With all the buzz around grain bowls over the last few years, I’ve gotten away from making grain salads. But what is a grain bowl after all than a grain salad with its parts disassembled?

One could certainly argue that grain salads are better. In fact, I might be arguing it? When you mix ingredients, flavors meld. Every bite has a little bit of this and that without you having to gather ingredients from around your plate.

There are also times when photo ready grain bowls just aren’t practical. Are you a new parent, cradling a baby in your arms while trying to shovel something nourishing into your mouth? Are you eating while driving your kids to soccer practice or doing work at your computer? Do you want to prep something ahead to easily pull from the fridge throughout the week? Grain bowls are pretty but they take work to assemble and eat. Of course, the ideal is to mindfully dine at our kitchen tables with no distractions but that is not always practical. Enter, the grain salad.

So let’s make a grain salad together, a Farro Salad with Charred Broccoli and Castevetrano Olives to be specific. This hearty grain and vegetable mixture would be a delicious lunch on its own but would also be nice served over lightly dressed greens and topped with roasted chicken, seared tuna or a simple fried egg for a heartier meal. It gets better with time so is a great make ahead option. The farro is chewy, the broccoli addictively caramelized and the Castevetranos bright and briny.

Feel free to substitute the farro for another whole grain like wheatberries or barley, or even for a short pasta like rigatoni or fusilli if that’s more up your alley. Or substitute the broccoli for something like cauliflower or slow roasted tomatoes. In my opinion, the Castevletrano olive is the king of all olives so really try to find those. If you can’t, another mild green variety would be just fine. And yes, you can prep these ingredients and serve them as a build your grain bowl. You do you.

If you’re interested in watching me make this live, head over to Instagram.

 

Farro, Charred Broccoli and Castevetrano Olive Salad

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups cooked farro, equivalent to ~4 cups cooked
• 2 heads broccoli, florets cut into small bite size pieces and trimmed stalks sliced into ½ inch moons (quarter of halve moons if large)
• Evoo
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Generous shower granulated garlic (optional)
• Small pinch red pepper flakes (optional)
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 medium shallot minced (OR 1 small garlic clove minced)
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 cup castevetrano olives, pitted and roughly chopped or torn
• 2 very lightly packed cups parsley, barley chopped
• Shaved parmesan (optional)

Method

• Cook the farro: You have a couple of options for how to cook the farro. You can boil it like pasta, cook it as its package details (usually like rice), or use a rice cooker selecting the “white rice” or “quick cook” setting. I always use my Zojirushi rice cooker and cannot recommend this appliance highly enough; if I don’t have it available, I employ the pasta-style method. For the latter, bring a medium/large pot of water to boil. Salt a little more conservatively than you would for pasta because farro absorbs more water and therefor salt. Add farro, reduce to a steady simmer and begin checking for doneness after 20 minutes. It should be toothsome. Some farro needs as much as 40 minutes to cook but most grocery store varieties are hulled and are fully cooked somewhere around 20-25 minutes. Drain and return the pot, top with a clean kitchen towel to allow the farro to finish with a gentle steam for 5 minutes.
• Cook the broccoli: Preheat the oven to 450. Prep the broccoli and tumble it onto two parchment lined sheet trays. Drizzle with evoo and season it to taste with salt, pepper, granulated garlic and red pepper flakes. Roast on the bottom rack for 15 minutes until very nicely browned and crisp on one side. I like a little char here so leave it another 15 minutes if it isn’t well-browned. Cool on sheet tray.
• Make the vinaigrette: Zest the lemon and set aside. Combine the lemon juice, shallot, Dijon mustard and a small pinch of kosher salt; you don’t need quite as much salt as usual because the olives are salty. Set aside for 5 minutes to mellow the shallot. Then whisk in about 1/3-1/2 cup evoo. Taste and adjust with more salt or evoo if necessary. Finish with a few grinds of freshly cracked pepper.
• Assemble: In a large bowl, mix the farro, broccoli, olives, parsley (keep some to the side for finishing), lemon zest (keep some to the side for finishing) and half of the vinaigrette. Mix well and taste for additional kosher or Maldon salt and/or vinaigrette. If holding in the fridge for later, it will likely need to be moistened with additional vinaigrette as the farro will soak it up.

Enjoy!

Serves 4-6 people