Farro Salad with Broad Beans and Preserved Lemon

, from Issue #24. September, 2015
Photography by Aaron McLean.
Farro Salad with Broad Beans and Preserved Lemon

This beautiful grain salad is a fresh and delicious dinner recipe you and your friends will love. Farro, broad beans and currants assembled with a minty and lemon dressing.

Serves: 8

INGREDIENTS

1 1⁄2 cups farro, rinsed and drained
1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
2 3⁄4 cups chicken stock or water
1⁄2 cup currants
1 x 500 gram packet frozen broad beans
2 quarters preserved lemon
2 vine tomatoes, diced
1 cup diced cucumber
1⁄4 cup pistachio nuts
1⁄2 cup dried cranberries

Dressing
1⁄2 cup olive oil
finely grated zest and juice 1 lemon
1⁄4 teaspoon each ground allspice and cinnamon
1 tablespoon honey
2 cloves garlic, crushed
small handful mint leaves
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

METHOD

Dressing: Whisk all the ingredients in a bowl and season.

Salad: Put the farro, salt and chicken stock in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cook until nearly all the stock has been absorbed and the farro is tender. Stir occasionally to prevent the farro sticking to the base of the saucepan. The grains will have a chewy texture when cooked. Remove from the heat and tip into a bowl. Stir in the currants and half the dressing.

Cook the broad beans in boiling salted water until tender. Drain and refresh in cold water. Peel, discarding the skins.

Scrape the flesh from the skin of the lemon quarters and discard. Slice the skin thinly.

To assemble: Combine all the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Pour over the remaining dressing and turn gently to coat. Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with extra mint. The salad will keep, covered and refrigerated, for 2 days. 

Farro: an ancient grain – a precursor to wheat as we know it today. Although similar in appearance to spelt, another early wheat, they are in fact different. Available from specialty or health food stores.