This Shrimp Corn and Barley Salad is a perfect meal that incorporates fresh roasted corn on the cob, nutty barley, salty feta cheese and some freshly grilled shrimp all coated in a lime vinaigrette with toasted walnuts. Hearty yes, and so good!
It was an extremely hot weekend here in San Diego, how about where you’re at?
I heard Phoenix was supposed to be approaching 120°F, which is insanely hot to me. We tried to keep cool, but also made sure to keep plenty of water with us when we took our dogs out. No need for Oliver and Kodi to dehydrate! The beaches were packed and we thought about hiking Mt. Laguna, one of my favorite places, but it was supposed to be in the 90’s so we stayed local and hit up Fiesta Island to get the dogs in the water for some fun.
Recently Dave picked up a Phanthom IV drone, which is really pretty cool to play with. I actually was a little leery of getting behind the controls, but found myself getting the hang of it in no time up at our local park. Needless to say we took it out for a spin this weekend and had a great time.
Dave wants to film the dogs and the areas we hike in the mountains for fun. We are also going to Maui in a month or so for a friend’s wedding. She asked Dave to walk her down the aisle and for me to be her Best Man. Dave was thinking of bringing it and filming that with the drone, as well as some aerial footage of the wedding and hiking while we are there.
Fun times ahead and I can’t wait!
When we got back home from the park Saturday, cooking and heating up the kitchen was the last thing on my mind and I decided on grilling up some fresh corn and doing the same for the fresh jumbo shrimp we had picked up. With the leftover barley I had in the refrigerator I knew exactly what salad was going to be dinner.
For me there’s nothing better than grilling outdoors when it comes Summer time. Dinners, lunches, parties with friends, there’s just something fun about cooking your food on an open flame. That smokey flavor, the special char one can only get when the food hits the hot grill and sears in the goodness.
This Shrimp Corn and Barley Salad gets a lot of it’s flavor from grilling on the BBQ. While I grilled most of the ingredients for this salad it’s not a prerequisite, I highly recommend it though. The corn gets bumped up in flavor, the shrimp gets slightly charred on the edges to make for one incredible corn and barley salad. But if grilling isn’t an option, simply cook the corn how you like to and pan sear the shrimp, 🙂
For those of you who don’t eat meat or shellfish, feel free to omit the shrimp, this is quite filling enough on it’s own. If shrimp is a favorite of yours like it is mine, try my Shrimp Posole Verde, or these Watermelon and Grilled Shrimp Skewers. Enjoy!
Shrimp Corn and Barley Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves loosely packed, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup barley, cooked (See Note 1)
- pinch of salt
- 4 ears of corn husked
- 4 tbsp olive oil (divided)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lb jumbo shrimp (See Note 2)
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice about 2 large limes
Instructions
- Toast the walnuts in a small sauté pan over medium heat, tossing often, until golden brown and fragrant, 3 minutes. Let cool, then coarsely chop and set aside. Crumble the feta cheese, set aside. Chop the cilantro, set aside.
- Get your grill to 450°F. Rub corn with one tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill, turning occasionally, until lightly charred and tender, 4 minutes per side or so depending on size of corn ears, 12 minutes total. Transfer to a platter and let cool.
- In a bowl add the cleaned shrimp, one tablespoon of oil, salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Drop the grill temperature to 400°F and grill one minute per side (See Note 2). Set aside. Do not over cook.
- Cut the kernels from corn cobs (See Note 3) and place in a large bowl. Add the walnuts, cooked barley, cheese, cilantro and shrimp to bowl and toss to combine.
- In a small bowl whisk together the lime juice, pinch of kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper with remaining 2 tablespoons of oil. Pour over salad and toss to mix thoroughly.
Notes
Nutrition
Pretty much all of our food is grilled now. I just can’t bring myself to turn on the oven (except when I’m working on a blog post, of course :-P) This is a beautiful combination of flavors and textures and exactly the kind of cooking I do over the summer (giant salads that last us a few days).
Hope you’re staying cool and hydrated!
Thanks Brian. I agree with you on that one. It’s been upwards of 100°F+ for days now. Too hot to use the oven right now. We actually had this Corn and Fregola with Grilled Halloumi last night, too good. Hope you guys are enjoying the Summer. We’re staying as cool as we can, thanks. 🙂
I think you have mind reading powers, Kevin. Just the other day, I was looking in my pantry and saw an unused bag of barley. I remember thinking what I could do with it, since it’s too hot to make soup! Your post is just the answer to my prayers!
Thanks Olivia. I make lots of cold salads with cooked barley and other grains, so good for you and they really soak in the dressing flavors.
