Recently a client I was working with told me she wanted to learn to make a farro salad in one of our upcoming cooking classes. Farro is an Italian whole grain with a unique, nutty taste. I’ve been using it regularly in hot, risotto-like dishes so I jumped on the chance to try farro in a salad. —
My client specifically mentioned a farro beet salad she had seen once in the New York Times. I Googled the recipe and found it, written by Martha Rose Shulman, one of my favorite food writers. Her recipes always sound so healthy – I know I will feel virtuous as I eat them! – yet they’re super-flavorful and satisfying.
Her farro beet salad was no different. But, I did want to simplify it for both my client and me.
As much as I admire the idea of cooking with beet greens, in practice I secretly loathe it. The greens are so gritty that they need to be soaked and drained at least three times before being dried. Then the tough ribs need to be removed. I knew that in reality this whole process could discourage my client from making the dish again in the future.
I also wanted to swap out the whole-grain farro for semi-pearled (semi-perlato) farro. This version doesn’t require soaking and cooks in less than half the time. But it still has loads of fiber, much more than the completely refined (perlato) variety.
I made a few other tweaks to the recipe including upping the amount of parsley to compensate for the loss of green from the beet greens. For this particular client I also omitted the garlic and the walnuts, although I would add the walnuts back in for myself.
Once the salad was put together, I loved it. The sweet beets played off the hearty grains perfectly, and the salty feta cheese added loads of flavor. This is a salad I will come back to time and again, and I’ll be experimenting with more farro salads moving forward. Yum!
Click here for Martha Rose Shulman’s delicious recipe.
Here is my adaptation:
ROASTED BEET AND FARRO SALAD
4-6 servings
Ingredients:
3 small to medium-sized beets
1 cup semi-pearled farro (available at Fairway or Buon Italia)
2 Tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup chopped parsley
2 oz. crumbled feta cheese, or to taste
kosher salt
pepper
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Scrub each beet and wrap them individually in aluminum foil. Roast the beets until tender, about an hour. Open up the foil around each beet. Once the beets are cool enough to handle, slip the skins off the beets and chop the beets into one-inch pieces.
2. Bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a boil. Add the farro, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook until the farro is tender, but not soft, about 20 minutes. Drain and transfer to a large bowl.
3. In a medium bowl whisk together the sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the olive oil drop by drop, whisking all the while.
4. Add the beets and parsley to the farro. Toss with the dressing, using only as much as you’d like. Add in the feta cheese and freshly ground pepper. Taste for seasoning, adding salt or pepper if necessary.
