Tag: farro

Claudia Roden’s Spelt and Tomato Salad

.Reading time 1 minute.

Serves: 6

Nat and I love farro; an ancient Mediterranean wheat species.

And it is definitely back in vogue based on the number of salads featuring farro we have cooked the last few years.

As with many (all?) of her recipes, this salad is simply a charming honesty of ingredients. Entirely satisfying to the point that I kept reaching for spoon after spoon.

There is a suggested variation which, whilst I have not cooked, I’ve listed below. It’s the next farro adventure.

Variation

Omit the tomatoes; instead, mix in 50gm raisins (soaked in water for 30 minutes), 50gm lightly toasted pine nuts and the shredded leaves of 3 basil sprigs and 3 mint sprigs.

Ingredients

250gm pear farro or spelt
200gm baby plum tomatoes, halved
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 – 1 lemon, to taste
Bunch of flat-leaf parsley, coarsely chopped
Salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Soak the farro or spelt in plenty of cold water for 30 minutes. Rinse, drain and put it in a pan with plenty of water to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender, adding salt towards the end. Drain and put it in a serving bowl.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well.

Iceberg’s pea salad recipe

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Serves: 4

We have had some just excellent, long lunches at Icebergs which at its best, is much more than a must-try Eastern Suburbs joint for the well heeled.

If you have ever been, you will know the famous pea salad. This is legit the recipe.

We didn’t have enough time to drain the ricotta salata so we crumbed it on top; at Icebergs, it is shaved and the effect is just great.

Ingredients

Salad
1 cup farro
1½ cups cooked peas
5 leaves basil, chopped
5 leaves mint, chopped
1 shallot, finely diced
½ Lebanese cucumber, diced
½ stick celery, diced
25ml vinaigrette (see ingredients below)
Salt and pepper to taste

Vinaigrette

25ml lemon juice
35ml sherry vinegar
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
¾ tsp salt
200ml extra-virgin olive oil
Ricotta salata (salted ricotta) to serve (this is hard to find. We mixed a tub of ricotta with salt and let it drain over a fine mesh sieve sprinkling with salt. It takes at least 2 days for the liquid to drain away – see here)

Method

  1. Cook the farro in plenty of lightly salted water for 20–30 minutes or as per the packet instructions. Drain and allow to cool to room temperature.
  2. To make the vinaigrette, combine the vinegar, mustard, salt and lemon juice and then the oil. Do not emulsify.
  3. Combine the herbs, peas, farro, cucumber, celery, shallot seasoning and 25ml vinaigrette. Place the dressed salad in bowl, coat with a fine grating of salted ricotta and serve. Store excess vinaigrette in the fridge for up to 1 week.