I know most of us are thinking “Turkey!” this week, and believe me I’ve already called dibs on a big helping of turkey, stuffing, green beans, etc., but I couldn’t resist sharing this grain salad recipe. I’m not suggesting it make its way onto your Thanksgiving dinner table, but maybe next week when you’re looking to detox from turkey day overload you’ll be up for trying something new.

Grains have taken their fair share of heat lately. It seems like the “whole grain” mission finally broke through to mainstream acceptance when – slam – certain groups start banning grains or severely cutting back on grains in their diet in the name of health. I am a fan of grains. So while I generally try not to overdo starches, I do love discovering a new grain to add to my limited cooking repertoire.

I had never experienced farro until about 3 years ago when this Italian restaurant that my husband and I frequent added a farro salad to their winter menu. Unbelievable. I could eat it by the bucketful. But, I couldn’t find farro in my supermarket aisles and was too lazy to make a trip to a specialty market for it. Then, last summer, when I wasn’t even looking for it, I noticed it in the small market within walking distance of our new neighborhood — serendipity!

So what’s farro? And how the heck do you pronounce it? It falls into the group of “ancient grains”, like quinoa, for example (hey, gee, another grain that people don’t know how to pronounce!). As far as I can tell, it’s pronounced “far-oh”, and not like “pharaoh”. Of course, perhaps the waitstaff at the local restaurant is far too polite to tell me I’ve been mispronouncing it with each order! Need a mnemonic – try “farro is far out”.

According to the packaging (which doesn’t include a pronunciation key), it has a pretty good protein profile and some iron, too. It’s high in fiber and some minerals. And the farro plant is a pretty rugged plant, so it generally doesn’t require pesticides or fertilizers during growth. Price-wise, farro is more expensive than other generally available grains, but it goes a long way and has a pretty high yum-to-cost quotient.

It looks like this before cooking (pignoli nuts on the left for scale):

I’d compare the cooked texture to a dense rice texture — kind of like risotto perhaps? It doesn’t have an unpleasant crunch, which – as an aside – puts it head and shoulders above wheat berries from my perspective. I like the taste of wheat berries, but don’t really enjoy their crunch. I always feel like I’ve undercooked wheat berries, which distracts from my ability to enjoy them. Okay, back to farro…

This recipe is really my attempt to recreate the wonderful salad I enjoy at L’Orcio. It’s straight forward and easy, because once cooking becomes too involved, I’d rather just go out to eat.

Farro Salad    [printer friendly recipe here.]

Serves 4-6 as side dish

1 cup uncooked farro

2 cups chicken stock or broth (you could go veggie here, if you prefer)
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2 cups water

1/3 cup pignoli nuts, toasted

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

1/4 cup fresh basil chopped or shredded

1 cup fresh mozzarella, cut into bite sized pieces (I use bocconcini and cut in half)

2-3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (the better the quality, the better the undertone of this salad)

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Soak farro in water for 20 minutes, rinse and drain. Cook farro in large pot with 2 cups chicken stock and 2 cups water – bring to boil, then cover and simmer for about 25 minutes (farro should not be toothsome, but will retain structure).  Drain and remove to medium bowl; allow to cool about 10 minutes.  Stir in olive oil; then add pignoli nuts, tomatoes, basil and mozzarella and stir well to mix flavors.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Allow to sit so flavors meld.

I prefer to eat this salad at room temperature, but it can be made ahead and refrigerated – just be sure to remove and allow it to warm up before serving to enhance the flavor.

[Printer friendly version of this recipe here.]

Definitely don’t skip toasting the pignoli nuts. It brings their lovely flavor to a whole new level of goodness. I toasted them in a dry skillet on the stove top, although I wasn’t quite as attentive as I should have been. I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve burned nuts when toasting them this way. As much as I know that I need to stay close by and flip or turn them frequently, somehow I always get distracted…. Usually it’s the very, very fragrant scent (i.e., burnt smell) that snaps me back to attention. It didn’t get that far today, but my mind did start to wander.

I’d also suggest that if you have a special bottle of extra virgin olive oil that you save for certain recipes, you use it here. This recipe doesn’t rely on a fancy dressing for flavor, so it’s the olive oil that really provides the undertones of this salad. That being said, I’ve used up all my “special occasion” olive oil and haven’t replenished, and this recipe was still good with the everyday stuff. The good stuff would kick up the earthy nuttiness, though — yummmmm.

Okay, I’ll let you get back to your Thanksgiving menu daydreaming. Can’t you just smell that turkey roasting already? And how about a slice of apple pie for dessert? Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!