Apple and Manchego Salad with Wheatberries

Ingredients

• 1
  
  cup wheatberries
  
• 3
  
  tablespoons sherry vinegar
  
• 1 1/2
  
  teaspoons whole grain mustard
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons
  
  honey
  
• 1/4
  
  teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika (pimenton de la Vera)
  
• couple of pinches
  
  salt, plus more to taste
  
• couple of grinds
  
  black pepper, plus more to taste
  
• 1/4
  
  cup olive oil
  
• 1/3
  
  cup diced red onion
  
• 1 – 1 1/2
  
  tart apples. Granny Smith are fine, but Suncrisp would be stellar
  
• 1/3 to 1/2
  
  pounds Manchego cheese
  
• 2 -3
  
  ounces arugula
  
• 1/3
  
  cup dried tart cherries, roughly chopped if large
  

Directions

1. Soak the wheatberries overnight in water to cover by a couple of inches. When you’re ready to cook them, drain and place in a medium to large saucepan with three cups of water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Begin checking them at 30 minutes – you want to see the endosperm appear at one end and they should be a little chewy but not tough. Drain the wheatberries and then immediately place back into the hot pan and cover and let steam off the heat for another ten minutes. Transfer cooked wheatberries into a medium sized bowl.
2. In a small bowl, add the ingredients from the vinegar through the salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Then stream in the olive oil while whisking.
3. Add the red onion into the vinaigrette and stir a little so that the onions are submerged.
4. Peel, core and dice the apple and add to the wheatberries.
5. Dice up the Manchego cheese and add that to the bowl as well.
6. Pour the vinaigrette over the wheatberry/apple/Manchego mix in the bowl and stir to coat all the ingredients. Check for salt and pepper.
7. Either individually plate or serve over bed of arugula. Garnish with the dried cherries.