Roast Pumpkin, Barley & Walnut Salad

This Roast Pumpkin, Barley & Walnut Salad is a great salad for winter when you can serve it slightly warm for a very satisfying light meal or to accompany a main dish. I make it after I have made Lemon Barley Water Cordial and have the cooked pearl barley left over. I freeze the pearl barley in approx 1 cup quantities ready to use in salads, soups and stews.

1 cup cooked pearl barley*
400g pumpkin
Olive oil
Large handful of parsley
100g feta
1/3 cup walnuts

Lemon Dressing
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp honey
1 clove garlic
pinch of salt
4 tbsp olive oil

Peel the pumpkin and cut into 2cm pieces. Put pumpkin in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Roast at 190C for 10 minutes, turn the pumpkin and roast for a further 15 minutes until golden.

Put pearl barley and pumpkin in a wide salad bowl. Add chopped parsley, feta and walnuts, and gently mix together.

Combine the dressing ingredients together in a jar and shake well.

When ready to serve, pour the dressing over the salad and stir to combine.

* If you don’t have already cooked pearl barley: put 3/4 cup in a saucepan, add 3 cups water and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to the boil and then simmer for about 40 mins until the barley is tender.