Cooking Light: Greek Barley Salad with Feta and Olives

I know, I know, another non-baking recipe.  But this was so good I had to share it.  I'm slowly gaining my confidence back after my cooking disaster a few weeks ago.  I was trying to cook a steak in a frying pan with a lot of olive oil and this was the result:

Yep, that is my scorched hand.  It was a third degree burn and that sucker hurt.  I was in a lot of pain, but mostly I just felt like an idiot.  It did scar, but its actually not very noticeable.

Anyway, this is another Cooking Light recipe.  It actually won recipe of the year award in 2009 which is awesome and I concur with the judges, it definitely deserved to win.  It was a little bit of work.  Took me about 3 hours total but that was because I was doing P90X while I was cooking and the chicken breast I used was ginormous.  Probably the only time you'll ever hear anybody complain of a large breast...ha.  My friend and I had it with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, so whoever said you can't have chicken with red wine is full of crap, because I thought it tasted fabulous.  

salad.
2  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/8  teaspoon  kosher salt
1  teaspoon  olive oil
4  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth, divided
1  cup  uncooked pearl barley
2  cups  cubed seeded cucumber (about 1 large cucumber)
1  cup  grape tomatoes, halved
1/2  cup  cubed yellow bell pepper (I used red, not sure if it made a difference or not)
1/3  cup  reduced-fat feta cheese
1/4  cup  chopped pitted kalamata olives 

dressing.
3  tablespoons  extra-virgin olive oil
1  teaspoon  grated lemon rind
2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
1  tablespoon  minced fresh basil
1  teaspoon  minced fresh thyme
1  teaspoon  red wine vinegar
1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
3  garlic cloves, minced

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a medium non-stick skillet over medium high heat. 
2. Sprinkle chicken with 1/8 teaspoon salt and place in pan (careful not to burn yourself like an idiot); cook for 2 minutes on each side until browned.
3. Add 1 Cup of broth, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until done (my massive breast took about 25 minutes). 
4. Cool chicken and then shred (i.e., pull apart like pork); put aside*
5. Bring the remaining 3 cups of broth to a boil in a large sauce pan; add barley.
6. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for about 35 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. 
7. Fluff with fork, cool.
8. Combine chicken, barley, cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, feta and olives in a large bowl. 
9. Prepare dressing by adding all 'dressing' ingredients (noted above) and stir well.
10. Mix dressing with barley mixture; chill. 

*I put the chicken in the fridge after it was done to let it cool faster.  I did the same with the barley as I was chopping the vegetables and preparing the dressing.  The barley was taking forever to cool so I spread it out on a large plate and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes.