August 13, 2009 | Salads, Side Dishes, Vegetables
Being able to substitute ingredients (farro instead of bulgur wheat) and combine new ingredients (adding feta to a classic tabbouleh) really makes cooking fun and tasty!
For me it all started with my tomato harvest. I think I’ve mentioned my garden on steroids several times this year – never in my life have I been so successful growing things! The tomatoes above are a one day harvest – I picked twice as many as this again today and am preparing to freeze some of them before they go bad.
Start by slicing a couple of large tomatoes in half horizontally to expose the seeds…
…then use your finger to scoop out the seeds and toss them.
After peeling a large cucumber, cut it in half lengthwise, then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds (also trash those).
Dice up the tomatoes and cucumbers…
…and grab a good handful each of parsley and mint.
Mince the herbs nice and fine with a good chef’s knife…
…and zest and juice a lemon.
Crumble or cut into a small dice a nice wedge of feta cheese.
Farro takes awhile to cook, so the last time I made a huge batch of it and froze it in 2 cup containers in the fridge. Mix everything together in a large bowl and toss to combine.
Finish your dish off with a high quality extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. I may have mentioned before that I belong to the Olive Oil of the Month club, so I get artisinal oil from Italy shipped to me each month – can’t beat it!Farro with Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Mint and Feta
Serves 6This dish makes a great salad or side dish, but is also hearty enough for a vegetarian main course thanks to the farro and cheese.
2 cups tomatoes, diced
2 cups cucumber, diced
2 cups farro, cooked and cooled
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons parsley, minced
2 tablespoons mint, minced
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
extra virgin olive oil, to taste
salt and pepper, to tasteCombine tomatoes, cucumber, farro, lemon zest and juice, parsley, mint and feta in a large bowl. Mix well then add olive oil, salt and pepper to taste.
cucumber salad is great in taste.when i saw this in your site its looks great . i hope in taste is also good. try one of my recipes.