Farro with Early Spring Veg

While we were in Davis, CA last fall, our friends Deb and Kip took us to a fantastic shop owned by their friends in town.  The original mission was related to Bauer pottery (a mini-obsession of mine), but Kevin also managed to find a beautiful cookbook there that turned out to be the perfect marriage of my two favorite things - fresh, seasonal food and excellent wine.  It’s called The Winemaker Cooks and it’s by Christine Hanna, who is a food writer, cooking teacher, and president of Hanna Winery & Vineyards (incidentally, that sounds like just about the perfect job to me...).  Anyway, this has become one of my go-to books in the kitchen and was the starting point for the Farro with Early Spring Veg dish that I made earlier this week.

Farro is a delicious, nutty grain that has become a foodie favorite recently, and for good reason.  It’s easy to make (all you need is some boiling water and a little bit of time) and the flavor is rich and satisfying.  The first step in this dish is cooking the farro, which is accomplished by adding a cup of farro and a tsp of salt to boiling water, covering, and simmering for about 50 minutes, similar to cooking rice.  The farro grains will pop open when ready.  Just drain and set aside until the vegetables are ready.

The original recipe in Christine Hanna’s book is Farro with Sauteed Ramps and Asparagus.  I think that that sounds delicious, but ramps are still a little hit-or-miss in terms of availability this early in Chicago.  So, I called in the next best thing - a bunch of green onions.  And a bunch of asparagus.  And, the most important part - a head and a half of bok choy.  By the way - have I mentioned that this dish is great in the case of CSA overload?

Cut the onions (white part only) into rings.  Roughly chop the asparagus and bok choy on a bias.  Melt a tablespoon of unsalted butter with a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet with a lid. Add the vegetables, a large pinch of salt, and a few turns from a pepper grinder.  Cover the pan and let the vegetables steam until they are tender, but not mushy.  This took 10-15 minutes for me, but it really depends on the pan, the quantity of veg, etc.

Once the veg are ready, add about a half tablespoon of regular butter and the farro to the pan.  Stir to combine and serve drizzled with very good, green olive oil.  So delicious - especially with an appropriately balanced Chardonnay.