Farro Salad with Beets, Pistachios, and Smoked Salmon
A perfect lunch salad as a main course, or in smaller form, to go with your evening meal. Greens, grains, sweet, savory, and an explosion of textures.
Farro Salad
2015-12-14 15:09:06
Serves 2
This recipe can take a bit of advance planning. I'm the sort of person who randomly often has some roasted or pressure cooked beets hanging around the fridge, and I routinely make a double batch of grains to eat throughout the week. (You can totally destroy the prep time of this one by buying precooked beets, and even precooked grains of your choosing - most any will work.) I really like the nutty, hearty flavor of farro or freekeh for salads like this, and any green will work (there's baby red leaf lettuce in the picture above). Similarly, feta can be used in place of goat cheese. A lemony vinaigrette takes things one way, but a balsamic glaze could go another. And I'm certain I would have included avocado slices if I'd had one around!
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
1 hr
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked farro (see notes)
- 1 large or 2 small-medium red beets, roasted or steamed (see notes) and cooled
- 6 oz spinach, watercress, or any salad green or mix
- 3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
- 1/3 cup shelled pistachios
- 3 oz smoked salmon
For the vinaigrette
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 3 tsp olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- pinch garlic powder
Assemble the salad
- Create a bed of greens on 2-4 salad plates; divide cooled beets evenly on lettuces. Scoop approximately equal amounts of farro (warm or cold) onto beets. Add crumbled goat cheese, then the pistachios. Place small amounts of thinly sliced smoked salmon strategically around the edge of the salad plate.
For the vinaigrette
- Mix all ingredients VERY well, and drizzle over the lettuces/beets/farro/cheese/nuts.
- Serve immediately.
For the farro
- There are many ways to cook farro. I prefer using a rice cooker, but you can steam, simmer, or pressure-cook this versatile grain. For added flavor, cook with stock or a pinch of salt instead of plain water.
For the beets
- Some stores carry prepackaged, small, fully cooked and peeled beets. They're great! However, roasting a beet with a bit of olive oil smeared on it and wrapped up in foil is quite easy (and a great way to get your oven to do double duty when you're using it for something else - just modify times for your given temperature; there are lots of online guides). Pressure cooking is another option. Just make sure to cool and peel them before using in the salad.
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