tonight: barley rubble

broccoli rubble with barley, sweet sundried tomatoes and marinated artichokes

Hey friends! Life happens and things don’t get posted, even though eating does happen. It’s really a necessity, after all.

Rubble is a nifty word meaning rough fragments, broken pieces and debris, often from crumbling buildings.

Heck, many of us have a pile of the stuff in the backyard. However, I’d never really thought about applying the word to food until I was reading a Smitten Kitchen post about Broccoli Rubble. I was, well, smitten!

Essentially, they were breaking up broccoli, roasting it and dumping cheese over the top – yum in and of itself. You see, it was one vegetable their kids could agree on. That rubble went on to make its way into other concoctions to form meals.

My lightbulb moment hit when I looked through my fridge and cupboard. I’d bought a bag of broccoli pearls – pre-riced rubble – I had barley, a bag of sundried tomatoes and a jar of roasted artichokes in oil. My rubble dinner was looking like a groove on a Greek salad with the herbed oil from the artichokes as the dressing.

Barley Rubble

Pun silently chuckled about in reference to Barney Rubble, Fred Flintstone’s dear friend!

ingredients

• 2 cups cooked barley (farro, quinoa, bulger)
• 4 cups broccoli rice (bagged or do it yourself in a food processor)
• 1 cup julienned sundried tomatoes
• ½ cup chopped artichokes in oil
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• ¼ cup chives
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

method

• Cook the barley according to package directions. I used Trader Joe’s 10 Minute Barley. It gets a weeknight dinner on the table quicker.
• Preheat oven or outdoor grill to 425 degrees. Spread broccoli rice on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and a little salt. Roast for about 15 to 20 minutes until toasted and slightly charred.
• Drain the artichokes and reserve the oil marinade. Rough chop the artichokes.
• Place barley, broccoli rubble, sundried tomatoes and artichokes in a large bowl, while warm mix well. Whisk together 2 tablespoons each lemon juice and reserved herbed oil and stir into the other ingredients.
• Taste for salt and pepper.
• Sprinkle with chives when serving.

We ate it as a vegetarian meal, but you could serve it as a side dish with grilled meats, or add chunks of albacore tuna to the rubble.

Happy eating, my friends –

Missy