Insalata di Farro con Verdure al Forno

I looked through my copy of Jamie's Italy last week in search of dinner ideas. I’ve cooked from it a few times before. All of the risottos are tempting, the pasta dishes make me hungry every time I look at them, and then there are a few really simple dishes that just combine a few ingredients. For instance, there’s a sticky fig dessert that just involves slowly baking fresh figs for a couple of hours and serving them with honey and pecorino. Obviously, I got caught up in the dessert chapter wondering why I hadn’t tried anything from it yet and then finally remembered I had opened the book in search of dinners. This farro salad seemed like a good choice for July as it brings together all the usual suspects of summer’s vegetable bin.

Summer squash, zucchini, fennel, onion, bell pepper, eggplant, and garlic were all chopped and roasted. Then, they were simply tossed with cooked farro, lots of fresh herbs like basil, flat leaf parsley, and fennel fronds, and lemon juice and olive oil. I like the way Jamie writes a recipe. The quantity for the herbs is “a good bunch,” and when the roasted vegetables are removed from the oven, you’re instructed to “sprinkle a little vinegar over” them. That works for me considering that I rarely measure out ingredients for a dish like this anyway.

The colorful vegetables give the salad a summery look, and the fresh herbs and lemon wake up all the combined flavors. I was already a fan of farro and its nutty taste and the hearty feel of it. So, I was delighted with the result here. This makes a very big bowl of salad, and I cut the quantities (that were provided) in half. It’s the kind of salad that can sit at room temperature while the rest of a meal is prepared, and it’s the kind of salad you can pull out of the refrigerator and enjoy as a meal by itself, cold the next day. I found a couple of other dishes in the book to try this week too, so those will appear here soon.