Farro salad perfect dish for hot summer days
A grain salad is always a good solution to cooking on hot summer days. Cooking up your grain in the early morning means the kitchen will be cool throughout the day. I particularly like the toothsome, nutty quality of farro, an ancient strain of wheat that looks like plump barley kernels.
You can find farro in health food stores, gourmet food stores and now in many supermarkets. For this recipe I used Bob’s Red Mill organic farro.
Higher in protein than pasta or rice, farro can be used in stews, soups, salads or as a substitute in rice dishes like risotto. (An added plus is that farro is recommended for diabetics.) You can have fun with different variations on this salad. Sometimes I’ll add sliced peaches and sliced burrata or mozzarella cheese and finish it with a drizzle of balsamic syrup.
The following recipe is a variation on tabouli, the Middle Eastern cracked wheat salad traditionally made with olive oil, lemon, mint, tomato and loads of parsley. This recipe features a few different ingredients, including cucumber, radishes, chives and basil.
While some recipes insist on soaking the farro before cooking I have found that the method below works beautifully and will have a distinctive al dente crunchiness. Serve this with a chilled soup on a hot summer night for a light and satisfying dinner.