash with olive oil, salt and pepper to season.

Roast the oiled and spiced squash on a foil-lined baking sheet for 20-25 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through.

While the squash is roasting, steam or microwave the corn. Many prefer the zap method but I’m not convinced it doesn’t kill off some of the nutrients, like over-boiling does. If you are going to microwave the corn, wet the corn (with husk still on) to remove any traces of dirt. Put the corn on a plate and chuck it in the microwave for about 2 ½ minutes, then take the corn out and husk it. Be careful, though!  Thar be hot steam under ye freshly nuked corn. yeah, I did a pirate voice and said ‘nuke’. Sue me.

Cut the kernels off in the mixing bowl as stated in Tip #2.

Slice the summer squash into bite-sized pieces (tip #3, genius)  and sautee in a large pan with some olive oil, salt and pepper until slightly browned and tender. You know, like you did with the butternut squash earlier.

Add the squash to the corn kernel mixing bowl.

Cut the asparagus crosswise, about ¼ inch thick, to get little “coin” shapes. Sautee the asparagus coins in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper until just tender. When the asparagus is almost done, add the green onion (chopped finely, crosswise into small rings) to the pan. Sautee for about 30 seconds longer, then add to the corn-and-squash mixing bowl.

Finally, add the cooked wheat berries, roasted butternut squash, cranberries, and vinaigrette to the mixing bowl. Mix it all up, sprinkle some feta on it, and serve it to 6 people. Or for yourself, with a lot of leftovers. Or some combination in between.