Farro Salad with Roasted Vegetables and a Sherry Vinaigrette
Filed under Vinegars
This is the grain salad that behaves the way a grain salad should: better on day two than on day one, and made entirely from a pot, a pan and a bowl. Three decisions do the work. The farro is boiled like pasta, in a big pot of water salted at one percent, so it seasons itself from the inside as it cooks. The farro guide covers the grain itself; the short version is that pearled farro, farro perlato, needs no soaking and is tender in under half an hour. The vegetables are roasted hot and dry, in one layer on a sheet pan, because browned edges are where the flavor lives; a crowded pan steams instead of browns, and steam never made anything taste roasted. And the vinaigrette goes onto the farro while the grain is still warm, because warm farro drinks a dressing and cold farro merely wears it. Everything else, the cheese, the nuts, the herbs, is negotiable.
Ingredients, for four as a main or six as a side
- 250 g (1 1/2 cups) pearled farro (farro perlato)
- Fine sea salt, for the cooking water at one percent
- 1 red bell pepper, cut into 2 cm pieces
- 1 medium zucchini, halved and cut into 2 cm half-moons
- 1 red onion, cut into thick wedges
- 250 g cherry tomatoes, left whole
- 90 ml (6 tablespoons) extra virgin olive oil, divided; a bottle worth tasting, per the buying guide
- 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar or red wine vinegar, per the vinegar guide
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 small garlic clove, finely grated (optional)
- A big handful of flat-leaf parsley, basil or mint, roughly chopped
- 100 g feta or ricotta salata, crumbled (optional)
- 40 g toasted walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts, roughly chopped (optional)
Method
- Roast the vegetables hot. Heat the oven to 220°C (425°F). On a large sheet pan, toss the pepper, zucchini, onion and tomatoes with 3 tablespoons of the oil and a big pinch of salt, and spread them in a single layer with space between the pieces. Use two pans rather than crowd one.
- Let them brown. Roast 25 to 30 minutes, stirring once at the halfway mark, until the edges are well browned and the tomatoes have collapsed into jammy little pockets. Browning is the point; pale roasted vegetables are just warm raw vegetables, and the browning guide explains why the dry heat of a hot oven does what a pot of water never can.
- Boil the farro like pasta. While the vegetables roast, bring a large pot of water salted at one percent to a boil, add the farro, and cook 25 to 30 minutes, until the grains are tender with a clear, pleasant chew at the center. Start tasting at 20 minutes. Drain well and do not rinse.
- Make the vinaigrette in the serving bowl. In a bowl large enough to hold everything, whisk the vinegar, mustard, garlic and a pinch of salt, then whisk in the remaining 3 tablespoons of oil until the dressing thickens and holds together. The mustard is what keeps it from splitting, which is the whole subject of the vinaigrette guide.
- Dress the farro warm. Tip the drained farro into the bowl while it is still steaming, toss to coat, and let it sit for five minutes. This is the step that separates a seasoned salad from a coated one: the warm grain takes the dressing in rather than letting it pool at the bottom of the bowl.
- Finish. Fold in the roasted vegetables and every browned scrap and juice from the pan, then the herbs, cheese and nuts. Taste, and adjust with salt and a last splash of vinegar; a grain salad eaten at room temperature needs to be seasoned a shade louder than a hot dish. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Why it went wrong
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Bland | Undersalted cooking water, or the farro was dressed cold | One percent salt in the pot, per the salting guide, and toss the grain with the vinaigrette while it is warm |
| Mushy | Overcooked, or the package was whole farro on a pearled schedule | Start tasting at 20 minutes; stop while the center still pushes back. Whole farro takes longer, commonly 40 to 60 minutes, and a soak shortens that |
| Vegetables soggy, no color | Crowded pan; the pieces steamed in their own moisture | One layer, space between pieces, two pans if needed, full 220°C heat |
| Harsh, vinegar out front | Dressing never emulsified, or too much raw garlic | Whisk the oil into the mustard and vinegar until thick; keep the garlic to one small clove, grated fine |
| Dry on day two | The grain kept absorbing after the bowl hit the fridge | Refresh with a spoon of oil, a splash of vinegar and a pinch of salt before serving; it comes all the way back |
Notes and variations
This is a formula, not a fixed dish. The frame is 250 g of farro, roughly 700 g of vegetables roasted dark, three parts oil to one part vinegar with a spoon of mustard, and something green, something salty and something crunchy folded in at the end. In autumn that means cubed squash, red onion and fennel with sage; in spring, asparagus and peas need only 12 to 15 minutes in the oven, so put them on a separate pan. To make it dinner, lay a tin of good tuna or a few oil-packed anchovies over the top, or a soft-boiled egg per bowl. Make-ahead is the reason this recipe exists: the salad holds four days in the fridge, and the flavor on day two is deeper than on day one. Add the herbs and nuts the day you serve so they stay bright and crisp. In Denver, water boils at about 202°F rather than 212°F, so the farro lands at the far end of the timing and sometimes a few minutes past it; taste rather than trust the clock, and see the altitude guide for why every simmered thing here runs slow.
The farro, the olive oil, the sherry vinegar and the mustard are at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and ship across the continental U.S. from theambrosianpantry.com. The grain on the shelf is an organic Italian farro perlato, which is exactly the pearled type this method assumes.
