Warm Farro salad with Butternut Squash and Radicchio begs to be eaten with it’s invitingly bright colors and fluffy crumbles of cheese. Naturally colorful and naturally delicious, I was very pleased with the outcome of this salad! Farro is the perfect vehicle for crunchy slightly bitter radicchio, sweet roasted butternut squash, and creamy goat cheese 🙂
This is a sponsored post. Bob’s Red Mill was kind enough to send me a box of goods and this was one of the dishes that I’ve prepared with their products. If you haven’t heard of Bob’s Red Mill before, they produce all kinds of goods, ranging from grains and beans to flours and baking ingredients. Some of my of my favorite products are their farro and flours!  Give them a try if you are looking for a new brand to cook with!
Did you know farro can kick?
This farro can. No I’m not talking about soccer silly.
I’m talking about spice.
This farro is a kicker thanks to the cayenne pepper that’s in it.
It looks quite unassuming doesn’t it?
Yes it does.
It’s got a lovely purple from the radicchio, soft orange from the sweet roasted butternut squash, a few specks of green from the parsley, and fluffy white cheese.
All against an earthy light brown background made up of farro grains.
You wouldn’t expect it to have a peppery kick in there, now would you?
Where’s the telltale red indicating spicy?! There isn’t any!!
So if you are feeling bored at the diner table, have some fun and surprise whoever you’re making this for!! ha!
Kidding.:)
Don’t be mean.
The cayenne though, is really what adds to the flavors here in a unique and memorable way.
The Crumbled Cheese is Key
I experimented with several cheeses after making this a couple of times.
Feta did not work.
Feta was way too salty/briny and just threw all the flavors off.
Goat cheese was creamy and salty enough that it worked and was my favorite.
Blue cheese also worked, but personally I didn’t like the spicy-blue cheese combo.
I don’t know maybe some people will?
Both blue cheese and goat cheese help to balance some of the spicyness of the cayenne without overpowering the other flavors in the salad.
They also do a good job adding their own creamy textures to the mix.
So in summary if you have some farro laying around or want to try it out, this is an easy recipe I would recommend giving a shot!
Pew pew!!
In case you’ve missed them, here are some of my other farro recipes!
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PrintWarm Farro salad with Butternut Squash and Radicchio
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 people 1x
- Category: Main Dish
- Cuisine: New American
Ingredients
- 4 cups butternut squash (i used frozen)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1.5 cups uncooked farro
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (use a pinch for less spicy)
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 cup radicchio (chopped )
- 1/2 cup Fresh Parsley (chopped )
- 2–4 ounces Goat Cheese (crumbled; alternatively blue cheese)
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees and drizzle squash with 1 tablespoon oil and a few dashes of salt. Spread on a baking sheet and roast 20-30 minutes until tender and bottom slightly browned. Then set aside.
- While squash is roasting, bring 4 cups water to boil in large pot or dutch oven. Stir in farro and 1 teaspoon salt. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, 15 to 20 minutes drain excess water.
- While farro is cooking, make the dressing: 3 tablespoons oil, vinegar, shallot, mustard, cayenne, and ¼ teaspoon salt together in small bowl or canning jar.
- Add warm farro and squash, radicchio, parsley, and toss with the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- After plating, add crumble cheese over each dish and garnished with additional parsley.
Notes
If you don’t like spicy things, the cayenne might be something to omit and potentially replace with just black pepper.
Such a pretty and tasty looking salad!
thank you Ronit! 🙂