Wheat Berry Salad with Spinach, Orange, and Almond

Prep Time: 
10 minutes prep, 1 hour 15 minutes cook
Number of Servings: 
10 servings
Recipe Source: 
Erin Dow for Guiding Stars

Ingredients

  • 2 12 cups wheat berries
  • 1 tsp Kosher salt
  • 12 cup fresh orange juice
  • 2 Tbsp grated orange zest
  • 1 12 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 1 Tbsp finely minced shallot
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 12 cup slivered toasted almonds (or pine nuts)
  • 14 tsp black pepper
  • 14 cup low fat feta cheese
  • 3 cups organic baby spinach
  • 1 12 cups grape tomatoes, halved

Directions

  1. In a large pan, combine the wheat berries, salt, and 8 cups of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to medium, and briskly simmer for about 1 hour, or until the wheat berries are chewy but not starchy in the middle. (The only way to know they’re done is to bite one.) When done, drain berries and rinse with cold water.
  2. For the dressing, combine the orange juice and zest, lemon juice, shallot, olive oil, and pepper in a small bowl, and set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the cooled wheat berries, almonds, feta, spinach, tomatoes, and the vinaigrette and toss gently to combine.

Notes

This is a great dish to make in advance. Just leave the spinach out until you’re ready to serve.

Contributor

Erin Dow

Guiding Stars Expert Chef

Erin Dow is a chef with years of experience. She’s cooked for Anthony Bourdain and now she’s cooking for Guiding Stars.

She is the Director of School Nutrition for Winthrop Public Schools in Winthrop, Maine, her own catering company is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this year, and she works for a mobile catering company that provides backstage catering for the music and movie industry.

Erin has consulted extensively with public school systems, universities, and international corporations on recipe development and large-scale production models geared toward healthy, scratch-cooked and profitable food service operations.