During recent visits to Victoria’s Moss Street Market and farm market/food stores in Saanich and Saanichton, I was reminded that winter is also a season in which you can purchase locally grown produce.
Those wheat berries came from Saanichton Farm , which produces a variety of local grains, such as wheat and barley, and grain products, such as flour and wheat berries, and sells them at local food stores. To make my salad, leaves of fresh kale were torn into small pieces and combined in a bowl with cooked wheat berries, thinly sliced apple, shredded red cabbage, almonds, roasted pieces of yams and brussels sprouts and a tangy dressing. It’s a hearty salad you could serve on its own for lunch, or as side dish for a dinner entree, what I did, serving it with roasted locally-made sausages.
Eric’s options: The wheat berries can be cooked many hours in advance. Cool, cover and refrigerate until needed for the salad. Instead of wheat berries, try another grain in the salad, such as 1 1/2 cups of cooked, cold barley. Instead of almonds, try another nut in the salad, to taste, such as walnuts pieces, or coarsely chopped, skinned hazelnuts.