Farro & Roasted Asparagus Salad

You know you need to bring that Easter dish to Aunt Sally's gathering.  Skip the marshmallow jello, condensed chicken soup casserole, and Velveeta cheesy potatoes.  Instead, bring a fresh wholesome dish bursting with spring flavor.

Farro & Roasted Asparagus Salad -modified from Mike Roberts

1 pound asparagus

6 tablespoons olive oil, divided

2 teaspoons salt, divided

1 1/2 cups cooked farro

5 tablespoons slivered almonds

2 medium garlic clove - pressed

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

4 tablespoons lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rinse asparagus and pat dry.  Lay out a single layer in a baking pan and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 2 garlic cloves pressed.  Roast in a preheated 450 degree oven 10-12 minutes, until the asparagus is tender.

Cool and cut into 1/2-inch pieces on a diagonal.

Cook farro in a pot large and put about two to two and a half cups of salted water per every cup of farro. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer with a closed lid for 20 to 40 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Toast almonds in a small dry skillet until golden.

Combine the asparagus, farro, the remaining 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, the nuts, parsley, and Parmesan.  Cover and refrigerate.

One hour before serving bring the salad to room temperature.  Just before serving, stir in the lemon juice and pepper.    -amy w.

Farro & Kale Soup with Cannellini Beans

I love how I can spend a couple hours in the kitchen making a pot of soup and yield enough of it to last about 8 meals!  And, this type of soup is so versatile and customizable, I would never get bored of it.

This soup starts with a basic mirepoix (2 part onion to 1 part each carrot and celery) then add in garlic, beans, water, farro, tomatoes, and kale.  You could easily make a new version with wild rice, swiss chard and black beans or even barley, broccoli rabe and cranberry beans. The combinations are endless, just keep the basic components present and you'll have a seriously nutrient dense meal with a pretty simple process!  Basic recipes like this give you the technique to formulate your own creations or adjust to seasonal availabilities.

I seasoned the cooking liquid when I added the beans & included a bay leaf, some onion powder, chili powder & ground ginger. I think some fresh thyme sprigs would be great as well.  Without the spices I think the broth would probably a bit bland for my taste because you use water not stock (very cost affective!).  Amy's right on with the sweet potato, I think that would have been a great modification to copy.

Tonight was one of those food filled evenings in the kitchen for me...oh Friday night! I made my very first batch of homemade chicken stock, froze some chocolate mint ice cream base whipping it by hand and cooked and froze some wheat berries with tomatoes and fresh basil...dinner when the school quarter gets crazy! Tomorrow I'm hoping keep up the adventurous streak and make a wheat berry salad, bulgar salad & chickpea salad and my favorite quinoa salad...all in one night!  I did some prep work today, so hopefully I'll breeze through them all pretty quick!
Cheers & Happy Grains!! -Vicki

Farrosotto

I have finished 3rd Quarter!!! It was a tough one for me and really kept me from wanting to write, blog or log into any kind of computer.  But, it's over and I'm on a nearly 10 day, much needed break.  I want to share an amazingly delicious recipe I learned this quarter from my Instructor, Chef Atkinson.  Farrosotto is a sort of "Northwest" version of the classic Italian dish, Risotto.  It's traditionally made by cooking Arborio rice and slowing adding stock and stirring while the rice releases it starch, creating a creamy sauce along with it. We can't grow rice here, so instead this version was created using Farro (aka Emmer) which is grown just over the Cascades here in Washington State.  You can keep this really local and buy your cream and onion from the farmer's market when you pick up the Farro from Bluebird Grain Farms. Give this one a try and serve it with a nice piece of Salmon and some Asparagus spears, both grilled with just Olive Oil, Salt and Pepper, for a great combination (we sold 18 of those dishes when we ran it as a lunch special!). Enjoy :)

Farrosotto
1 Cup Farro
3 Cups Water
1 Tbl Olive Oil or butter
1 Onion, diced

5-6 Peppercorns

2 Bay Leaves (divided)

1 tsp Dried Thyme

1 Cup Cream
Piece of cheesecloth and kitchen twine
Salt and Pepper to taste

1) Put the Farro into a pot and add the water. Bring up to a boil and turn it down to a simmer. Add a pinch of salt and 1 bay leaf to the pot.  Put the lid on to cook for 35 minutes to an hour, depending on how chewy you like it.
2) Sweat the onion in the oil or butter, just until it begins to soften.
3) Meanwhile, prepare your sachet of herbs. Tie up the peppercorns, the other bay leaf and the Thyme. If you don't have cheesecloth, you can add the herbs directly to the onion, but keep in mind you'll have to strain or pick them out.
4) Add the cream, a pinch of salt and the sachet to the pot with the onions and and bring to a simmer. Let the cream simmer until it reduces by half and becomes syrupy and flavored of herbs and onion. Remove the sachet.
5) When the Farro has finished cooking, stir in the reduced cream sauce and let it sit for a few minutes while the flavors develop.  Enjoy! It's soo tasty ;) -Vicki

Farro with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Basil, pg. 173

Hopefully it's ok to post one of Lorna's recipes.  I think every now and then she won't mind!  

Farro with Fresh Tomato Sauce and Basil - Lorna Sass

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 large clove garilic, minced (I used 2 cloves)

6 large plum tomoatoes, finely chopped (I used Roma's)

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (I dumped around 3 tablespoons)

4 cups of COOKED basic farro (use barley if you can't find farro)

1/2 cup of chopped fresh basil - packed

salt and pepper

Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese

Directions:  Heat oil in a large skillet and add the garlic.  Stir for 30 seconds.  Add in the tomatoes, vinegar, and oregano, cook for 4-5 minutes.  Stir in the cooked farro and season with salt and pepper.  When the farro is hot, turn off the heat and stir in the basil.  Garnish with cheese.

I broke the number one rule and didn't use a grain!  I searched several stores in the valley and could not find farro.  No one even knew what it was when I asked.  I put organic orzo pasta in my cart and decided to go with it! I should've read the note where barley can be substituted for farro. 

What a simple dish full of flavor!  Ben loved the taste and took the leftovers for lunch the next day.     

 Husband Rating: 4/5 Grains   -amy

Last week I cooked the Farro for this recipe with full attention to cook it in the same day, but of course other things came up.  So tonight, when I needed to make a quick dinner, this was perfect.  The recipe came together in less than 15 minutes and tasted amazing!  I'm not sure where the big difference is from other red sauces I've made in the past, but the flavor in this sauce is unique and powerful.  I'm guessing it's the balsamic vinegar?!
It is March, and almost no veggies are in season locally right now, especially not tomatoes.  Instead of paying $4-5/lb for unripe tomatoes, I picked up 1 small organic can of whole tomatoes.  As far as cost goes, this dish is probably the lowest price recipe we've cooked yet...here's how mine breaks out:

$1.69-Canned Tomatoes
$1.50-Basil (I bought more, but didn't use all of it...so this is for about 1/3 of the pack)
$1.50-Farro...have we mentioned whole, dry grains are super cheap!?!
$2-Balsamic Vinegar, Dried Oregano (approximate guess)
Total: $6.69
This will feed me for at least 3 meals which is a great price for super healthy and homemade.
If you're reading this and waiting for a recipe to make...this is definitely one to try.  Go for the Farro and do it...You won't regret it! -Vicki