Wheat Berry, Roasted Beet, Chickpea, and Lemon salad

You can use thinly slivered raw fennel bulbs in this recipe or roast the fennel bulbs with the beets and chop into a large dice. Garnish with feta cheese if you like!

Ingredients

1 cup wheat berries, rinsed

4 cups water

3 medium beets, root trimmed, washed

1 medium onion

2 cups chickpeas

Zest and juice of 1.5 lemons

1/2 cup chopped fennel greens

1/3 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Bring water and wheat berries to a boil in a pot. Reduce heat and cook until wheat berries are tender but still crunchy about 50-70 minutes. Drain excess water and put wheat berries in large bowl.

Wrap whole beets and onion in aluminum foil (they can all go in the same packet), place on cookie sheet/roasting pan, and roast in 400 degree oven until easily pierced by a fork (~1 hour). Allow to cool until they can be handled, then peel and cut into dice. Mix beets, onion, and chickpeas into wheat berries.

As wheat berries and beets are cooking, prepare dressing: zest and squeeze lemons, chop fennel,… Mix into wheat berry mixture, along with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Submitted by Linda Warren, Tucson CSA