The Perfect Farro Salad
There are many farro salads out there, but when you get the aromatics just right and retain enough bite and combine this with a sensational monocultivar extra virgin olive oil, it becomes truly great.
Thanks to some inspiration from chef Ryan Hardy from Charlie Bird in SoHo NY, we started to cook farro with apple cider, bay leaves and plenty of salt, which loads in flavour deep in the grains. You can actually eat this on its own, particularly if you like a savoury breakfast.
Then you add in the layers with monocultivar Intosso, pistachio, parmigiano and you seem to enter the seventh dimension. To finish, you load in the fresh vegetables making it both beautiful and delicious.
INGREDIENTS
180g Farro
230ml Organic Apple Cider
1 ½ tsp Coarse sea salt
2 Bay leaves
8 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, we use monocultivar Intosso from Trappeto di Caprafico in Abruzzo
2 tbsp Lemon Juice
70g Parmesan shavings
70g Pistachio nuts, roughly chopped
50g Wild rocket leaves, torn
25g of parsley, basil and mint, torn
120g datterini or cherry tomatoes, halved
4 radishes, finely sliced
Flaked Maldon sea salt
METHOD
In a medium saucepan, bring the farro, cider, salt and bay leaves to simmer with 500ml (2 cups) of water. Simmer until the farro is tender and much of the liquid has evapourated – typically around 20 minutes. If you see it running dry before this time, add a bit more water. Allow the farro to cool and discard the bay leaves.
Next, in a salad bowl, whisk the extra virgin olive oil with the lemon juice and a pinch of flaked sea salt. Add the farro, parmesan and pistachio nuts and combine well. You can keep this for a couple of hours at room temperature with no problem, or overnight in the fridge and then you can bring up to room temperature before serving. Just before serving, fold in the rocket leaves, herbs, tomatoes and radish. Taste and adjust the salt if needed and add a final swirl of Intosso olive oil.
Serve in its own right, or as a wonderful side dish.