barley, corn and hericot vert salad with goat cheese

Do you ever have moments when you realize you have thought something is one way your entire life and then one day you find out you were wildly wrong? Such a realization hit me not too long ago. I have always pronounced “hericot vert” the way it is spelled in English. My moment of enlightenment came while watching Ina prepared a “hare-i-coe vare” side dish. I gasped as I turned to Josh, “What! I’ve been saying it wrong this entire time?!” I knew they were fancy french green beans, why that didn’t clue me in to their flamboyant french pronunciation, I have no idea.

Determined to prove that I am not a hillbilly idiot, I would occasionally announce to the husband: “This week we are having a salad with hericot verts.” “Don’t forget, tonight we’re having the hericot vert salad.” “Look! I’m blanching the haricot verts!” Having set the record straight, we delved our forks into the peppery arugula, sweet corn, and of course, the hericot verts.

Bon Appetit got a little carried away with their fussy, and I’m sure French, way of assembling this salad. I completely ignored those “spokes patterns”, threw everything together in a bowl and served. The salad was light and summery and the vegetables were crisp with soft goat cheese and a little bite from the mustard-shallot vinaigrette. It makes a healthy and delicious side dish for any summer picnic, or a great dinner for someone going light.

Barley and Corn Salad with Haricot Verts and Goat Cheese
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Serves 4

1/3 cup pearl barley
1/2 pound haricot vert, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup fresh corn kernels (about 2 ears)
2 ounces arugula (or a big handful) washed and roughly chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/8 – 1/4 cup white wine vinegar, based on preference
1 medium shallot, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 ounces soft fresh goat cheese, crumbled

Cook barley in medium saucepan of boiling salted water until tender, about 15 – 20 minutes. Drain; cool. Transfer to large bowl.

Blanche haricot vert in large pot of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain. Transfer beans to bowl of ice water to cool. Drain well. Transfer to bowl with barley. Mix in fresh corn kernels. Add the chopped arugula and mix thoroughly together.

Whisk olive oil, vinegar, shallots, thyme and Dijon in small bowl to blend. Season with salt and pepper. Pour dressing over barley mixture and toss. Gently mix in crumbled goat cheese and serve.