Trixxee - here's more than you probably ever wanted to know about farro...
We had a 'conversation' a couple of years ago on another forum & I had just gotten the book "Greens" that I had tried farro and really liked it. Some good ideas here if you do find some to play with -
FARRO IDEAS
Mo - I had Farro last night, I think for the first time, I can't remember eating it before.
The menu description was; White Chanterelle Mushrooms, Sweet Onion Farro and "Sugo Naturale". The dish was sort of creamy like polenta. What are some of your recipes with farro, any creamy ones like the one described above?
june - I've cooked it, and I have some in the cupboard now... To me, it turns out the texture of bulghur wheat (well, it is a very close cousin to spelt, which is an ancient form of wheat, so I guess that's no surprise!) or maybe a little like Buckwheat groats (Kasha). I like it. I cook it with herbs and mirepoix, and it's hearty, rustic and tasty. Nor sure what you are meaning by "creamy." Was it cooked with milk or cream, maybe?
me - Annie Somerville's book Greens has a couple of Farro dishes that I really like - one is a Farro Salad with Roasted Peppers and Arugula with just a Red Wine Vinaigrette. Really good and different.
Another that I have earmarked but have not made is her Farro and Mushroom soup - a mushroom stock with dried porcinis and sherry and lots of goodies.
mo - It was creamy like risotto or polenta, not "fluffy" like steamed rice or couscous. I don't think there was cream or cheese in the dish, it seemed like the grain and onions made the creamy consistency, maybe "oatmeal" would better describe it? This is why I am curious about experience and recipes. I don't see any recipes close to what I had.
I would describe as the grain being the consistency of a mix barley and tapioca made into a risotto.
Misc. ideas –
a stuffing for squab with it.
ground it up an made a crumb coating for fish with it.
make a savoury "cake" out it (like a rice cake) and saute until it is crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle.
use it as a veg stuffing/forcemeat kind of thing...like chard wrapped around a filling of farro, preserved lemon and chile flake...with a nice braised chicken thigh....
Farro does really well with meat juices..
Go ahead and make a farro risotto in any of the risotto preparations you enjoy...
Caramelized onions, butternut squash and Cointreau plumped currents topped with a shaved harder ewe's milk blue and some fried sage leaves would be nice.
As would a red wine farro risso with porcinis, a hint of juniper, some brunoise mirepoix veg topped with venison osso buco...
The two things farro is used for here in rome is zuppa di farro, a spelt soup, with whole farro grains, usually some vegetble soffritto (mirepoix) and sometimes sausages browned in the pot first. The second is ground farro in bread. In the supermarkets here they have a three-grain mix, rice, wheat and farro, which is quite good and can go in anything rice can go into.
Farro doesn't have quite the same make up of pectin/starch as carnaroli or arborio but is comparable..like risso, rinsing takes away from the final starch release texture..so buying from a good clean source where you don't feel the need to rinse is key.
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and that's all I know about farro.
