I bought some farro three years ago—maybe four? I used to
love this farro salad I would get from the Whole Foods salad bar. It had
butternut squash and pecans in it and white miso paste, among other things I’ve
forgotten from looking at the ingredient list. But for some reason making this
salad always seemed too hard. How am I going to cut up butternut squash into
tiny pieces to roast when it’s still raw? I have a hard enough time cutting
that thing in half, let alone PEELING it and dicing it up into teeny pieces.
And what would I do for the dressing? And how exactly do you cook farro? It all
seemed too hard and too much. But when I checked out the new Fairway market
this week, I saw halved, peeled butternut squash for $1.99 a pound, which is
only a little more than I pay for the unprepared stuff. I had wanted to do a
winter go-through-the-pantry thing, and farro had been in the back of my mind.
I picked it up. Last night I made the butternut squash-pecan-caramelized
onion-farro salad, and it was insanely delicious. E teased me, taking many
bites and drawing out his comment, until finally he told me it was delicious.
Except I had figured that out by that point since he had already taken ten
bites in short succession. This is actually a surprisingly easy thing to make—much
less difficult than the psychological baggage I had made me think.
Instructions:
Caramelize the onions. Chop up a few onions (food processor helps) and start caramelizing them in a pan. This takes 30-40 minutes over low heat and with a bit of oil in the pan. You can walk away, just stir occasionally until they get super reduced and brown. You’ll only need about ¾ cup of caramelized onions, so refrigerate or freeze the rest to use in other delicious recipes.
Roast the squash. Dice half a peeled and seeded butternut
squash, and toss with olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper. Stick in a 400 degree
oven for 30-40 minutes, until the squash is tender and looks good to eat.
Cook the farro. I did maybe 3+ cups of water to a heaping
cup of farro and 1+ tsp of salt. First I boiled the water, then added the
farro, though I think you could add it at the beginning. I checked on it at 30
minutes then let it go close to 40 minutes. It should be nice and chewy. When
it’s ready, dump it into a colander, then back into the pan. Then add a couple
spoonfuls of white miso paste (2 tablespoons) and some pepper and a glug or two
of nice extra virgin olive oil.
Roast apples. I roasted a couple of chopped apples in the
oven, but then switched it to the pan because they weren’t going fast enough. I
also sautéed some leftover kale I had around. I think spinach would also work
nicely here. Only a cup or so of raw vegetable, you don’t need much.
Toast pecans. They need 10 or so minutes in the oven.
As these things got ready, I mixed the farro and butternut
squash together, added the pecans, then the kale and apples. And let me tell
you , it was insanely good. It might be one of my best dishes yet.
