A Summertime Recipe: Farro Salad Goodness

Nothing like a “heart-healty,” low-in-gluten farro salad on a hot summer night. And you can even prepare it the day before and refrigerte. There are a couple essential steps to a stellar farro salad: cook the farro to al dente (“to the tooth”) in salted water – and use only TOP extra-virgin olive oil.

Here’s a recipe for you:

Summertime Farro Salad (for 6 – 8 persons)

1 – 1/2 c farro
1 mozzarella
cherry tomatoes, 6 – 8
bunch of fresh basil
handful of olives
olive oil (q. b. –“quanto basta” or “as much as is needed”)
salt, kosher (for cooking) – q. b.

other possible ingredients:

chickpeas, 1 can
Italian fagioli borlotti (speckled beans) 1 can
purple onion, finely-chopped
fresh chives, finely-diced
fresh mint, finely-diced
fresh parsley, finely-diced
1 cup corn
small can of tuna, packed in olive oil
diced pickles – and/or other pickled vegetables, chopped

Cook `1 -1/2 c farro in same amount of water (salted). Bring to boil, then simmer til farro cooks to al dente (“to the tooth”). Set aside, after stirring in about 1`/2 c to 3/4 c olive oil. (Add olive oil after cooking so that farro does not remain sticky). Add diced mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, halved or in smaller piece, olives and diced fresh basil. Add salt as needed. (I would not add black pepper, though you might wish to do so….) Serve.

OR
Add the above ingredients as well as all the other ingredients indicated as “other possible ingredients.”
Buon appetito!

Note: if mozzarella not available, add another cheese of your choice, diced. Optional addition to the above: slice of cooked ham, diced.