Broccoli Farro Salad

 Continuing on my farro theme for this past year, here's a great summer take on farro. This is yet another Smitten Kitchen regular for me now. I prefer it loaded up with broccoli. I'm often aiming to get the veggie to starch ratio much higher on the veggies, so it's vegetable forward with a noticeable accent of grain or pasta, but I somehow don't seem to execute very well on this. Tonight I sauteed what I thought were quite a lot of summer vegetables with a bit of goat cheese and I only put 2 handfuls of pasta in the water to cook. I had this very colorful pan full of zucchini, spinach, tomatoes, chickpeas, parsley, etc, tossed in my "small" amount of pasta and it suddenly seemed like a bland pasta dish. So for the farro salad, the next time I make it, if I feel like there's too much broccoli, I'm going to just go for it and add more. If you eat fish this works well as a side dish. You could top the salad with a fried egg to have a complete meal with maybe some tomatoes on the side for color. 

When I was looking for my pictures of this dish, I came across this picture of Luna munching on some oak leaves and it made me wonder if she would like broccoli.

What I most enjoy about this dish is the texture of it. I also like that it's not many ingredients, yet packs a punch in flavor. Here is the link to the recipe on Smitten Kitchen:

Broccoli Rubble

BROCCOLI farro Salad

1 cup semi-pearled farro

1 pound broccoli, cut into "branches" to start

2 cloves garlic, minced 

4 tablespoons olive oil

red pepper flakes

finely grated zest of one lemon, then juice from the same lemon

1/4 cup grated percorino ramano or parmesan

salt 

black pepper, fresh ground

1. Put the farro on to cook according to package directions. 

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli and cook for about 2 minutes. You want it to soften slightly but still retain a crunch. Remove with thongs and set aside to dry on paper towels and pat dry. When it has cooled enough to handle, chop it into small bite-sized pieces.

3. Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add several shakes of chili flake and garlic. Cook for about a minute, stirring. Add broccoli, lemon zest and a teaspoon of salt. Cook, tossing, for about 4 minutes. 

4. Put your cooked farro in a bowl, scrape all contents of sautee pan into it. Stir Add lemon juice, cheese, black pepper to taste and more salt if you need it. Stir again. 

Zucchini and Almond Pasta Salad

 In my last post I mentioned how I gravitated this summer towards cooling foods that required little to no heat to make. In addition to going heavy on cucumber, I also ate even more zucchini than usual. I tried this particular recipe because you don't have to cook the zucchini, but instead you salt and drain it. I made this recipe twice, once doing it this way, and once with sauteing the zucchini. I like the latter better. This was another Smitten Kitchen recipe. It was intended for a picnic, which of course caught my attention since I'm a sucker for anything picnic themed. It's also one of several recipes where she pairs zucchini with toasted almonds. They work really well together, and I always like having some crunch in a salad. I'm going to put the link to her recipe below so you can see how Deb made it, and all of her suggestions for add-ins. I'm going to post my variation on it with the cooked zucchini, so I can remember to make it next summer. One thing I would like to do is make it with the whole wheat rotini as she did. I can imagine that the bite of it would be better and the color would be nice as well. I had loaded up on pasta during quarantine and still trying to make my way through the stash in my cabinet before I can justify buying more.

As a side note, I think all her mix in suggestions are great, and both times just used what I had on hand. The first time I did cannelini beans, basil and red onion. The second time I added arugula. I don't think you can go wrong with any of them.

Click here for Deb's recipe

Zucchini and Almond Pasta salad, my variation 

1/2 pound pasta of your choice, preferably whole wheat rotini

2 medium to large zucchini, sliced into thin half moons (you can go heavy on the zucchini if you have it)

1 1/2 ounces shaved parmesan 

1/2 cup slivered almonds

a few shakes of chili flakes

3 tablespoons olive oil 

1 lemon

salt and pepper

2 big handfuls of arugula torn into pieces

1. Put pasta water onto boil, then cook pasta according to package directions. When done, drain and set aside to cool. 

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a sautee pan over medium high heat. When hot, add chili flakes, then add zucchini. Cook until it's just starting to brown. Set aside to cool. 

3. Toast almonds. I usually do this in a toaster oven and bake on 300. It should take about 6 or 7 minutes. Keep an eye on them and shake the pan a couple of times during this. For this recipe you want them quite brown, but not burned. When done, set aside to cool.

4. Mix remaining olive oil and juice from the lemon. 

5. When pasta, zucchini and almonds are cooled, put them in a bowl. Add cheese, dressing, arugula, any other mix-ins and toss. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Cucumber Elderflower Gimlet

 I ate more cucumber than usual this summer. We had one of the hottest summers in my memory. Many days tipping over 90 or 95 degrees Fahrenheit. I know this doesn't seem terribly hot compared to some other regions, but add in high humidity, a lack of good air conditioning and that starts to get pretty uncomfortable. One of the downsides of working from home is I don't get to enjoy the central air conditioning in my office. As a result, I gravitated towards cooling foods and things that didn't need any or much heat to prepare. I didn't do anything terribly exciting with cucumber. Mostly I just added it to various salads or snacked on it. In July and August I typically have my fair share of tomato cucumber salads, so that's nothing new. I ate the occasional cucumber sandwich with a bit of mayo, salt and pepper. Then, I discovered this take on a Gimlet and cucumber also made its way into my cocktail. I'm guessing there are only two or maybe three more weeks that this cocktail can act as a cool refresher on a warm summer's evening, so get to it!

Cucumber Elderflower Gimlet

For one drink:

1.5 ounces Hendrick's gin

1 ounce St. Germain liquer

1 ounce lime juice

1 2-inch x 1/4-inch piece of cucumber, peeled, seeded and cut lenghthwise, plus one slice for garnish

1. Fill a coupe glass with ice to chill.

2. Put all ingredients in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously so the cucumber breaks down a bit.

3. Dump ice from glass and strain contents of shaker into it. Garnish with cucumber slice.