I’m really excited today because I am entering my first recipe contest ever!! It is sponsored by Tuscan Fields Farro. The contest is only open to 50 people (the first 50 who responded to enter). Once I entered, they shipped me two free packages of their farro to try out and encouraged me to come up with an original recipe using this ancient grain.
I’ve never cooked with farro before (honestly, I had never even heard of it before). But it looks like a very versatile grain that you could use in soups, salads, or as a side to a meal. For the contest, I created a recipe for a farro salad using a homemade balsamic vinegar dressing and added in diced tomatoes, cucumbers, and mozzarella cheese. I am eating it right now as I write this post, and let me tell you…it is delicious!!
Wish me luck with the contest!!! The winner will receive a scholarship to the Eat Write Retreat Blog Conference, which is being hosted in Philadelphia this year! How perfect, right in my backyard!!!
Ingredients
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 clove pressed garlic
- 1 tablespoon Jane's Krazy Mixed Up Salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 6 leaves of fresh basil
- 6 roma tomatoes
- 2 large cucumbers
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
- 1 (9.1 oz) package Tuscan Fields Farro Perlato
Instructions
- Whisk together your olive oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper an basil until well blended. Set aside.
- Cut your tomatoes into quarters. Using your fingers (or a spoon) scoop out the inner seeds of the tomatoes and discard. what you are left with is the harder, outer part of the tomatoes. Dice your tomatoes into small cubes.Peel the outer skin off of your cucumbers. Cut the ends off the cucumbers and then cut each one in half lengthwise. Taking a spoon, scoop out the inner seeds of the cucumbers and discard. Next, dice your cucumbers into small cubes.
- Slice your fresh mozzarella cheese and then dice into cubes, similar to the size you diced your tomatoes and cucumbers.
- Toss the tomatoes, cucumbers, and mozzarella together and place into a covered dish. Pour your dressing mixture over top of everything and stir together (It will look like a lot of liquid - this is okay because you will also use it to dress the farro later).
- Cover the dish and let the tomatoes marinate for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator (My recommendation would be to let it sit overnight if you have time to do it the day before)
- Once everything is fully marinated, you can get started cooking your farro. Fill a large pot with water on the stove and bring to a boil (The farro will absorb a lot of water, so be sure to fill up your pot).
- Once water comes to a boil, add in your entire package of farro. Boil for 22 minutes so the farro can cook and become tender.
- Pour the farro into a strainer to drain any excess liquid. While in the strainer, run cold water over the farro to cool it off and chill it a bit.
- Pour your farro into a large mixing bowl.
- Take your marinated tomatoes, cucumbers and mozzarella out of the refrigerator and pour on top of your farro. (Be sure to pour in all the dressing with it as well).
- Stir everything together. Store in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. Enjoy!
An added note…Pat, my picky eater, LOVED this salad. And he doesn’t normally like tomatoes – but he ate all of the tomatoes in this salad!!!! Definitely a winning recipe in my mind! (Oh and it’s still delicious the second day!)