Delicious Warm Farro Salad with Arugula and Prosciutto

Do you eat farro? I do. In fact, I’ve been eating so much recently I could have dressed up as a farro grain for Halloween.

I should seriously consider switching out that fish for a few farro grains to feed the shark. For real.

As you may remember, I went on a healthy eating binge prior to going to Europe.

This included some experimentation with some salads and a few other dishes. This salad was one of the standout dishes that I made.

Complex flavors and very easy to make. Better yet, it’s warm and quite suitable for the winter chill that is coming our way.

Farro Salad Deconstructed

This salad has prominent salty and savory flavors. The healthy part about this dish is the farro. Farro is filling and has plenty of fiber, carbohydrates, and protein to make for a complete meal.

I like to think of farro as the vehicle for all the goods we throw on top of it. You know, like oatmeal and all the stuff that gets topped with. Therefore, farro is quite versatile in cooking.

Here is what I thought of each of the ingredients for the salad-

• Prosciutto – perfect flavor, salty and delicate. You could sub with another cured salty meat or even steak, but that might be a little too much protein.
• Pecorino Romano shavings – very tasty, if you don’t have it you could sub with parmesan
• Green olives – adds more salty flavors to help season the farro, you could use any type, but I had green on hand
• Roasted fennel – slightly sweet with hints of licorice
• Arugula – contrasts the salty flavor with peppery, crunchy leaves
• Farro – warm, soft, and chewy, the heart of the dish

In summary, if you are looking for a new way to use farro. This could be it! Next time I make this I am going to double it for sure.

If you want to learn more about farro, check out this article at NPR. It gives you a little history and some information on the different types (e.g. whole, semi-pearled and pearled farro).

In case you missed them, here are some of my other farro recipes!

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Warm Farro Salad With Fennel, Arugula, Prosciutto, and Pecorino

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• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
• Yield: 2 people 1x
• Category: Main Dish
• Cuisine: New American

Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 1/2 cups farro (wheat berries, spelt grains, or farro grains)
• 1 bulb fennel (trimmed, decored, and cut into 1in pieces)
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 bag baby arugula
• 1/4 cup green olives (drained)
• 4 slices prosciutto (chopped into little pieces)
• 1/4 cup pecorino romano (shaved into thin slices with a vegetable peeler)
• 1 whole lemon (zested and juiced)
• 2 teaspoons whole grain or dijon mustard
• freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

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Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Meanwhile, clean and chop fennel into 1 inch pieces. Place chopped fennel into a bowl and coat with 1-2 tablespoons olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Place fennel on a baking sheet and roast, turning at least once. Roast for 30-40 minutes or until fennel is a light golden-brown color.
3. Remove fennel from oven and set aside.
4. While fennel is roasting, cook farro according to package directions, but without salt!!
5. Once farro is done, drain if needed and keep warm. Once fennel is ready, combine the farro and fennel in a mixing bowl and add prosciutto and olives.
6. On individual salad plates, layout a bed of arugula. And add the farro mixture on top of the arugula. Top with shaved pecorino, more prosciutto and fresh cracked pepper.
7. In a small bowl, combine lemon juice, lemon zest and 1/4 cup olive oil and mix. Pour this dressing over the salad and serve!