Farro with Cucumber and Preserved Lemon
Have you heard of farro? It’s an ancient grain that looks similar to barley and has a rich, nutty flavour. The farro I decided to try is part of Bob’s Red Mill Grains of Discovery collection.
Farro has a firm, meaty texture that lends itself perfectly to a chilled grain-based salad; here we liven things up with some salty preserved lemon and fresh, crunchy cucumber. The dish is absolutely wonderful topped with a good dollop of Perfect Hummus (I mean, pretty much everything is made even better with hummus, but still. The preserved lemon in the salad + fresh lemon juice in the hummus = MAJOR SYNERGY).
Persian cucumbers (the little cucumbers), if you can find them, are a great choice here because they contain very little water. Otherwise, remove the watery innards of an English cucumber before dicing.
- 1 cup dried farro
- 3 cups water
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups diced cucumber, preferably Persian
- 1 preserved lemon, minced
- ⅛ tsp cardamom
- optional: 1 chili, very finely chopped
- pepper
- Rinse farro thoroughly. Add to pot with 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 30 minutes, until all water has been absorbed. Let cool to room temperature.
- Toss farro with 1 Tbsp olive oil. Stir in cucumber, lemon, cardamom, and optional chili for some heat. Season with pepper to taste. Excellent served with hummus.
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