Savory Farro Salad

This is not unlike a Farro Salad I posted awhile back. That one had spinach, roasted tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts. This one keeps the Farro as a base and uses tangy, briny vegetables and olives to jazz it up. The amazing secret to this recipe is that when I drain the sundried tomato jar, I reserve the wonderful flavored oil and use that in my dressing. It’s built in intense flavor. Genius, right? That oil is like colostrum, it’s liquid gold. This salad is great prepared a day in advance and is always a huge hit as both a side or vegan main. Top with tofu for a complete meal.

Ingredients:

A bag of Farro cooked al dente according to package directions. For added flavor, I cook the Farro in boxed vegetable broth. Drain, rinse with cold water to stop the cooking process. You want grains with bite that separate.

A jar of marinated sundried tomatoes, with oil reserved and tomatoes julienned as best as you can. I slice mine into skinny thirds.

Two jars of marinated artichoke hearts, artichokes cut in half length wise.

A jar of black pitted kalamata olives halved lengthwise.

A packed cup to a cup and a half of chopped parsley. I actually forgot to do this when I photographed this recipe for the shoot, but I intended to add a bunch of finely chopped scallions. I recommend that as a nice fresh counter to the jarred vegetables. Always a balance, my Loves.

Dressing: half a cup of the sundried oil, half a cup of fresh lemon juice, one tsp salt, half a tsp pepper. That’s all you need since the oil does all the work.

Directions:

Whisk well and pour a third on the warm Farro so it can absorb it alone. Let that sit a bit if you can before adding rest of dressing and the chopped veggies. Mix in the fresh parsley right before serving for maximum flavor and greenery. If making in advance, store each veg separately in their own container, with the remainder of the dressing in its own container too. Bring all to room temp, mix, and serve.