Wheat Berry Salad

My friend M. made this for me when I visited her in NYC in the fall.  M. is a very healthy eater and I really enjoyed this side dish.

I had not cooked with wheat berries before.  There are two types, soft and hard.  This recipe calls for soft, but I could only find hard.  They were in the bulk section at Whole Foods, but I have seen packaged versions before.  From what I read, the soft are faster to cook, but the hard have more protein.  I think I will stick with the hard, as it wasn't that much more cooking time.

This recipe comes from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking cookbook.  As she suggests, there are many variations you could try, varying the vinagrette and additional ingredients based on the season.  It could also easily be a vegan recipe, if you omit the cheese.

Wheat Berry Salad

2 cups soft wheat berries, rinsed
6 cups of water
2 tsp salt

Dressing
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
1 Tbls lemon juice
1 Tbls minced shallot
1/2 cup olive oil
salt & pepper

3 handfuls of spinach
1 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup feta cheese

Combine the wheat berries, water and salt in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer, covered until plump and chewy, about an hour (I added about 10 minutes to this).  The berries should stay al dente.  Drain and add more salt to taste.

Make the dressing:  Combine the orange zest and juice, lemon juice and shallot.  Whisk in the oil and season w/ salt and pepper to taste.

Toss the hot wheat berries with the spinach, nuts, citrus dressing, then top w/ the feta (I used Cotija cheese because that is what I had on hand).  Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if needed.