Farro Arugula Salad
sandravalvassori.com
This autumn Farro Arugula Salad, filled with sliced apples, toasty walnuts, creamy feta and a delicious honey mustard dressing, will give you a blast of flavors and textures you'll love. An easy vegetarian entree or side that can be made ahead and is delicious served cold or at room temperature.
Servings: 4 to 6
Ingredients
For The Farro
- 1 cup pearled farro, rinsed (see notes)
- 1 cup apple cider - NOT apple cider vinegar
- 2 cups water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
For The Dressing
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 small shallot, diced
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1/3 cup olive oil
For The Salad
- 3 cups baby arugula
- 1 tart-sweet apple such as Honeycrisp or Ginger Gold, thinly sliced or diced
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh parsley, or mint or basil or a combination, roughly chopped
- 3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (3/4 cup)
Instructions
- Place the rinsed farro, apple cider, water, bay leaves, and salt in a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil then lower to a simmer. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally for 25 to 30 minutes. Once farro is tender, discard the bay leaves and drain any excess liquid.
- Spread the drained farro on a sheet pan and pat dry with a paper towel, if necessary. Set aside to cool.
- While the farro is cooking, make the dressing. In a small jar or bowl, combine lemon juice, vinegar, mustard, shallot, honey, salt and pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until dressing is emulsified.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss the cooled farro with a few tablespoons of dressing. Add the arugula, apple slices, walnuts, herbs (hold back a few tablespoons for garnish), half of the feta and most of the remaining dressing. Toss gently to combine. Taste and season with salt and pepper, then drizzle with additional dressing, if needed.
- Spoon farro mixture onto a large platter and sprinkle with remaining feta cheese and chopped herbs. Enjoy!
Notes
Farro: Pearled farro, which has had the bran removed, cooks in 25-30 minutes. Whole-grain farro will take much longer to cook. If the front of the package doesn't clearly indicate which farro it is, check if the cooking time indicates 30 minutes or under. Semi-pearled farro will work for this recipe but may take a little longer to cook.
Refresh the salad. Grain salads have a way of getting slightly dull and muted as they sit. If the dressed salad has been sitting in the fridge for more than 24 hours, refresh it with a little more lemon juice and olive oil.