It sure was on the warm side for me last weekend. Cold in Sydney, I heard, but where I was in China for my work trip – sweltering! Kevin, your salad has so many of my favourite things. I would never say no to a healthy serving of this!
When last we were in China it was so cold. To this day I remember exactly where I was (Xi’an) when I told Dave I had NEVER been that cold. Hope your work travels went well. Thanks John.
Oh Oh Oh! I need to get over to grab a bowl of this! Kevin this looks amazing and is totally my kind of bowl of food! We love our BBQs in Germany too and actually grill sometimes in the winter too.
Hi Meeta! Thanks so much for stopping by. This is a killer salad, we actually had it two nights in a row. Perfect for Summer when you don’t want to heat up the house!
Oh my goodness! This salad looks amazing. So much yummy things happening at the same time!
Also, so cool that you guys have a drone! I’ve been dying to get one, since I’m gonna start to vlog soon, but I’m afraid I’m gonna crash it or lose it. LOL Anyways, I can’t see some videos of you guys and the pups!
Thank you Olivia! Actually the Phantom IV is set where the drone will hover at the exact spot where you take your hands off the controls. Pretty slick, eh? So you could position it directly in front of you, let go of the controls and video or hover above you. I will say it’s not that quiet, but fun! 🙂 We’ll be practicing and I will work in some videos I’m sure.
Wow, this looks really good. Can you fly a bucketful with your drone to my house?
Thanks Jeff, don’t think the drone would make it to Chicago, but if I had that Star Trek transporter, that would do it.
I love everything that’s going on here, Kevin! It’s been warm up our way too. And with no AC, I’m looking for any excuse to grill outside to keep the house cool. This dish totally has the best of both worlds – lots of flavor and I don’t have to feel guilty about pigging out! All I need is a nice cold beer to go with it 😉 Stay cool down there – I hear it’s supposed to warm all week.
Thanks Kathleen! You know it was actually even better the next day, too. Although there were no shrimp in it, just a wonderful salad, because we ate all of them the first night. 😉
It’s actually 96°F as I type this, thank goodness we got solar 5 years ago, I’m cranking guilt-free AC. 🙂
Hey Kevin! This is perfect for the hot days we’ve been having! I’ve been on a shrimp binge lately and grilled shrimp are so good! We’ve been able to get good corn lately which is such a treat when grilled. That and fresh local tomatoes and I’m a happy camper! Sounds like all four of you had a great weekend! PS I did roast that pork, that bark is just too good to pass up and your corn was delicious!
Hey there, thanks so much Dorothy! So glad to read you enjoyed the Mexican corn and that pork, too. I love the hint of sage in the glaze. 🙂
While getting aerial footage of that wedding would be a great idea with the Phanthom IV drone – you know what would be a better idea? Y’all using it to send me some of this shrimp and corn and barley salad with walnuts! It’s gonna make it’s journey east through all those warm temps so when I get it it’ll be heated up and ready to eat?! 🙂
Seriously wonderful texture and flavor combo here yet again, Kevin!
I saw a show the other evening Shashi where a drone went and picked up something along a river and brought it back to the research facility. Kinda scary, but cool, too!
Now as for the salad deliveries, that would be something!
Sounds like a fun weekend and lot of fun coming up later this summer! An overhead view of your friend’s wedding in Hawaii sounds incredible…I hope we get to see pics! 😉 And this salad…oh wow! This is exactly how I like to eat in the summer. Stay cool in this heat, my friend!
Looking forward to Hawaii, it’s been ages and we’re getting better with the drone, too. I’m sure I’ll share a photo or two 😉
More salads like this one should keep it cool in the evenings around here at least! Thanks Faith. 🙂
Sounds like you had a great weekend, Kevin! It’s warming up here, but nowhere near the temps you had. Our little furry child was running around are yard and got all green cause hubby just finished mowing the lawn. He also decided to check out our herb garden too before I told him to get out of it, lol.
This salad looks delicious! I can only imagine all those flavours, especially since it’s charred. What a perfect Summertime recipe. Pass me a fork! Yum! Pinned 🙂
A great AND hot one for sure, thanks Dawn. Our dogs ATE our herb garden, sadly all the jalapeno plants, too. Didn’t even bother them! So no gardens at Chez Aladin here anymore 🙁
Oh, I definitely support grilling this salad! I can only imagine the tasty charred flavors that grilling would bring to this one. And I also support getting an overhead view of that wedding…how cool would that be!?!
Thanks Dave, this one kicks it in the healthy department and the tasty. Good stuff.
We are still practicing with the drone, but it’s not that hard. Should be good to go by August!