Fun Finds For Mom

Make this dish.

It has been a good week for cooking. I was inspired by my trip to the Farmer’s Market, and all the beautiful vegetables I brought home, to try some new dishes. My favorite by far is this Warm Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables. You know when you find something new to eat and you want to have it for every meal? Well, this is it.

I read about farro on Jaimee Rose’s blog, got some at Whole Foods, and googled around to find a farro recipe. Amazingly, I had just about every ingredient the recipe needed. Farro is my new favorite grain. It’s nutty, chewy — kind of a like a cross between barley and steel-cut oats — and pure deliciousness.

Here’s the recipe:

Warm Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables and Fontina (I didn’t have this, so skipped it and didn’t miss the cheese at all.)
serves 2-3 as a main dish

2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into small chunks
1 cup grape tomatoes (I used one regular tomato cut into small chunks)
6-8 cremini mushrooms, cut into small chunks
4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
1 small red onion, sliced (or in my case, yellow onion)
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper (If you don’t like things super peppery, I’d recommend using less.)
1/2 of a small head of radicchio, cored and sliced into chunks (I used McClendon’s black Tuscan kale from the Town & Country farmers market)
1 cup farro
2-3 ounces fontina cheese, cut into small cubes
small handful of chopped parsley (I skipped the parsley)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Combine the carrots, tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, and onion in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, and pepper, and toss to coat. Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper, and roast for 15 minutes, stirring once. Add the radicchio to the pan, toss to get it covered in a bit of oil, and cook everything for another 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, rinse and drain the farro. Bring 2 cups of water to boil, season with salt, and add the farro. Cook for 12-15 minutes, until soft but still chewy in the center. Drain. I cooked according to package directions (skipping the 8 hr soaking) —  combined farro with 2 cups water in a saucepan, added salt, brought to a oil, then reduced the heat to medium low, covered, and simmered for 30 minutes.

Combine the cooked farro and vegetables, then add the fontina and parsley. Whisk together the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil with the balsamic vinegar, seasoning with salt and pepper, and drizzle over the farro mixture.

(I thought it tasted fantastic without drizzling with the olive oil & vinegar, so instead, I used the oil & vinegar on slices of delicious rosemary bread from Costco. I think that bread made the meal. )

Have you had farro? Do you love it? I want to try it for breakfast instead of oatmeal. Yum.

Posted Monday, February 14, 2011 in Food & Drink

WordPress › Error

There has been a critical error on this website.

Learn more about troubleshooting WordPress.