Delicious dinner with barley salad

I am living in my own unit now and have enjoyed having my friends around to have a look, and giving them a bit of a feed whislt they are here! The meal above is one I made for my friend Robbie last week. It was delicious. Marinated oyster sauce chicken (if you know me, you will know that I call this 'special chicken' - for a reason. It's special), barley and feta salad, and some giant roasted mushrooms and roasted asparagas. Yum!

I will go into the details of each part of the meal separately. This kind of food is very mix-and-match.

Barley salad

1 cup barley grain
200 grams danish feta (or other feta, but i love the creamy danish one, which is usually the cheapest too)
parsley
olive oil
lemon juice
cumin seed
slivered almonds

Boil the barley in a pot of water until soft. Drain. In a mixing bowl, combine a big glug of olive oil, a few big squeezings of lemon juice, some ground cumin, and a handful of chopped parsley. Add cooked barley and mix well. Chop feta into small cubes and mix in. In a frypan, dry fry the almonds until they turn brown. Stir into salad. A wonderful side dish, can be bulked out further with the addition of some steamed sweet potato and zucchini. Serves 4 as a side dish.

Roasted mushrooms and asparagas

Bunch of asparagas
One giant mushroom per person
pesto
small amount grated cheese

Roast the mushrooms in a hot oven (around 200) until they start to water. Add asparagas to baking tray. Bake for a further 10 minutes. Take out of oven, top mushrooms with a little bit of pesto and cheese. Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes or so.

Special Chicken

4 chicken thigh pieces
3 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoons sesame oil
plateful of flour
oil for frying

Chop chicken into bite sized pieces. Put in a bowl with oyster sauce and sesame oil and mix well. Leave aside for 30 mins or so. This time can be skipped in a hurry, but it is good for developing the flavour. Dredge each chicken piece in flour and then shallow fry until brown and cooked through. This dish is incredibly moreish! (So, hint, make a bit more than you think you'll need). Serves 2-3-4 depending on greed and restraint.