Candy colored salad

You just have to love the colors and pattern of this beet. Real candy-ish. And in a way it is candy, they taste sweet and July is the season for these beauties.

This salad is a combo of in season ingredients; fragrant dill, crisp pointed cabbage, soft and squishy barley, hazelnut pesto to top if off.

Ingredients, salad for 2:
1/3 of a pointed cabbage
2-4 stalks of fresh dill, amount depends on how much you like the flavour of dill.
2-3 medium sized multicolored beets
1,2 dl barley (soaked over night in water)

Hazelnut pesto:
handful of fresh basil leaves
handful of fresh parsley
1 small clove of garlic
small handful of toasted* hazelnuts (this is important as the toasted version have a deeper flavour)
50 grams parmesan
squeeze of lemon juice
pinch of salt
fresh pepper
3 tbsp cold pressed extra virgin olive oil

* To toast the hazelnuts heat your oven, once it's warm (180 C) place on a baking tray and toast for 10-15 min. After half the time shake the tray to move the nuts around.

1. Scrub the beets to clean them of any dirt. Place in a pan with water and bring to a boil. Once the water has started to boil turn down the heat and allow to simmer. Cooking time varies and per taste, I like my beets somewhat chewy others like there's soft all the way through. Depending on how you like yours, keep poking them with a fork (like potatoes) to feel how far along they have cooked. Once the beets have cooked to your preference pour out the hot water and rinse them in cold water. Allow to cool slightly. 
2. Boil your barley according to the packaging, if it was soaked over night it should be between 15-22min. Sieve, pour a drizzle of olive oil over the hot barley to prevent it from sticking together, mix through. 
3. Now slide the skin off the beets, the skin should just slip off. Then cut into cubes. Admire the coloures and place in a salad bowl. 
4. Slice the pointed cabbage into shreds. Chop the dill and add both cabbage & dill to the beets. 
5. Place all the pesto ingredients in a blender, blend till its looks like the picture above. 
6. Add the pesto to the rest of the salad ingredients. Then admire again, and dig in!