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Demo: Farro and Roasted Vegetable Salad

 

This hearty and colorful salad is adapted from a recipe I found in Jamie Oliver’s wonderful cookbook Jamie’s Italy .  It features farro, a whole wheat berry that is popular in Italian soups and stews.  Healthy Living carries a “pearled” farro that is quicker cooking than the unpearled variety.  It takes only about 20 minutes of cooking in boiling, salted water to achieve it’s chewy pleasant texture.  The vegetables are chopped into large chunks,  roasted until they are tender and beginning to char, then sprinkled with champagne vinegar while they cool.  The cooked farro is dressed with lemon juice, zest, olive oil, salt and pepper and a large handful of fresh chopped herbs.  Today I used a combination of minced flat leafed parsley and fennel fronds for a really nice accent.  Once the roasted vegetables are cooled, they are chopped into smaller pieces and added to the farro mixture.   Simple earthy flavors, a variety of textures and colors and ease of preparation make this a great choice for potlucks, picnics or a light summer supper.

Variations on this recipe are endless, as any vegetable that lends itself to roasting would work as well as many combinations of fresh herbs.  Some ideas that come to mind are portabella or shitake mushrooms with asparagus and red peppers with fresh tarragon.  Leftover roasted chicken chunks or garbanzo beans would add protein and flavor.  Farro has become one of my favorite grains for summer salads- try a farro tabouli to update an old favorite.  See the recipe for “Wheat Berry Tabouli” in our recipe data base.

http://local.healthy-living-staging/recipes/summer-roasted-vegetable-and-farro-salad/

Be sure to stop by our demo counter when shopping at Healthy Living for samples of featured recipes or samples from our wonderful local vendors.

Happy cooking!

Gerda,  Demo Coordinator