Wheat Berries and Garbanzos with Lemon-Tahini Dressing

By Carrie Floyd, from the Culinate Kitchen collection

Introduction

At a couple of farmers’ markets in Portland, Tastebud Farm makes a fantastic lamb sandwich with pita, wheat berries, and greens. I love the wheat-berry salad as much (if not more) than the whole ensemble. That dish inspired this salad, which makes a great main dish served with pita bread. If you like more of a bite to your salads, feel free to substitute red onion for the green onions.

Ingredients

Salad

Dressing

Steps

1. Soak wheat berries overnight or do a quick soak: In a large pot bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Stir in wheat berries, cover, and turn off heat. Allow berries to sit for an hour. To cook, bring water to a boil, turn down to a simmer, and cook until berries are tender: 20-30 minutes. To test for tenderness, remove a berry from the pot and, after allowing to cool for a bit, bite into it. It should be neither crunchy, nor mushy, but pleasingly soft throughout. Drain and cool wheat berries.
2. In a large bowl toss together wheat berries, garbanzo beans, vinaigrette, lemon zest and juice, green onions, and chopped parsley. Season to taste with salt. Set aside.
3. To make the lemon-tahini dressing: Whisk together the tahini and warm water in a medium bowl until smooth. Add the garlic, lemon juice, yogurt, and cayenne pepper and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Set aside.
4. To serve: Spoon the wheat berry salad onto a bed of greens and drizzle with the lemon-tahini dressing. To make into a sandwich, stuff salad and greens into split pita bread and drizzle with dressing.

This content is from the Culinate Kitchen collection.