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Farro Chopped Salad -One salad that can even be considered a meal because it is packed with healthy veggies and whole grain!
I have only cooked with farro a few times and most of that has been in soups. I use the quick cooking (Italian) variety to bulk up a simple vegetable soup or beef stew (think beef and barley).
This week, because I am on such a roll, I made my popular Summer Vegetable Chopped Salad but I made a few changes due to what I had on hand. I liked these changes. This revamped winter salad is going to have some appearances in a few of my upcoming local cooking demonstrations I think. It’s share worthy!
The reason I shook things up a bit were due to the fact that I wanted to incorporate what was readily available at the store NOW (in January), use the bags of farro I had just sitting in the pantry (I had 3), I have lemons coming out the ears and more bags and cans of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) than one family can consume in a year. Thus- farro chopped salad was born.
Farro is a grain that is high in fiber and protein so it makes what could be deemed as ordinary become something that makes an excellent meat replacement in a salad (if you are looking for that sort of thing). I wanted to make a filling salad that kept me in line with my calorie goals for the day and I was not disappointed.
I used a combination of veggies that also pack a nutritional punch, threw in a bit of contrast with the chickpeas, some saltiness with the chopped green olives, smooth texture with the goat (or feta) cheese all bound together in a lemony dressing. Feel free to modify as you please- as long as you keep the amounts even ex) 1 C of chopped celery in place of 1 C chopped red pepper, then this will work out just fine. My last piece of advice is this: A good chopped salad needs to have variety, and each component needs to be chopped about the same size. It makes for a better bite, don’t you think?
Please weigh in below in the comments section. Have you ever tried farro? Are you a fan of chopped salads?
I would love to know what you think of this farro chopped salad!
This chopped salad is highly customizable with what is in season and on hand. Be sure to chop all veggies to about the same size.
Ingredients
- 3 C cooked farro, follow package instructions, cook and allow to cool
- 1 red pepper, diced small
- 1 yellow pepper, diced small
- 1 small cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced small
- 1 small zucchini, peeled, seeded and diced small
- 1 small red onion, diced small
- 2 C chopped arugula or spinach (or a combo of both) think 2 handfulls
- 1 C chopped romaine
- 1/2 C chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 C chopped fresh basil
- 1 large can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 2 C (or 1 small box) cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced
- 1/2 C pitted green olives, chopped
- 4 oz crumbled goat cheese (or feta if you prefer)
- garnish with toasted pecan pieces, optional
- Dressing:
- 2 lemons, juiced
- zest of 1 of the lemons
- 1 C high quality extra virgin olive oil
- salt/pepper to taste
- 1 TB balsamic vinegar (taste before adding because the lemon might be enough acid for the dressing) or as a finishing drizzle. Balsamic reduction if you have it would be great as well.
Instructions
- Cook farro, set aside.
- Chop each salad ingredient and layer in a serving bowl.
- Be sure to chop each item to about the same size for a uniform bite.
- Whisk dressing ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Taste and season as you see fit.
- Add the farro to the salad ingredients.
- Toss the salad with the dressing.
- Serve.
