Farro Salad

This is one of my favorite dishes. Sometimes I make a big batch of this and then have it for lunch for a few days. It's easy and a very healthy dish. Farro has become quite popular now and can be found on a lot of menus at good Italian restaurants. It is an ancient grain that has been eaten in Italy for eons. It's very similar to spelt. In fact, some people claim they are the same thing and some people say they are different. They are very close. I have cooked both and I believe spelt is a little harder and takes a little longer to cook. If you can't find farro, just use spelt. I can only buy farro when I travel out of town and can pick some up.

At our farmer's market last year, there was a family selling ground spelt flour. I asked the lady if I could buy some whole and she was mystified - she couldn't understand why I would want to eat it whole.   I bugged her every week and finally one week she remembered to bring a bag of unground spelt and she happily gave it to me and would not charge me. It was delicious in this salad.

Farro Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup farro or spelt
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 medium red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme
• 1 Tablespoon fresh chopped parsley
• olive oil

 

Instructions:

Place farro in small saucepan. Simmer for about 20 minutes. If using spelt, simmer for about 35 minutes. When it's tender, it's done. Drain.

Chop peppers and onions. Mince garlic. Spread out on a baking sheet, drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and toss and then roast at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Stir halfway through cooking time.

In large bowl, toss farro with vegetables and fresh herbs. Drizzle olive oil over and season generously with salt and pepper.

Penne with Salmon in Vodka Sauce

I think I've reached the cracking point. The high for the next couple of days here is still only going to be in the twenties.  This has been the longest, coldest, snowiest (we broke a record in February for snow) winter. Then Cookiecrumb over at I'm Mad and I Eat had the nerve to post a picture of a daffodil blooming in her yard. That really did me in. My back yard, on the other hand, looks like this:

  

So last night I cooked a friend a birthday dinner.  I knew she liked pasta and salmon, so this was a perfect dish for her.  We started off, however, with these:

Limoncello cocktails.  Simply a shot of limoncello, topped off with champagne (actually, we used an Italian Prosecco) and a slice of lemon.  No ice, because you keep the limoncello in the freezer and ice would only dilute the drink.

Penne with Salmon in Vodka Sauce

serves 4

For a printable recipe, click here

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces penne pasta
• 1 shallot
• 1 15 oz can pureed or crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup vodka
• 2/3 cup chicken broth
• 2 salmon fillets, chopped
• chopped dill
• fresh thyme
• 2/3 cup heavy cream

Instructions:

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente.

 

While pasta is cooking, make the sauce.  Saute shallot in olive oil in skillet.  Add tomatoes and vodka and cook for 2 minutes.  Add chicken broth and herbs.  Add salmon and gently cook for five minutes.  Stir in cream.

 Add cooked pasta to skillet and coat with sauce.

Stuffed Peppers

I love stuffing vegetables. I love to stuff tomatoes, peppers and zucchini. When you bake peppers like this, you can make a stuffing out of a lot of things - a rice pilaf, risotto, any kind of tiny pasta or even quinoa. These are stuffed with Israeli Couscous, sometimes called pearl pasta. And that's exactly what it is - little pasta. They are fairly bland, so you have to give them a little saute first and deliver some flavor to them before you stuff and bake. Did you know red bell peppers have more Vitamin C than orange juice?

 

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Ingredients:

• 4 bell peppers, two red, two yellow
• 1 cup Israeli Couscous
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 cup wine
• chopped parsley
• Grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions:

Cut the peppers in half. Clean the insides, removing all seeds. Lay the peppers in a baking dish, cut side up. Season with salt and pepper.

Cook the pasta according to directions on the package. Drain.

In a large skillet, heat about two tablespoons of olive oil. Saute the red onion for a few minutes and then add the garlic and saute for one minute. Add the wine and let this cook off. Add the chicken stock and let this cook off. Turn off the heat. Add some chopped parsley and grated cheese. Stuff peppers with mixture.

Cover baking dish with foil tightly. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour, until the peppers are easily pierced with a sharp knife. Grate extra cheese on top and chopped parsley.