{"id":345,"date":"2013-02-23T00:04:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T00:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elitemporaryblog.wordpress.com\/2013\/02\/23\/the-usual"},"modified":"2015-12-16T18:02:06","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T23:02:06","slug":"the-usual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orangette.net\/2013\/02\/the-usual\/","title":{"rendered":"The usual"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the time since we last spoke, I\u2019ve revised the manuscript for my next book! I\u2019ve\u00a0traveled alone with my five-month-old baby to a family wedding on the other side of the country! I\u2019ve\u00a0felt like an Olympic gold medalist for having survived traveling alone with my five-month-old baby to a family wedding on the other side of the country! I\u2019ve\u00a0consumed\u00a0biscuits<\/a> and dark chocolate milkshakes<\/a> and\u00a0fingers<\/a> and cheeks<\/a>, listened to Fugazi<\/a> and almost<\/i> remembered what it felt like to be 15 and have a crush on Guy<\/a> Picciotto<\/a>,\u00a0tried two recipes for healthy cookies, decided that I\u2019m not into\u00a0healthy cookies, made my daughter wear a pair of sunglasses that were intended for a doll, and rekindled my love for farro. The usual.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

I don\u2019t know what made me think of farro again, but I\u2019m glad I did. A few years ago, I went through a period of cooking it regularly<\/a>, but then I forgot about it. I\u2019m good at that. Farro went the way of this apple cake<\/a>,\u00a0these oatmeal popovers<\/a>,\u00a0this egg salad<\/a>,\u00a0this broccoli soup<\/a>,\u00a0and this boiled kale<\/a>, foods that I love but almost never think to eat. But: yesterday I bought farro for the third time in less than a month. The third time! LOOK OUT.<\/p>\n

A billion (or five and a half) years ago, when Brandon and I got married, one of the dishes that our caterer<\/a>\u00a0made for the reception was farro with caramelized onions, carrots, celery, and feta, with a red wine vinaigrette. I didn\u2019t have much experience with farro, but I liked the sound of it when they suggested it, and it was, in fact, terrific: chewy, nutty, and complex. In its uncooked state, it looks a little like barley, and once cooked, it looks a lot like brown rice, but its flavor is more interesting and lighter somehow than either.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/div>\n

For the past few weeks, I\u2019ve been cooking big batches of farro and stashing it in the fridge, scooping out a few spoonfuls at lunch or dinner as the base for a hearty salad. I\u2019ll bet a lot of you do this, too, with some grain or other?\u00a0At first, I threw in whatever I found in the crisper drawer and any leftovers that were lying around, but slowly, over a number of days, I settled on a few ingredients that got along especially well. The flavors in my salad are not unlike the farro salad from our wedding, but mine is quicker to make, more of a bang-it-together thing.\u00a0I\u2019ve been sitting on this post for a while, wondering if this recipe – if you can even call it a recipe – was too simple to write about, but then I decided that if I like it enough to eat it a few times a week, well, you know, what the hell, why not.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s call it a warm farro salad with chickpeas, feta, and spicy dressing. \u00a0You\u2019ll need a good-sized bowl – maybe the kind they call a pasta bowl?\u00a0\u00a0I use a medium-sized mixing bowl, because I\u2019m a classy lady. Whatever you\u2019re using, put a nice amount of warm farro in the bottom of it,\u00a0and then pile on a spoonful of chickpeas, maybe half of a sliced carrot, a handful each of chopped escarole and radicchio, and a generous hunk of feta, crumbled. You could also add some small pieces of cooked chicken, if you want, or leftover steak or braised pork, and other raw or roasted vegetables. Everything is negotiable, except the feta. DO NOT SKIP THE FETA. Then you douse your salad with a dressing that\u2019s essentially nuoc cham<\/a>: fish sauce, lime juice, sugar, water, garlic, and a chile. You are now ready to sit down with your mixing bowl and eat. \u00a0There\u2019s something very special, I think, about the union of farro and feta, and then the chickpeas, the bitter chicories, the sweet carrots, and the salty-hot dressing: it\u2019s crunchy and juicy, now warm, now cold. It was my dinner yesterday and my lunch the day before, and if I\u2019m lucky, it\u2019ll\u00a0be my dinner tonight.<\/p>\n

P.S. My friend and Spilled Milk<\/a> co-host Matthew Amster-Burton has written a new book, and he\u2019s just launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund it.\u00a0It\u2019s called\u00a0Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo<\/a><\/i>, and like everything Matthew writes, it\u2019s funny, insightful, and very smart. (…Annnnnnd now he is blushing.)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n

\n
\n
Recipe<\/div>\n

Warm Farro Salad with Chickpeas, Feta, and Spicy Dressing<\/h2>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n
\n <\/figure>\n \n
\n