Farro is the feature in episode 2 of Fresh Pickings from our friends at Heritage Radio Network. Savory spring porridge pairs farro with the greens of spring for a bright and satisfying meal straight from the kitchen at Roberta's in Brooklyn. Listen here!
Servings
2 servings
Prep time
30 minutes
Cook time
15 minutes
Passive time
20 minutes
Ingredients
100 g
Organic Farro
cooked in salted water and cooled (about 1/4 cup dry farro)
60 g
Pea Puree
room temp (recipe below)
10 g
Minced Shallot
10 g
grated Fiore Sardo cheese
can substitute Parmesan
10 g
Sake Lees
optional
40 g
Snap Peas
cut in half
80 g
Asparagus
cut into 2″ long pieces
juice of half a Lemon
10 g
White Balsamic Vinegar
10 g
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
80 g
Water
3 g
Mint
chopped
Salt to taste
For the pea puree:
1 pint
shelled English Peas
1 T
Shiro Dashi
Instructions
Bring a pot of salted water (it should taste like the ocean) to a boil. Have an ice bath ready nearby.
Put your peas into a pasta basket and drop into the boiling water. Allow to cook on high heat for about 5 minutes or until tender.
Transfer the pasta basket into the ice bath. Once the peas are totally cooled, transfer them to a blender and add the shiro dashi. Blend on high until totally smooth. (You may need to add in a bit of water in order to get the peas to puree easily in the blender. It should be the consistency of a loose yogurt.)
Heat a saute pan on medium high heat. Add your oil. Once it is shimmering and moves around easily in the pan, add your snap peas and asparagus. Cook about 2 minutes, stirring once or twice. You’re looking for a bit of color.
Season with salt and deglaze with white balsamic vinegar. Turn down the heat a bit and add your shallots. Cook 1 minute. Add in the water, farro, sake lees and fiore sardo.
Bring to a boil and reduce the water by about one third. Fold in half the pea puree and lemon juice. It should be a risotto consistency at this point, but add water or continue cooking if too dry or loose, respectively. You can also add more cheese to tighten it up as well. Fold in the mint, check for seasoning and take it to the plate.
When plating we like create a little well in the middle of the porridge and put the other half of the pea puree in the center. Finish with more cheese and freshly ground black pepper and the garnish of your choosing!