This has been a long winter and often I would find myself daydreaming about blue skies, the warmth of the sun, crystal clear waters and of course fabulous food! The Mediterranean has such wonderful flavour and spices. The produce is always fresh and often the food has only travelled from down the road to reach your plate. I can't think of anything better.
In trying to bring some of those savoury flavours to my plate and palette, I decided to kurate a hearty breakfast bowl, based on one I saw here. One that would taste light, but still have a bit of heartiness to take me through the morning. I happened to have a load of pot barley on hand, so decided to use it as the base. Other grains and seeds, such as farro or quinoa would be a great addition as well.
This recipe makes 2 bowls, but it is easily doubled to have some leftover for quick heat-up breakfasts. All you have to do is microwave the base grain layer and sauteed veg, then cook an egg for the bowl topper. Easy!
Dreamy Mediterranean Breakfast Bowl
Ingredients
2 cups cooked barley (or whatever grain you are using) cooled
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 thyme stems + 1 tsp leaves (+ more for garnish)
3 shallots diced
1/4 red bell pepper diced
2 c spinach or kale (chopped) - I used a combination of both
2 green onions cut into 1 inch pieces
Salt and pepper
2 eggs
1/4 crumbled feta cheese
Method
Cook barley (or grain) according to packaged instructions. Let cool, placing barley into a bowl. Once grain is at room temperature, add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and the dried oregano, thyme, rosemary and basil and mix. Set aside.
In a medium heat skillet, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Then add shallots, red bell pepper, thyme stems and leaves and salt and pepper. Sauté until the shallots become translucent and the peppers are softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add spinache/kale and green onions and continue to cook for an additional 2 minutes, until the greens have wilted. Pour vegetables onto a plate removing the thyme stems.
Using the same skillet, crack and fry the 2 eggs until they reach desired doneness.
Assembly:
Add 3/4c of barley to the bottom of 2 bowls. Top with 1/2 of the vegetable mixture. Add a fried egg on top. Sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese and thyme leaves. Add freshly ground black pepper.
Enjoy!
Until next time,
Krista
P.S. I had some leftover barley and vegetable mixture, so I used it in Jar Salads for lunch the next day! Add a drizzle of vinaigrette, a hardboiled egg and a few more chopped veggies and you are good to go!
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