Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
News

Yid.Dish: Warm Barley Salad with Apple & Feta

Once upon a time – not that long ago – Sundays were my favorite day to hunker down in the kitchen, tune into NPR, whip out the leftover CSA vegetables, and cook/bake a few delicious dishes with leftovers that would keep me happy all week. But not these days. These days, my Sundays are crammed full with details for my wedding, which is coming up two weeks from today.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly psyched to put together table seating charts and delegate sheva brachot, but it doesn’t leave much time or mental space for things like, say, remembering to take a batch of cookies out of the oven or stir a pot of chili before it scorches. On Sundays like these, I need much quicker recipes – ones that will taste great and sustain me as I check off the last to-dos before the big “I do.”

Hopefully I’ll get my (our!) Sundays back in the near future. Until then, here’s my recipe for the supremely fast and fool- proof, not to mention nourishing and delicious, warm barley salad with apple & feta.

Warm Barley with Apple & Feta A burst of fresh parsley and lemon juice pair with sharp feta crumbles in this warm barley dish, which comes together in about 30 minutes. Try serving it as an exciting alternative side to the traditional potato kugel.

Serves 4

2/3 cup pearl barley

2 celery ribs 1/4 inch dice

Two apples of choice, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4–inch dice

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

salt / pepper to taste

Boil barley in large sauce pan, partially covered until tender, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, chop celery, apple, and parsley.

Drain barley and transfer, still warm, into a bowl. Add celery, apples, parsley, feta, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Toss salad until combined. Serve warm or room temperature.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.