Farro with Cucumbers, Tomatoes, Mint and Feta

August 13, 2009  •  Salads, Side Dishes, Vegetables

Doesn’t this look fabulous? It’s a summer farro salad (remember farro, the ancient grain of the Gods?) based on a combination of flavors from the zucchini and feta salad I made last week and my classic tabbouleh recipe.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 6

This 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 taste

Combine 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.

Comments

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  1. Reply

    meigan1cameron says:

    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.

    March 11, 2011 at 11:28 am

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