Warm Farro & Vegetable Pan

Like many of us, I have a certain image of Martha Stewart. Hostess extraordinaire, white collar criminal, Snoop Dogg’s best friend. She has done it all! I was flipping through the channels at my parents’ place recently Martha was showcasing some of her Middle-Eastern grain recipes, highlighting things like farro and cous cous, and caught my attention. The recipe below is an adaptation of something Martha made, featuring fall and winter vegetables. If you’ve never cooked with farro, soaking it for 30 mins to an hour before you cook will help it cook much quicker. It has a chewy texture and like most grains, is a good base that can take on a lot of different flavors. It’s also very filling and a complex carb, for those of you keeping track of such things.

As I catalogue more of my recipes on this blog, you’ll notice that I love the combination of anchovies, garlic, lemon, and red pepper flakes. Italians really know how to build a perfectly balanced base. Anchovies get a bad rap but if you know what to do with them, the depth of umami flavor they deliver is unmatched. You can find them in the canned fish section at any grocery store. They are very salty so remember to pull back on the additional salt you’ll be adding while cooking with anchovies; I taste as I go to avoid making a salty mess.

Ingredients
1/2 cup dry farro
1 small acorn squash
1 large red beet
2-3 cups watercress or spinach or arugula
1/2 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp herbs de province or dried other dried herbs like rosemary or oregano
1 tsp grated parm
3/4 lemon juice
1 anchovies fillet
2 tbsp olive oil

Method
1. Soak farro in water for 30 min and then bring to boil, cook for 15 mins. Drain and set aside.
2. Heat oven to 375. Cut up acorn squash and scoop out seeds. Slice it up. Dress with 1 tbsp olive oil, s&p, red pepper flakes, herbs de provance. Cook for 20 mins.
3. Wash and wrap beet in foil. Cool for 45 mins. Once cool, peel and slice.
4. Heat up pan in medium and add remaining olive oil. Once hot, add anchovy and sliced onions. Cook for 5 mins. Add in the farro and garlic. Cook for another 3 min. 
5. Add in the roasted vegetables and heat through for 2 mins. Add in watercress and wilt over 2 mins.
6. Finish with lemon juice and parmesan. Eat!