late spring farro salad
By the end of winter each year, I am inevitably deeply ready to 1) be able to leave the house without taken 18 minutes to put on 18 itchy layers 2) not be glow-in-the-dark blinding white and 3) eat food that came out of the ground, in a non-sidewalk sense.
So the minute anything vaguely green shows up at the farmer's market, this salad goes on heavy rotation.
Ingredients:
- Farro (other grains would work, but I like the chewiness and earthiness with this dish)
- Eggs, loosely 2 per person pending appetites
- Preserved lemon
- Some form of sprout or light salad green (I generally use sunflower sprouts, but anything in that vein or even arugula will work)
- Radishes, any variety. Depending on how much bite you like, shave, thinly slice, or leave in large chunks.
- Anything else bright, fresh, and green: asparagus, shaved or sliced thin, snap peas, fava beans or whatever you like
- herbs, if you have 'em
- oil, white vinegar, salt, pepper
- marash pepper to taste
Assemble:
Cook farro based on instructions, let cool.
Prep your vegetables.
Make your eggs. Everyone has their own approach to boiled eggs - in my book, there's nothing better than a bright yellow yolk that's set but barely past jammy. For that: put a pot of water on to boil. When boiling, gently drop in your eggs and immediately set a timer for 7 minutes. (This is presuming standard "large" eggs. If you've got monsters, I might up this to 7.5; if tiny, down to 6.5.). While boiling, set a big bowl of cold water near. When the timer goes off, immediately lift the eggs out of the hot water into the cold. Let them cool for 30 seconds, then wrap each gently on the counter to form a small crack, and place back into the water. Once you're able to handle them fully, peel eggs.
Roughly chop preserved lemon and create a dressing with olive oil, white vinegar, salt, pepper. (Cut the vinegar if you're sensitive to sour things.)
Assemble: lightly toss farro, vegetables, any herbs, and dressing, top with egg, and a little sprinkle of marash and sea salt and thank god that you have survived yet another winter and life is good.
