Insalalata di faro con verdure
My boss, Katie, has built and impressive track record of cooking during the week, despite her stressful job which often results in late nights at the office. Somehow, she still manages to chef it up in the kitchen. As her assistant, I reap the benefits of her culinary adventures (today, it was a blueberry tart with a crust made from scratch). Recently, she had a farro epiphany that inspired her to make a grilled vegetable farro salad, which she shared with me and which I fell fast and hard in love with. I decided to try my hand at a similar recipe, by Mr. Jamie Oliver, that required roasted vegetables and farro.
Farro is a grain similar to barley; it’s an ancient spelt grain that used to be ubiquitously grown in the BCs but now, mass produced only in Italy’s Tuscan region. Most of the time, farro requires overnight soaking before cooking, which yields a firm chewy texture. Good things don’t come easy folks. Semi-pearled farro (which can be used immediately) is hard to find. But regular farro is only slightly more available and can be purchased at specialty food stores or Whole Foods…which…kind of sucks. Clearly the demand is not there. So loyal readers/fans-of-ancient-food-consumption, please write your local market and “demand” that this old-school wheat be on the shelves!
If finding and cooking the farro was an episode of the Wire, chopping up the veggies was like watching a candle burn out. Slow. Monotonous. Boring. But I was excited about summer vegetables like eggplant, fennel, and bell peppers, I had stocked up on for the salad. I grilled the veggies with garlic and red onion, tossed everything with the cooked farro, and dressed the salad in heaping spoonfuls of olive oil and lemon juice. Unfortunately I was kind of a miser with the herbs. There just wasn’t enough in the salad. While eating the salad, I felt as uncomfortable and annoyed as I did when I forgot to wear my socks during gym class in 6th grade. Something was clearly missing. In 6th grade, it was the socks. But on this particular night, that something was my culinary competency.
Overall, this was a fantastic summery dish. It’s healthy too. Maybe a little too healthy. It could have definitely used a glass of Pinot Gris on the side, or maybe just a juice beef burger.
Japanese eggplants that my mom picked up at the local farmer’s market.
Cutting into the fennel, I could already feel the anise-y crunch to come.
A colorful mélange of chopped vegetables. It’s like, a party in a baking dish.
Farro, a delicious wheat grain, that is not oft used at home here in the States.
This is what I’ve dubbed a “party in my mouth”.
Blueberry scones from the Rose Bakery Cookbook.
PS. This is my friend Jeanne's farro salad.
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