Wintery Wheat Berries Salad (with walnut, cranberries, onion and cauliflower)

Since it’s winter, I decided to dig up some good winter salad recipes. The first one I wanted to try uses these things called wheat berries. After browsing a few different recipes, I decided to add cranberries, walnut and fresh cauliflower to mine. The ingredients give a well-rounded flavour. I did end up finding a spring lettuce mix at the market, which I served the grainy salad on, but it’s just as delicious without the greens.

The hunt for wheat berries was an interesting one. I had never actually attempted any recipe using wheat berries before. One of the blogs I read said that any health food store will carry them, so I checked out my local spot. It had nothing called wheat berries. Now, as the potluck was happening the next day, I knew I couldn’t spend too much time trying to track these things down. I decided to try one more place not too far away. I got to the bulk grain aisle and again found nothing.

The naming of food differs from time to time between Canada and the United States and other parts of the world (like wheat flour versus whole wheat flour, fries versus chips, soda versus pop and to-may-to versus to-mah-to). I figured I’d struck another case of this problem. I knew (from Wikipedia) that a wheat berry was the full wheat kernel, containing the bran, germ and endosperm. The pictures looked like what my stores were just calling wheat. So I bought a bag of bulk red fife wheat. As far as I can figure, the grains I bought were indeed wheat berries. Problem solved.

I was really pleased to find out about this ingredient that’s been under my nose all along. It reminds me of farro, which I had used a bit in 2014. Since I prefer buying local ingredients, wheat berries (grown in abundance in my own backyard) win out over farro (originating from Italy).

The salad turned out great. I had some leftovers and they lasted for a couple days after the potluck (without the greens), which means you can easily prepare this a couple of days in advance if you need to.

Given the tastiness of this dish, “Can’t Get Enough” by Tiombe seems like the perfect song to play. Really, I can’t wait to make more wheat berry salads this winter.

Here’s how to make it:

Wintery Wheat Berries Salad (with walnut, cranberries, onion and cauliflower)

Good for an 8 person potluck

2 cups dry wheat berries
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 cup walnut pieces
1 small red onion, diced
1/2 head of cauliflower, cut into small florets
3/4 cup cranberries
juice of 1/2 a lemon (about 2 tablespoons)
Spring mix greens (optional)

In a large pot, combine wheat berries with 6 cups of water. Bring to a boil and boil for about 1 hour, or until all of the water has evaporated. Drain and set aside to cool.
In a dry saucepan, roast the walnuts. Remove from heat and set aside.
Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the saucepan. Sauté the red onion and cauliflower until slightly browned.
In a large bowl, toss together the wheat berries, cranberries, olive oil, lemon juice, walnut, cauliflower and onion. Line a serving bowl with spring mix greens, if using. Transfer the salad to the serving bowl and bring it to your potluck. Enjoy.