Wheat Berry and Tuna Salad # French Fridays with Dorie

Yesterday I served this hearty Wheat Berry and Tuna Salad for lunch.... 

Unfortunately,  Mr MN  missed on both the star ingredients. the Tuna, because he does not have any, and wheat berries because i forgot to add the berries to his plate. it wasn't until it was time to take the pictures that i remembered the berries...but by then it was too late. so he merely had a regular bowl of greens, veggies and chicken salad with olive oil dressing and a helping of well-seasoned berries, and had nothing much to say about it. i, on the other hand had an extraordinary salad for lunch !

wheat berries were new to me. It was the first time i tasted it and i really liked it. it is chewy with a subtle nutty flavor and it added a nice crunch to the salad. from the internet i gathered that these  berries are packed with fiber, protein and iron and hence a nutritious alternative to breadcrumbs which i otherwise use in salads. I think i'll use these a lot more in my salads/meals from now on.

the vinaigrette of vinegar and mustard was also great. I actually got a new bottle of French Dijon Mustard the day before, just so that we would not miss on the tang. and it was totally worth it. though i am used to mincing the fruits and veggies in salad, being short on time, i  ended up dicing them as per the recipe, then added the tuna and wheat berry to the veggies, seasoned the salad and and ate. since the salad looked filling and colorful enough even without the eggs, i omitted them. i actually did not miss them at all. with the berries, avocado, tuna and the greens this bowl was quite a substantial  meal by itself. 

update 5/7/2014. Today, almost after an year I made the Wheat Berry and Tuna Salad. This time I arranged it just the way Dorie suggested...

I cooked the wheat berries well in advance, whisked the mustard vinaigrette into it and let the flavors blend in over the next couple of hours. Next I gently stirred in the diced apples, celery, onion, green bell pepper and drained tuna into the bowl of berries. Finally I seasoned the the greens (spinach in my case) with salt and pepper, tossed them in olive oil and put them in the serving bowl. I then spooned the wheat berry salad over the greens, topped it with halved cherry tomatoes, diced avocado and quartered hard boiled eggs and served.

With all the ingredients in place, the salad felt so healthy and wholesome that once again we decided to fix Monday as the Salad Day at our niche !

You can find the recipe for this salad here. For many more delicious recipes like this order your copies of Around the French Table from Amazon and join us as we cook our way through the book.